West Point

Thanks for giving me an opportunity to offer a comment about Jerry Wynn. My fondest memory of Jerry is from his football days. In those days I considered myself quite an intimidating defensive tackle, but I will always remember the look on Jerry's face as he came running towards me on the plebe football field. I was instantly struck with the fact that here was someone seized with determination who would allow no obstacle to stand in his way. This would be shortly before the collision, after which Jerry would back away and continue to run down field. In my many contacts with Jerry during subsequent years, I learned that he approached everything in life with this same determination.

Norm (General H. Schwarzkopf, General, US Army, Retired)

What I remember best about Jerry was his laugh---- He had a great sense of humor and enjoyed the funny side of everything around him. He laughed easily and often and was a pleasure to be around.
During summer training is where I saw him most, and he enjoyed having a good time with his classmates. His laugh was always present, as was his good spirit. He never complained and was always fun to be with. Never saw him down or in a bad mood -- an inspirational person that brighten any group he was around. Greatly missed by everyone who knew him.

The first time I met Jerry Wynn was when we were both plebes at West Point and both members of the same cadet company, H-2. It was a Sunday and Jerry's parents had brought him lasagna and he offered me a piece. Now like all plebes I was really hungry and would eat anything. But I have to say that I had some reservations about this offering. First off, I had been raised in the South and had never heard much of lasagna much less eaten any. It was clearly foreign food! And secondly, it was being offered by a Yankee, with a strong "New Joisy" accent-no telling what he might do to me. However, I overcame my foreboding and wolfed down a good size portion and it was really delicious. Needless to say this was a very auspicious beginning to a lifelong friendship. As I came to know Jerry over the years I developed an abiding respect for him. Plebe year had its ups and downs but he always kept his sense of humor through it all and helped the rest of us to weather the storm. He also set example as a student-athlete. West Point was a no nonsense kind of a place and either you made your grades or you were out of there! In spite of grinding practices in all kinds of weather and bone-cracking collegiate games, Jerry managed to take it all in his stride and to maintain a very respectable position on the academic rolls. Upon graduation in 1956, we both chose the Infantry and were off to Fort Benning, Georgia for basic officer training. Jerry was in his natural element and excelled in the rigorous exercises and quickly earned the coveted Ranger Tab as well as his parachutist wings. We then parted ways and after a tour in Germany, Jerry earned the Green Beret of the Special Forces and was among the first of our class to go to Vietnam in 1960. I learned about his many exploits when we were together again at Fort Benning for the advanced officer course. Even then it was easy for me to see that Jerry was shaping a career that would take him to the highest ranks. He went on from there to serve with distinction as a company commander in Korea and then as a professor of military science at Gordon Military College. Having attained the rank of major, Jerry was posted back to Vietnam and was selected to serve in the key position of Battalion Operations Officer, responsible for all the combat actions in the unit. He was thus in the thick of the fighting and spent his days watching over and directing the infantry companies engaging North Vietnamese regulars. On 13 November, his helicopter was shot down but he was airborne again in an hour. The next day, he was at it again and again he was shot down but this time his number was up. For his courageous actions, he was awarded the Silver Star... and the US Army lost one of its stars, a tough, professional soldier who was a fighter to the end. And we, His West Point classmates, lost a true and loyal friend who will not be forgotten.

I first spoke to Jerry at the end of beast barracks our plebe year (summer, 1952). We had both just been assigned to Company H-2. Everyone was scrambling to find roommates within a group of people we hardly knew, and I was about to be odd man out. I asked Jerry if I could room with him and, although he already had the standard three in that room, he said "sure". So we had a 4-man room that first semester, until some plebes dropped out. We continued to room together for most of the four years at West Point, but that first incident epitomizes Jerry: open, generous, impulsive not always mindful of the consequences, kind of guy who would always "be there" for you.
After West Point, we went our separate ways, except for ushering at my wedding a week after graduation, I saw him only one other time. When he visited my wife and me in Germany. So Jane (who also knew him well) and I remember him the same way: gregarious, with a magnetic personality, aggressive in pursuing fun, and with irreverence to authority of all kinds, in other words, forever young.

Memories of Our Friend

General H. Norman Schwarzkopf

Pictures from West Point

Company H-2