On a bright morning in early autumn, as the Army band played "The Official West Point March" and 'Army Blue," the Old Guard laid to rest one of its own: former deputy commander Robert Henry Alsheimer, Colonel, Infantry.

Raised in Jamesburg, NJ, by a mother widowed before his birth, Bob attracted the attention of George Silver, a high school teacher who recognized the potential in this bright, athletic, and creative youth. With Silver's help, Bob began a two-year study program to pre-pare for West Point and joined the National Guard. Excelling in academics, student leader-ship, and sports, he earned a Guard appointment to the Academy.

Bob's Beast Barracks nickname of "Spoony' followed him for the rest of his life. He starred in soccer, toured the Southeast with a college all-star team during Christmas leave in 1955, and received honorable mention votes in the All-American awards of 1956. Bob graduated in the top third of his class, with English his particular strength. A classmate who later became an English "P" attests that Bob's research paper written in iambic pentameter was unique in the department's annals. Those skills helped Bob earn the George C. Marshall Award as honor graduate at Command and General Staff College and, later, the Army Research and Writing Award at the National War College.

Bob had a sense of humor that could be wicked or exuberant. and he was an inventive cadet. We wondered about his suntan in the early spring, later learning that he had discovered a trap door in the ceiling of the old Central Barracks' 5th Division fourth floor hallway. By standing on the hall sink, a flanker could reach just high enough to push it open and pull himself into the antebellum attic. Then, through another hatch, access the sloping copper-sheathed roof of the towers flanking the sally port, to repose facing the weak late afternoon sun while hidden behind the castellations.

Bob gave no early indication about his branch preference, but he selected Recruit Training Detail at Ft. Dix for his First Class summer assignment, where cadets acted as platoon leaders. When he returned to West Point to marvel at his recruits and announced in wonderment "They called me the Old Man!" we knew he was bound for the infantry. And infantry it was, serving first with the 101st Airborne Division at Ft. Campbell. There he met Nancy Jarnagin of Chattanooga on a blind date which began a loving relationship that lasted until death did them part. From the 101st, Bob served successively as AdC, CG, XVIII Airborne Corps; S-3 and Executive Officer, 509th Airborne Infantry Regiment; Assistant PMS, VMI; Commander and Senior Advisor, Vietnamese Ranger Training; MS, University of Rochester; Office of the Chief of Research and Development; Executive Officer, 3rd Brigade, 2th Infantry Division; CO, 4th Battalion, 31st Infantry; Deputy Commander, 3rd Infantry, "The Old Guard"; CO, 2nd Brigade, 4th Infantry Division; Commander, Western Region Recruiting Brigade; Chief, Planning Group, TRADOC.

Bob was wounded in 1968 in a mortar attack on his ranger training camp. The leg wounds were serious and the recovery lengthy. It was nearly five years before he could return to field duty, although by 1972 he was refereeing soccer! Sent to Valley Forge, Bob made good use of his convalescence. He soon persuaded the doctors to transfer him to a civilian hospital in Chattanooga to be with his family. From there, he convinced the Army that he was ready and able to make his reporting date at CGSC after yet one more operation. Nancy oversaw the packing and loading at home the morning of the surgery and arrived at the hospital as it concluded. An upset civilian doctor, angry that she had not been in the waiting room throughout the operation, got a memorable lesson in how military families handle things.

Although skinny and grey, Bob was admitted to CGSC on a trial basis because of the uncertainty of his recovery prospects. Circumstances had permitted Bob no leave in several years, nor was there prospect of any between graduation and his reporting date for graduate school. However, there were a few days between the end of classes and graduation, so leave was granted for a family vacation. As the time neared, Bob was told that he was to be the honor graduate, and that the honor graduate had "always been there" to receive the Marshall Award. Not wishing to punish Bob in order to honor him, a private airplane was conjured up to bring Bob back to graduation and return him to his family.

The truest praise of an individual comes from his juniors, not his seniors. A former VMI cadet wrote "Very little of what I learned after graduating, in my first years as an infantry officer, including what was taught in Ranger School, was outside what I'd already learned from Bob Alsheimer's syllabus."  GEN Wesley Clark commanded a battalion under Bob in the 2nd Brigade, 4th ID. He wrote "Bob Alsheimer was a great leader, coach and mentor. He cared deeply about those who worked for him--he could be a tough boss but at the same time, your best friend. He knew his stuff--he carried himself like a soldier. He was widely admired, universally liked, and totally respected."

In 1985 Bob retired at Ft. Monroe, and he and Nancy settled in Northern Virginia. They raised four solid-citizen children: Lance and Keith, both engineers; Craig, an architect; and Leslie, a professional photographer. As in many hard-charging service families, Bob's love of them was always evident, although their upbringing became mostly Nancy's responsibility. Bob's strength of character and positive approach in solving family problems, and their devotion to each other, made it work. Bob loved good music, poetry, and humorous stories. He was devout, took a scholarly approach to the study of the Bible, and was a leader in his church. At his memorial service, he was characterized as "a good man." He was, indeed.

Well done, Spoony, be thou at peace.

By Classmates, Family, and Fellow Officers