In its long history, Oklahoma State University’s Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps Program (ROTC) has produced many great leaders including some who were POWs in North Vietnam and one who was missing in action but will never be forgotten.

The OSU ROTC program and alumni and other ROTC programs in Oklahoma will be inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame on Oct. 21 at the Embassy Suites Hilton in Norman. During the banquet, a ceremony will be held to recognize and remember America’s Prisoners of Wars and those listed as Missing in Action (MIAs). A missing man table will be set up with six empty chairs representing Americans from the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force and Coast Guard and civilians who were or are missing. Captain Neil Stanley “Cherokee” Bynum, a native of Vian, is OSU’s MIA.

He was a Weapons System Operator riding in the back seat of a plane piloted by Captain Gray Warren on Oct. 26, 1969. The aircraft crashed. Gray was reclassified from MIA to killed in action on Oct. 26^th. Bynum was continued in MIA status until May 13, 1976, when the Secretary of the Air Force approved a “Presumptive Finding” of death.

The former ROTC graduates who were POWs are: Lt. Col. William Schwertfeger, who was born in Enid and grew up in Medford; and Col. William H. “Bill” Talley, who was born in Sayre. One other former POW is Lt. Col. Dick Francis, who graduated from OSU but was not in ROTC.

Schwertfeger received three Silver Stars. One was for leading an air strike force deep into hostile territory Feb. 16, 1972. He flew through anti-aircraft fire for more than two hours, locating targets and directing air strikes. He was honored in 2015 as OSU Alumni of the Year. He also is being honored this month as 2017 Air Force ROTC Alumni of the year.

Talley flew 151 combat missions in Vietnam. On May 11, 1972, he was forced to eject over enemy territory. He was a POW for 322 days before repatriation on March 28, 1973.

Talley was awarded two Distinguished Flying Crosses for Valor. One was for suppressing enemy surface-to-air missile sites and radar controlled antiaircraft artillery on April 21, 1972. He repeatedly attacked the sites to protect an American air strike force. He remained in the area after he used all his ammunition.

Francis was shot down over North Vietnam on May 11, 1972, and held prisoner for 275 days. Francis was awarded The Silver Star for leading a flight on a special combat mission over Hanoi, North Vietnam.

Other notable OSU ROTC graduates are Maj. Gen. S.T. Ayers and Ray Booker.

Ayers graduated from Arkansas Polytechnic University in 1942 and Oklahoma A&M(now OSU) in 1951. He is one of the people who helped found the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, said Maj. Gen. Douglas O. Dollar, who is a founder of the organization.

Ayers enlisted in the Air Force Reserve in 1943 and was called to active duty in 1944.He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1950. He served as mobilization assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Engineering at the Pentagon. He also served as a mobilization assistant for to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics and Engineering at the Pentagon. He also had a career in petroleum geology.

Booker graduated from Oklahoma A&M in 1957 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He is founder of Aeromet, Inc. and Aviation Technologies in Tulsa. Now retired, he was a certified Airline Transport Pilot. He was a cadet in Air Force ROTC at OSU and was inducted into the OSU Alumni Hall of Fame in 2012. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant and attended Pennsylvania State University where he received a master’s degree in 1962 and a Ph.D., both in meteorology.

EDMOND — For 47 years, the University of Central Oklahoma has produced military leaders through the Reserve Officer Training Corps, including a woman who is a brigadier general and an inductee in the inaugural class of the ROTC Hall of Fame at Fort Knox, Ky.

Brig. Gen. Alicia A. Tate-Nadeau, an Enid native and graduate of the University of Central Oklahoma, was commissioned through the ROTC program as an Army lieutenant in 1986. She currently is assistant adjutant general in the Illinois National Guard.

She is one of five Oklahomans inducted June 10 into the national ROTC Hall of Fame. The others are H.E. Gene Rainbolt, an Oklahoma banker from Oklahoma City and 1952 University of Oklahoma ROTC graduate; Maj. Gen. Douglas O. Dollar, Stillwater, a 1967 Oklahoma State University ROTC graduate; Col. Henry O. Tuell III, a 1968 ROTC graduate of OU; and OSU President Burns Hargis, a 1970 ROTC graduate of OSU.

UCO’s ROTC program has been commissioning between 12 to 15 ROTC cadets annually, said Daryl Shryock, human resources administrator for the military science (ROTC) department since 2000. He has more than 28 years of military experience as a commissioned officer.

Like many colleges and universities, UCO offers students at other area universities the opportunity to be in the ROTC program.

Schools whose students can attend ROTC classes at UCO include Oklahoma City University, Southern Nazarene University, Langston University, Oklahoma Christian University and Southwestern Christian University.

Lt. Meagan Green is a Southern Nazarene University graduate who attended ROTC at UCO where she received her commission.

Students like herself commuted to UCO for the ROTC classes, she said.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of ROTC in America and Oklahoma.

The Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame will honor ROTC programs and their alumni at the Military Hall of Fame banquet Oct. 21 at Embassy Suites in Norman.

Maj. Gen. Dollar, founder of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, has established a website for ROTC alumni to obtain more information and register to be recognized for their services.

The Reserve Officer Training Corps was created nationally in 1916 and Oklahoma A&M College (now Oklahoma State University) wasted little time establishing an Army ROTC program in the same year on the Stillwater, Ok., campus.

Before ROTC, many colleges organized under the 1862 land grant federal legislation, including Oklahoma A&M, had some military instruction, but the National Defense Act of 1916 that created ROTC nationally was more widespread. It also expanded the Army and National Guard, and created an Officers’ and Enlisted Reserve Corps, as well as ROTC.

In the past 100 years of ROTC, OSU has produced many notable officers including many who are in the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, which was founded in 1999. ROTC graduates include OSU President Burns Hargis, who was in Air Force and Army ROTC while a student at OSU.

Hargis was in ROTC from 1963-67. He was commissioned in 1970 and served as an Army Finance Officer in the 95^th Division (Training) and reached the rank of Captain. His service ended in 1976.

“I appreciate my time in ROTC. My service helped to shape me and prepare me for a rewarding career that has crossed many fields, Hargis said. “ROTC instills the attributes of duty, loyalty, teamwork, honor and service.

“Those are the values one learns through ROTC and have served me throughout my life.”

This year the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, founded in 1999 by Stillwater’s Maj. Gen. Douglas O. Dollar, will honor Oklahoma ROTC programs and alumni at its Hall of Fame banquet Oct. 21 at the Embassy Suites in Norman. Because this is the ROTC Centennial, Dollar, an ROTC graduate from OSU, wants to honor as many Oklahoma ROTC alumni as possible. Dollar has set up a website for the event, http:www.okrotc2016.org.

Also this year Hargis and Dollar were selected for induction into the Army’s ROTC National Hall of Fame at Fort Knox, KY.

Another notable Oklahoman—former Gov. Henry Bellmon—attended OSU when students had to attend the mandatory two-year ROTC program. Upon graduation in 1942, Bellmon, who would be Oklahoma’s governor twice and a U.S. Senator, volunteered for the Marine Corps. He served in the Pacific during the war and was awarded the Silver Star for Valor during the battle for Iwo Jima, probably the bloodiest battle in Marine Corps history.

A Medal of Honor recipient, Price Hays attended then Oklahoma A&M from 1914 to 1917 and participated in the Student Army Training Corps. After graduation Hays joined the Army and was commissioned a second lieutenant. While serving as an artillery officer in France in World War I, he earned the Medal of Honor. On July 14, 1918, Germany artillery fire destroyed American communication lines. Hays rode on horseback between his unit, the command post and two French artillery batteries the rest of that day and the next. Seven horses were shot out from under him in the battle and he was severely wounded. His efforts stopped the German advance, his Medal of Honor citation said.

He served again in World War II in Europe, and organized and was the first commanding general of the Army’s famed 10^th Mountain Division, and retired later as a Lieutenant General.

Bellmon and Hays, along with 15 other OSU ROTC alumni, are in the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame.

Another OSU graduate who played baseball for the Cowboys is Lieutenant General Jerry Max Bunyard, a native of Altus. He was commander of the Army’s 1^st Aerial Rocket Battalion in Vietnam. Commissioned in 1968 as a second lieutenant in field artillery at OSU, Randal Rigby eventually became the Army’s chief of artillery and ultimately retired as a lieutenant general. It is estimated that more than 90 OSU graduates have attained the rank of general officer.

Col. William A. Ahrberg, a member of the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame, not only attended ROTC but came back from the Korean War and taught ROTC at OSU.

In its storied history, Oklahoma Military Academy’s Reserve Officer Training Program produced thousands of military leaders including one who led the last horse cavalry charge in U.S. Army history and another who was awarded a battlefield promotion to major by the legendary Gen. George S. Patton.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of the Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) nationwide, and the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame will recognize state ROTC programs and their alumni at an Oct. 21 banquet at the Embassy Suites in Norman, said Maj. Gen. Douglas O. Dollar, founder of the Hall of Fame.

Dollar, who lives in Stillwater, is an Oklahoma State University ROTC graduate and founder of the Military Hall of Fame. ROTC alumni are encouraged to find further information and register to be recognized for their service on a web site set up especially for the event, https://okhonorscampaigns.org.

Since ROTC was established nationally in 1916, many ROTC cadets have fought in the nation’s wars including World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The Oklahoma Military Academy (OMA), located in Claremore, was founded in 1919 and closed in 1971. Its alumni association meets annually and will hold this year’s Alumni Reunion on June 10 and 11 at Rogers State University, the former site of OMA at Claremore.

During the 52 years of its existence, OMA trained more than 10,000 ROTC cadets with approximately 80 percent serving in wartime, said Phil Goldfarb, an OMA alumnus, historian and President of the OMA Alumni Association.

Lt. Col. Edwin Price Ramsey, an OMA graduate, led a horse cavalry charge in the Philippines shortly after World War II began.bLt. Gen. William E. Potts, the highest ranking graduate of OMA, entered World War II as a second lieutenant and became the youngest field grade officer to lead a battalion in the European theater of World War II.

In 1932, OMA received an Honor School rating for its ROTC program. It received that Honor designation each year until it close in 1971.

Lt. Col. Edwin Price Ramsey

On Jan. 16, 1942, American and Philippine soldiers were fighting to repel invading Japanese forces in the Philippines on Bataan. As some of the Japanese forces neared the American and Philippine lines, Ramsey and his horse cavalry unit charged the Japanese soldiers, driving them off.

Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, commander of forces in the Philippines, awarded Ramsey the Silver Star for gallantry for leading the horse cavalry charge, the last in U.S. Army history. When Bataan and the rest of the Philippines fell to the Japanese, Ramsey escaped and formed a guerilla unit that fought the Japanese until the war ended.

Ramsey, who died in 2013, wrote a book about his adventures, Lieutenant Ramsey’s War.

Lt. Gen. William E. Potts

Potts fought in World War II, Korea and Vietnam. A native of Heavener, Potts was only 22 when Patton promoted him to major in recognition of his leadership as a battalion commander. He commanded an armored cavalry unit.

While at OMA, Potts was named a Distinguished Honor Graduate of OMA and the outstanding ROTC graduate by the U.S. Reserve Officer’s Association.

Seven countries, including France, the Republic of China and the United States have honored him with 51 decorations including the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star and Purple Heart.

Potts died in 2005. He and Ramsey are in the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame. Potts was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 2009, and Ramsey was inducted in 2010.

Originally when OMA was established at Claremore in 1919, it was a high school. It was the first high school in Oklahoma to have Junior ROTC. By 1923, OMA was a six-year institution including four years of high school and two years of junior college.

In 1930, OMA had 289 cadets enrolled and established a senior ROTC Cavalry program. The federal government sent 60 horses and 11 enlisted men to OMA for training.

OMA closed in 1971 because of declining enrollment. Rogers State University now sits where OMA trained young soldiers.

Since 1917, the University of Oklahoma’s Reserve Officer Training Corps (ROTC) has produced military leaders, including two Medal of Honor recipients, who made the difference in winning battles throughout the world.

Many of these early ROTC graduates from OU would fight in World War II, both in Europe and the Pacific. Others would fight in Korea, Vietnam and now Iraq and Afghanistan. As the nation remembers its veterans this Memorial Day, here are some who received their ROTC training at OU:

• John Lucian Smith of Lexington and Leon Robert Vance of Enid would earn the Medal of Honor for heroic action in World War II.
• Other OU grads including Hal Muldrow and Russell Dwight Funk would turn a potential military disaster into an Allied victory on the embattled beachhead of Salerno, Italy, in 1943.

This year marks the 100^th anniversary of ROTC programs in America. The Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame will honor Oklahoma ROTC programs and alumni at its Hall of Fame banquet Oct. 21 at the Embassy Suites in Norman. Because this is ROTC’s Centennial, Maj. Gen. Douglas O. Dollar, of Stillwater, and an Oklahoma State University ROTC graduate, wants as many Oklahoma ROTC alumni as possible to be recognized for their service.

OU MEDAL OF HONOR recipients, Smith and Vance

Smith was commissioned an Army lieutenant of artillery at OU. He later resigned to accept a commission in the U.S. Marine Corps where he became a pilot. He became a Marine Corps Ace who shot down 19 Japanese planes and led his fighter squadron on many sorties, accounting for the destruction of 83 enemy aircraft. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 2010.

Vance entered OU and spent two years in ROTC. In his second year, one of the incoming freshmen and comrades in ROTC was Smith.  After Vance’s second year, he was accepted by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and graduated as an infantry lieutenant. He went to flight school and was assigned to the Army Air Corps.

On June 5, 1944, Vance earned his Medal of Honor in his second and final combat mission. He flew a B-24 in an Allied attack on German positions on the French coast one day before the Normandy Invasion.

Vance’s plane was damaged by anti-aircraft fire, wounding many of his crew. Vance, whose right foot was partially severed, still managed to fly the plane. It was too heavily damaged to land in England so Vance flew over the English Channel where his crew could safely bail out and be rescued. He then landed in the water. An explosion blew him out of the plane and he clutched a life preserver until he was rescued.

Two months later he was put on a plane for evacuation to the United States. The plane disappeared between Iceland and Newfoundland and was never found. His Medal of Honor was awarded posthumously. Vance Air Force Base in Enid is named after him. He was inducted into the Oklahoma Military Hall of Fame in 2009.

Salerno, Italy

ROTC was mandatory for most students at OU. And after college, many ROTC cadets including Hal Muldrow and Russell Dwight Funk joined the 45^th Infantry Division, a National Guard Division that was organized in 1923 and would be mobilized for World War II and again for the Korean War in 1950. Funk joined the Division in 1923 and Muldrow joined it in 1928.

Muldrow, who lived in Norman, eventually would command the 45^th. Funk, of Oklahoma City, would be a Colonel and would make the Army his career.

At Salerno, the two officers and their men would keep the Germans from winning the battle. During fighting at Salerno, Germans found a gap in the Allied forces that led to the ocean.

Intent on pushing the 45^th and adjoining forces into the sea, the Germans launched a counterattack of tanks and infantry down that gap and toward the ocean. A volume of Time-Life Books World War II series said it best in crediting the 45h with saving the invasion.

“Between the German spearhead and the water stood only a handful of American infantrymen and some 105 mm guns of the 189^th Field Artillery Battalion under Lt. Col. Hal Muldrow Jr. and the 158^th Field Artillery Battalion under Lt. Col Russell Funk, both of the 45^th Division,” Time-Life said.

The two artillery battalions fired eight rounds per minute per gun, “a rate perhaps unsurpassed by any artillery in World War II,” Time-Life said. Together, the two battalions fired 3,650 rounds, stopping the German attack and preserving the Allied beachhead.

Some additional notable OU ROTC graduates

OU ROTC cadet Ernest L. “Iron Mike”  Massad  would join the 11^th Airborne  Division as a battalion commander of artillery and fight in the Pacific.  Massad was an OU football player, basketball player and track man. He was named to several All-American football teams. He later was a Major General, commanding the Army Reserve’s 95^th Division (Training). He held the three star rank when he served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense from 1969 to 1970.

Bob Kalsu was a University of Oklahoma All-American tackle in 1967. Kalsu played one year for the Buffalo Bills and was named the team’s top rookie. He was an ROTC graduate and went on active duty after the 1968 football season. A Lieutenant in the artillery, Kalsu was killed in Vietnam on July 21, 1970.