Photo By Terrance Bell | Retired Chief Warrant Officer 5 William K. Thomas speaks before the audience during...... read more read more
JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, Va. – The U.S. Army Transportation Corps shined the light on several transporters who helped to build its legacy and reputation as the “Spearhead of Logistics” during its annual Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony July 30 at Wylie Theater here.
Six retired Soldiers who distinguished themselves in their service to the corps and four spouses who supported them along the way were so honored for the 19th edition of the event.
Inducted on the occasion of the corps’ 73rd anniversary were Brig. Gen. Brian R. Layer; Col. Mark Henderson, who was not present, Col. Timothy K. McNulty, Lt. Col. James “Jeff” Brown, Chief Warrant Officer 5 William K. Thomas and Command Sgt. Maj. Paul J. Nelson.
Spouses Kathleen McNulty, Kathleen Brown and Mary Sue Thomas were presented with the Patronus Rotae or Patron of the Wheel Award for their own contributions. Sandra Henderson also earned the award but was not present.
During his remarks, Col. Michel M. Russell Sr. (promoted to brigadier general on Tuesday), Chief of Transportation and host of the event, expressed a fair amount of pride and humility in being on hand for the presentations.
“I am so blessed and so honored to be here to welcome all of the inductees to the Hall of Fame to include their spouses who have done so much standing by us …,” he said, opening his speech.
About 200 military personnel and civilians, including a number of past inductees, were present for the ceremony. Joining Russell on stage for the presentations were Chief Warrant Officer 5 Donald E. Berg, regimental warrant officer, and Command Sgt. Maj. Cynthia B. Howard, regimental CSM.
Collectively, the honorees devoted nearly 200 years of service to the country, participating in such events as the Berlin Crisis, Operation Desert Storm, Operation Just Cause, Operation Enduring Freedom, Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation Restore and Uphold Democracy in Haiti.
The ceremony’s first inductee, Layer, is a U.S. Military Academy graduate who served 30 years in a multitude of positions including a 2008-2010 stint as the COT. His biography noted his hand in “the establishment of the Army Logistics University leader development programs” among other accomplishments. During his remarks, he thanked his family whom he called “his biggest blessing” and a corps that often demonstrated familial values.
“Mark Twain once said, ‘Success has a thousand fathers and failure is an orphan,’” said Layer. “One of the great things about the Transportation Corps is nobody’s an orphan.” He went on to say one of the Army’s smallest corps has its own distinct features.
“It’s small enough that people know who you are, that everybody will bend over backward to help you out and that we won’t let you fail,” he said.
McNulty followed Layer and again emphasized the strength of the team in all the corps does.
“Never did I serve with more people dedicated toward mission accomplishment,” he said. “You hear stories, perhaps in the other branches but not in the Transportation Corps, of people who are more self-centered and who are looking toward personal goals, but the people – the men and women I had the privilege and honor to serve with – were always team-focused. Thank you for always allowing me to be a part of that team.”
Among the units McNulty commanded were the 710th Main Support Battalion at Fort Drum, N.Y., and the 34th Area Support Group/Area 11 in Seoul, South Korea. He also was chief of staff, Military Surface Deployment and Distribution Command in Alexandria.
Brown, whose radio-quality voice seemed to echo throughout the confines, said he examined the validity of his induction, eventually accepted it and then thought about what earned him the achievement. He surmised those who served with them were highly responsible, noting his interactions with enlisted Soldiers.
“A lot of my mentoring came from below – ‘Excuse me sir, that’s a great idea, but you might want to think of doing it this way.’ My only contribution there was I was smart enough to listen to those enlisted Soldiers who told me that,” said the Carson-Newman College graduate.
Brown’s career is peppered with unique assignments to include operations officer, Joint Task Force Bravo, Camp Las Delicias, Honduras; and Brigade S-3, Deployment Support Brigade, Camp Pendleton, California. He is now an employee of the LMI Corporation, where he serves as a capability developer for CASCOM.
Thomas, a former mariner with nearly 40 years of service, stepped to the podium, quipped about his supposed “lack of emotion” with a slightly quivering voice and then recognized his partner as a first order of business. “The greatest thing to ever happen to me was my wife, Sue, and our almost 44 years of marriage” said the Indiana native rather poignantly. “I can’t thank her enough for supporting me along the whole way. I’m very proud of our daughters, Erin and Courtney. That kind of support is immeasurable.”
Among the positions Thomas has held during his career were chief mate, harbormaster, instructor and warrant officer training developer/analyst.
Nelson was the final recipient. The former command sergeant major for the 7th Transportation Brigade (Expeditionary) at Fort Eustis, praised his wife of nearly 34 years, Regina and their family. He then went on to share the first and last names of 60 individuals who helped transform him from a rough-around-the-edges Soldier and later a “know-it-all” to an effective leader. He said they were representative of the multitudes who made contributions to his career.
“There’s so many people who impacted my career in such a positive way,” he said. “To narrow the list down to 60 who represented hundreds if not thousands who made me who I am was very important to me, especially those first sergeants when I was a sergeant major and the platoon sergeants when I was a first sergeant. They were not always in the limelight, and I always tried to push them forward to take the credit. This was just one way to give them recognition.”
After the inductees were honored, the spouses were invited to the stage and honored with plaques. Afterward, Mary Sue Thomas described the prototypical life of an Army spouse – that of being the man of the house during her husband’s many absences.
“I did everything he did when he was home,” she said. “I was selling cars for him because he wasn’t using them anymore, and just everything you had to take care of when you have a house – in addition to the job I had as a school nurse. It was a busy life and fulfilling. I think we did a pretty good job between the two of us.”
HOF nominees must be separated from service at least three years as a prerequisite for nomination and must have made a significant contribution to the corps “in any action or sustained series of actions beyond the realm of normal duty performance,” according the Trans Corps website.
There are 110 Soldiers and civilians inducted in the hall as well as five units.
The HOF induction ceremony was one of the major events during the TC’s 73rd birthday celebration that included a motivation run of more than 2,000 Soldiers.
| Date Taken: | 08.06.2015 |
| Date Posted: | 08.06.2015 09:14 |
| Story ID: | 172314 |
| Location: | JOINT BASE LANGLEY-EUSTIS, VIRGINIA, US |
| Web Views: | 90 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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