Classmates Who have Served us in the Military

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Last updated 01/06/16           

Those who have served us deserve our greatest of appreciation.
This work has just begun and it will take some time to gather
information on all those wonderful men and women
who accepted the possibility of great risk for us.

Christian N. Seger, Lt.(j.g.) United States Navy Reserve, 1960-1964

Entered United States Navy Officer Candidate School, Newport, Rhode Island; commissioned as Ensign, March of 1961.  Proceeded to Underwater Swimmers School, Key West for diving training, which included the classic Mk V deep sea rig, conventional SCUBA, and mixed gas SCUBA.  Qualified as Second Class Navy Diver, rated to 315'.  Graduated first in class.

Following graduation from Underwater Swimmers School, proceeded to Explosive Ordnance Disposal School, Indian Head, Maryland for EOD training. 

The Navy has responsibility for unexploded ordnance below the high water mark of the tide. During this course learned to render safe any known type of conventional, nuclear or biologic ordnance in the world.  Paid special attention to nuclear and thermonuclear devices which were widely dispersed among Navy ships, submarines, and shore bases at that time.

Assigned to USS RAINIER (AE-5) home ported at U.S. Navy Weapons Station, Concord, California.  Came aboard as EOD Officer and during the next two years made three cruises to the Western Pacific as Gunnery Officer and Special Weapons Officer.  Qualified as Officer of the Deck and was the OOD for ship's Sea and Anchor detail. Being at sea for long periods was a remarkable experience.

August 4, 1964 separated from the United States Navy at Subic Bay, the Philippines, just as the Tonkin Gulf debacle was getting started.  Left the ship about eight hours before she sailed for Yankee Station, and thus missed being a Vietnam Veteran by less than a day. 

The United States Navy was one of the most formative and favorable experiences of my life.  The Navy gave me a sense of responsibility and mission at an early age, and introduced me to crucial concepts of discipline, service, tradition, team work, and following the chain of command.  Where else would a 22 year old American be responsible for conning a ship loaded with four thousand tons of high explosive into harbor at dawn.  Or leading a division of enlisted men and petty officers in difficult and demanding duties while at sea and in port.  San Francisco, San Diego, Hawaii, Guam, Okinawa, Japan, and Hong Kong were a few of the ports of call in near and distant lands-- I joined the Navy and saw the world.  Would not trade those four years for anything.

Ernie Halley

Ray Gross

Donald E. Milsten

United States Naval Reserve: 1956-1966

Commissioned Ensign, USNR, June 8, 1960

Honorable Discharge, Lieutenant, October 21, 1966

·         Four years NROTC, Cornell University

o   2 months summer training aboard U.S.S. Oriskany CV (aircraft carrier) 34, San Diego, CA.

·         Active Duty:

o   1 month: Fleet Gunnery School in San Diego, CA

o   24 months: U.S.S. St. Paul CA (heavy cruiser) 73.  Homeport: Yokosuka, Japan (entire time aboard in the Far East).

·         Most notable memories:

o   Steaming at general quarters and condition 3 in the Taiwan Straits for month to deter Chinese forces during the Laotian “crisis.”

o   Full dress salute and review by President Ngo Dinh Diem of Republic of Vietnam, Saigon, October 1960.

o   Port calls in Honk Kong; Inchon, Korea, Port Swettenham and Kuala Lumpur, Federation of Malaya; Port Jessleton, British North Borneo; Keelung, Kaohsiung & Taipei, Taiwan; Subic Bay and Manila, Philippines; Okinawa; and numerous ports in Japan including Beppu, Iwakuni, Kobe, Port Otaru at Hokkaido, Nagasaki, Sasebo, Yokohama and, of course, lots of major and smaller cities inland throughout.

·         Active reserve duty (Jackson, Michigan), October 1963 – August 1996

·         Now a life member of the U.S.S. St. Paul Association

Ralph Holmes

Military Service History

Graduated from high school in 1956 along with my brilliant twin brother, Mark. He went to Princeton (where our father graduated along with a movie star named James Stewart. Dad and James were good friends and were two of the six yell-leaders in 1932) while I was lucky enough to enroll at Oklahoma A7M. I was a baby of 17.

In October 1957 after discovering It was no longer A&M but State, my interest in higher learning declined rapidly and I enlisted in the Army. Following basic training at Fort Chaffee , AR I was trained, literally, to Fort Jackson , SC for advanced infantry training. While there I was selected to attend Infantry Officer’s Candidate School at Fort Benning , GA.   This was October 1958.

After satisfactorily completing the six-month course I graduated in April 1959 as a Second Lieutenant.  (The Army didn’t have Third Lieutenants.)  My ‘Tac” or Tactical Officer was First Lieutenant “Dutch” Passailiague, an immigrant from German-occupied Holland as a child. I was still a baby of 20.  Served as the Commanding Officer of a basic training company at Fort Leonard Wood, MO: D-3-3.

Returning to Tulsa in September of 1959 I enrolled at The University of Tulsa graduating in April 1963 with a degree in English Literature and Minors in History and Geography. While at TU I joined the National Guard and renewed friendship with a fellow CHS graduate: Ed Wheeler. Our initial assignment was with the infantry company in Claremore: Ed was the CO; I was the XO. It’s been like that ever since. Later I became the CO of the company headquartered in Broken Arrow .

In 1964 I was transferred to San Francisco , CA with Shell Oil Company. I remained in the National Guard and commanded the only infantry company in the SF area at Fort Funston . In 1965 my company as alerted for “combat” (Here we come, Vietnam.) but to my surprise we were flown to Van Nuys , CA to participate in the Watts riots. Loved the work more than I enjoyed the oil business and ended up enlisting the following year for active duty. At this time I was a captain.

In July 1966 I reported back to Fort Benning as in instructor in the Ranger Department. My courses assigned were long range patrolling, ambush and counter-ambush techniques and, most importantly, the Evasion and Escape Course, a mandatory class for all officers at that time. As fate would have it, one of the students taking the course was . . . Captain Ed Wheeler.

After a year of Benning, the jungles of Viet Nam called and I was assigned to the Third Brigade (Ace of Spades) of the First Infantry Division stationed at Phouc Vinh in the Iron Triangle. Staff work became boring so I volunteered for a combat assignment and was selected to initiate a new military program within MAC -V (or Military Assistance Command – Viet Nam ) known as the Mobile Advisory Team concept. The planning initially started with ten units. Mine was MAT -8. The program was later expanded country-wide to more than 200 individual teams.

MAT -8 was initially assigned to the small hamlet of Tam Binh on the Mang Thit Canal , the only waterway in the Mekong Delta region heading north from the rice fields to the markets in Saigon . This turned out to be a major ‘highway’ used by VC. Our five-man team worked directly with the District chief and his troops including regular military and forces of the Regional Force – Poplar Force (also known as Ruff-Puffs).  During the TET offensive of January 1968 we were trapped in Tam Binh; we couldn’t get out and the Commies couldn’t get it. Standoff lasted for about a week.

Our team was later relocated to Phu Quoc island off the southwest coast, closer to Cambodia than Viet Nam . A Special forces “B” team was already on the island and we were renamed from MAT -8 to A-441 and issued funny French hats. In April 1968 I was med-evacuated to Hawaii with a severe case of dysentery and malaria. I was hospitalized for over three months, earning the Silver Stallion Award for the number of inspections endured. I wanted to return to my unit but the doctors told me this was not advisable and my enlistment was terminated.

Tulsa called again. So did the National Guard . . . . and once again I found myself serving with Ed Wheeler as his XO. Family concerns took priority over monthly weekend meetings and I resigned from the service in 1974.

Ed and I still ‘work’ together at the David Moss Criminal Justice Center in Tulsa with the Investigations and Security section. Ed is a Reserve Deputy Sheriff and was selected as the Reserve Deputy of the Year 2010. I’m still following him!

Fred Benford

Fred Benford's Military and Semi Military Service

Semi Military: What do you mean by “ SEMI ” military service Fred some will say. 

In January of 1962 I joined the American Red Cross for Service at Military Installations, USA and Foreign.  I wanted to serve in Germany .  As a Field Director at various military installations we were the “go-between” for the service man and woman and those families at home.  For example if there was an emergency at home the family contacted the Red Cross who in turn contacted the proper authority (usually medical personnel) to verify the emergency and then notified the Red Cross stationed at the military installation who contacted the service man or woman and the commanding officer and if necessary arranged emergency leave and transportation back home.  The same was true if service personnel received word from home of a problem.  They contacted the local Red Cross office who then contacted the local Red Cross chapter who contacted the family to determine if an emergency if there indeed was a problem.  Many times there was not a problem, just poor communication on someone’s part and counseling was needed.  My first assignment was at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio , TX .  After 13-months I was then assigned to the 3^rd Marine Division in Okinawa .  I was married 88 days and left on a hardship tour which all Marines had to endure for a period of one year without family.  After my year was up I got a plum assignment in Hawaii with the Navy.  This was 1964.  In the summer of 1965 the Viet Nam war heated up and I volunteered to go to Viet Nam for 6-months which would have been the end of my maximum 3-year overseas tour.  Then on to the Air Force in Big Springs TX and then to the Army in Kokomo, ID, and when I found I was going to be reassigned to Viet Nam for another year after being back in the USA for only a year so I resigned and joined Bell & Howell as a salesperson. Excellent choice!  

Real Military: After I graduated from Northeastern State University I attended graduate school for one semester.  I never thought of getting a draft deferment as I did for four years while in regular collage.  We did not have ROTC at NSU and I did not want to be drafted for two years into the Army.  I heard that the Air Force Reserve was by far the easiest service and you could even serve less than 6-months than the Army National Guard required.  I applied to the AF reserve but was told that there was a three month waiting list.  I called my draft board and they told me that I had only weeks before my number was up so I joined the Army National Guard for 6-months.  Did my basic training in the middle of the winter at Fort Leonard Wood, MO and then on to Communications School in Fort Gordon , GA where I was fortunate enough to graduate first in my class which was hopefully get me the rank of PFC in 8-months instead of the normal 10-months.  As it was we all gained the rank of PFC in 12-months for some delayed reason.  The decision to join the Army National Guard instead of the Air Force Reserve was a good one.  When I returned from my 6-months active duty, the local Air Force Reserve unit was called to active duty for 2-years.  This was the Berlin crisis. 

When I moved to San Antonio , TX I then transferred to the Texas National Guard.  When I was transferred to Okinawa of course there were no National Guard or Reserve units so I went on an “inactive reserve” list.  When I went to Hawaii I failed to advise the army of my move and they thought I spent all my time in Okinawa so I was free of attending meetings.  But then they caught me in Kokomo , ID.   I received a letter from the Secretary of Defense and my draft board saying that they found out that my Army papers appeared to be lost and that I was to be drafted “A-1 PRIORITY.”  This was soon after I returned from Viet Nam .  I wrote Okinawa, found my paperwork, contacted my draft board, cried on their shoulders and finally got out of being drafted, but was put on one additional year of inactive reserve (seven years instead of six).  This was 1967 as the war was heating up.  Basically I stayed in the Army 7 ½ years and got out with the rank of PRIVATE FIRST CLASS!

ED WHEELER:  Buck Private to Brigadier General (USA-Ret)

To understand the foregoing line, you need some background.

As some of our classmates know, I was a member of the TCHS Rifle Team. 

And, believe it or not we DID have both a rifle and pistol team.  So … what does that have to do with a military career?.

In the civilized era of “Happy Days” in which we matured, we marksmen would bring our .22 CALIBER RIFLES AND PISTOLS TO SCHOOL every Wednesday. At 15, I rode to school on my bike; with a Remington 513TL beavertail rifle strapped across my back with mounted Olympic Redfield sights !!   Upon arrival I secured it in my wall locker until that evening; when the team met in the Girl’s Gym and practiced shooting at targets mounted on bullet traps. 

The only problem I had was that each team member had to buy his own ammo.

I made the sacrifice, but that didn’t leave me much to finance dates or entertain the first love of my life, Sally Sue Plumer.  In any event, there were times when I had to scrimp the $1.00 it took to buy the two boxes of .22 Long Rifle Remington ammo, so that I could fire the required 100 rounds every Wednesday. Eventually, my Grandfather willed me his 1940 Packard and I began leaving my bike at home, but I still BROUGHT MY RIFLE TO SCHOOL EVERY WEDNESDAY for three years until we graduated. 

Then an Oklahoma National Guard Staff Sergeant promised me that if I signed up in the Tulsa-based infantry battalion, he would guarantee me all the free ammunition I could shoot. The old armory on 15^th Street even had a rifle range, and I could use it whenever I wanted to.  When I brought up the issue at home, my mother almost had an elephant!  My Dad who was a retired NYC Cop. a WW II veteran and a man of few words said to my distraught mother, “… He can handle it.!” 

So the next day I raised my right hand and I became an official ‘Buck’ Private.  I found myself wearing a bright red and yellow Thunderbird patch on my left sleeve; and the miniature crossed rifles of a newly-minted infantryman on the lapels of my ‘Ike’ jacket.  (To be fair, the OKARNG kept its word.  For as long as I was a Guardsman, I had all the free ammunition I could shoot.)

When we graduated, I won a one-year scholarship to Texas A&M and scored high enough to become a member of the Varsity Rifle Team, won a Varsity Letter as a “Fish” (Freshman), and became the Southwest Conference Individual Champion.  The scholarship ran out and the next year I was left with two choices, become a roughneck in the Odessa oil fields or transfer from the USAR to the Army.

After five years as an enlisted man, I went to an OCS Class that began with 230 candidates at North Fort Hood, TX.  Nine months later, I graduated with 22 others and we were commissioned 2d LTs of Infantry, which included our classmate Roger Brannon.  In addition, over  the next 3½ decades, I managed to graduate from almost every promotional school an infantryman could attend including the U.S. Army War College (Class of 83’). Within that period, thanks to Uncle Sam, I had also been to everything from tornado destroyed Oklahoma towns and the McAlester Prison Riot to  more than two dozen foreign countries including Northern Ireland, Scotland, Paraguay, Uruguay, Germany, Korea, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, etc. ad nauseum  

During that time, I had the privilege and honor of serving with, or running across CHS classmates in uniform such as:  COLONEL JOHN GETGOOD (ARMOR); COLONEL CLIFFORD CANTRELL (COMBAT ENGINEERS); CAPTAIN  RALPH HOLMES (INFANTRY); 1^ST LT ROGER STALLINGS (INFANTRY) and 2d LT ROGER BRANNON (INFANTRY). I feel confident there were dozens more who served our country, but the circumstances under which I met some of our classmates were truly amazing because they were totally unexpected.

I can’t imagine anyone either reading this far or who is interested in the details of what happened to cause me to end up where I did, so I will edit it out and conclude with this. On the 35^th anniversary of my enlistment at the end of Desert Storm, I hung up my uniform and tacked up on my wall a certificate, signed by the Secretary of the Army.  It acknowledged my retirement as a Brigadier General (U.S. Army).  

Carl Washburn

Ken Kastl

Allen Keenan

Jim Matthews