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<em>Delmar Taft Spivey</em> was a man's man, a woman’s man, and most of all, a people’s man. He loved everyone that he came in contact with and everyone returned the love. The words of Shakespeare describe him well. “His life was gentle and the elements so Delmar Taft Spivey mixed in him that nature might stand up and say to all the world, this was a man.”</p>
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Delmar Taft Spivey was born in Gatesville, North Carolina 9 August 1904 and was raised on a farm in Whaleyville, Virginia. As a boy he did the usual chores, and hunted and fished much as other farm boys did. In 1922 he entered William and Mary College and while there applied for a principal appointment to the United States Military Academy and the United States Naval Academy. He received his choice of schools and accepted the appointment to the Military Academy and entered the Academy on 2 July 1923, with the Class of 1927.</p>
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As a cadet, Del was a natural leader which showed immediately in Beast Barracks when he was made a squad leader the first week of being a plebe. He was also a natural athlete and spent four years on the track team setting an Academy record in the javelin throw which stood for many years.</p>
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However, Del had his problems as a student and at the end of plebe year was turned back to the Class of 1928 with which he graduated. He chose the Infantry as his branch of service but very soon decided that flying was easier than walking and graduated from Primary Flying School, Kelly Field, 28 February 1930, and Advance Flying School, 31 June 1930, as an aviator in the Army Air Corps. This was to be his career in the military.</p>
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Meanwhile, as a counsellor at a summer camp in Maine, Del met his one and only love, Virginia Baen Street, who had spent most of her summers in Wayne, Maine at her parents summer home. Romance blossomed and on 7 July 1930 they were married in the Cadet Chapel at West Point. They had one son, Delmar B. Spivey, who retired as a colonel in the United States Air Force.</p>
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As a young pilot, Del had all of the usual duties that a flying officer had in those early days of American military aviation; squadron supply, mess officer, engineering officer, flight leader, squadron operations officer-all of which he-handled with aplomb and efficiency never losing sight of the major part played by the enlisted cadre in the success of the mission.</p>
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He and Virginia were stationed at many bases: Langley Field, Maxwell, Eglin, Luke Field in Hawaii as were other young service people at the time. Promotion before World War II was exceptionally slow, and Del, like</p>
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other classmates, was a second lieutenant for six and a half years. However, on 12 March 1935, he was made a captain under the Air Corps early promotion much ahead of his non-flying classmates and on 31 January 1941 was promoted to major.</p>
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With the clouds of war moving slowly towards the United States, in April 1941 Del was made commander of the Air Corps Fixed Gunnery School at Eglin Field and on 5 January 1942 he was promoted to lieutenant colonel. On 3 February 1942 he became the commander of the Central Instructor School and Fixed Gunnery School. He was quickly promoted to colonel 1 March 1942 and the next day transferred to Maxwell Field as A-3 of the Training Center for all gunnery training in the southeast United States.</p>
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The aerial gunners in the heavy bombers in the Eighth Air Force in England in the summer of 1943 were faring badly against the Nazi fighter planes. To find out first hand why this was happening, Del and several of the senior instructors in the Center went to England. On Del’s second mission his plane was shot down over Gelsenkirchen, Germany on 12 August and he was sent to the Allied Air Officers prisoner of war camp at what is now Sagan, Poland. On his arrival at Stalag III he found himself to be the senior officer in Center Compound. Most of his fellow prisoners were young men in their early twenties without discipline, without hope of freedom, and generally demoralized. He immediately took steps, much against the desires of some of the prisoners, to make the Compound a military camp. He instituted Saturday inspection, organized the Compound into units and soon had the living conditions, the food, and the morale up to what could be called good under the circumstances. Del made sure the German captors followed the letter of the International Prisoner of War rules and had many an eyeball to eyeball confrontation with Colonel Von Lindeiner, the camp commandant. One of the inmates remarked in later years, “Colonel Spivey gave us a new outlook on life; he gave us the feeling we would be free again and made us feel and act like men and not the animals we had been. Colonel Spivey was a father and an inspiration to us.” The international YMCA official at Stalag III, Henry Soderburg, a Swede, said “Before I met Colonel Spivey, Colonel Von Lindeiner had told me that the new colonel in charge of Center Compound was a fine officer, a gentleman and all business. That, from a captor was a most unusual statement and I could hardly wait to meet the colonel. Colonel Von Lindeiner couldn’t have been more accurate. I have had the greatest respect for Colonel Spivey ever since, and we have become very good friends—even close friends.”</p>
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It was here that one of the most extraordinary events of World War II began. As the Russians closed in on Stalag III in January of 1945 the Germans decided to move the prison camp further west. The American officers were rounded up on a bitter cold night on 27 January 1945 and marched about a hundred miles in the direction of Moosburg, Germany. At the town of Spremburg, Del and another officer, Brigadier General Vanaman, were taken from the other prisoners and told they were being taken to Berlin on a special mission. Del was outraged at being separated from his command, but had to do as ordered by the Germans. Upon arrival in Berlin, they were completely mystified as to their fate. It soon developed that the Germans, through Lieutenant General Gotobb Berger, in charge of Allied Air prisoners, had called a conference of Allied Prisoner of War doctors to see what could be done to insure that Allied prisoners were receiving the badly needed medical and food supplies furnished by the Red Cross. General Vanaman and Del took part in the conferences and helped work out a system to insure the distribution of the Red Cross parcels. American doctors were given passes to travel throughout unoccupied Germany to inspect the distribution, even though much of the German populace was on the verge of starvation.</p>
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Finally the real reason for their stay in Berlin was revealed. A dissident group of high ranking German officers, without Hitler's knowledge, decided the best thing for Germany was to sue for a separate peace with the United States and Britain, and then all three turn on the Russians and defeat them and thus destroy communism. Vanaman and Del were selected to carry the necessary messages back to Washington. The two officers were clandestinely moved from Berlin to Switzerland, where they were released in the custody of the American Consul. General Vanaman went on to Washington and Del reported to General Spaatz's Headquarters at Rheims, where he was debriefed on his experiences and then returned to the United States.</p>
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In 1946 Del was ordered to the National War College as a student and in 1948 he became chief of the Academic Staff at the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base. He was promoted to brigadier general 16 September 1949 and became chief of the War Plans Division, Headquarters United States Air Force. From there he went to command the 314th Air Division in Japan, was promoted to permanent major general in 1952, and became the commanding general of the Japan Air Defense Force during the Korean War. His responsibilities entailed command of all United States Air Force combat units and all United States Air Force bases in Japan. He returned to the United States in 1953 to take command of the Central Air Defense Force and in 1954 was ordered back to Maxwell as commandant of the Air War College where he retired 1 August 1956 due to disabilities received while a prisoner of war.</p>
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With his excellent background and training in the field of education, it was only natural that he would start a whole new career in that field. So in September of 1956 Del arrived at Culver Military Academy in Indiana as its sixth superintendent. He immediately put into effect new and novel ideas for an old and well established military school. But every change was well thought out with help of an outstanding faculty and definitely for the improvement of the academy, the students, and not least, the faculty. When Del left eleven years later he had formulated the Mothers Club, an organization helpful in providing scholarships for faculty children; he had had booklets published on many student subjects including etiquette, and had arranged means of supplementing faculty salaries. In 1958 he introduced the Annual Giving Program whereby alumni and others could give to various school activities and to construction of new buildings on the campus. This had not been permitted by the Board of Governors in the past and led to a contributor donating a 1500 seat auditorium. He introduced co-education in 1959 and started a cafeteria system where much of the service could be provided by the cadets thus saving money that was used for scholarships to the school. Del, with the help of Virginia, fostered a strong unified social life for the students and the faculty. All in all he left a mark on Culver Military Academy that will be revered for years. A member of the faculty said, “One characteristic, among many which stays in my mind about the General, was his singular ability to perceive in everyone he met something that was special and useful, and to draw that out by encouragement and appreciation. He saw talent and ability in people they did not know they had.” At Del's departure the president of the Board of Governors had this to say, “Under General Spivey’s inspiring leadership, Culver has made magnificent advances in all phases of its broad programs and has achieved increased national recognition for its contributions to the education of the youth of our nation.”</p>
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An interesting, but little known fact of Del's career, came to light recently and adds further to the luster of an already brilliant life. During his stay at Culver he was invited to become a co-founder of the Marine Military Academy at Harlingen, Texas, as well as a trustee of the Academy. This was a far cry from an Army military school, but with his usual willingness to help he accepted. Becoming a trustee didn’t stop there; he immediately started things moving to help promote the Marine tradition of Harlingen. Another trustee stated, “More than anyone, Del helped organize the school; he faithfully attended board meetings, he inspired confidence when things looked blackest and difficult, and he obtained through his own efforts the largest contribution the school had received. Del was one of the most outstanding gentleman I ever knew.”</p>
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As Del and Virginia were leaving Culver he told the Board of Governors, “A major consideration of our leaving is, for Virginia and me, while we are still young and vigorous enough to enjoy the opportunity to travel, visit friends, and engage in personal projects without the rigorous demands of an important job.” This is exactly what the Spiveys did until Del's death 18 January 1982. A beautiful memorial service attended by a host of friends and acquaintances was held at Clearwater, Florida, 22 January followed by a military burial service at West Point, 15 June 1982. General Spivey is survived by his wife, Virginia, and a son Delmar and two grandsons.</p>
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Major General Spivey received many decorations: the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Purple Heart and the Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. He belonged to many organizations— military, civilian, and educational.</p>
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Let it be said of Delmar Taft Spivey, “He stood for something more permanent than these few years of earth.” God bless him.</p>
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