USMA Class of 1944. Corps of Engineers.
He was born on January 1, 1922 in Lawton, Oklahoma, the second of three sons of Herman and Eleanor Grisch Erlenkotter. His father was a member of the USMA Class of 1909, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the field artillery before his death at age 48. All three of his sons graduated from West Point: Robert, USMA Class of 1934, Richard, USMA Class of 1944 and David, USMA Class of 1945. After his father’s death, his mother settled in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. He attended the Stanton Preparatory School in Cornwall, New York, to prepare for the West Point entrance examinations and received a senatorial appointment from Senator W.W. Barbour of New Jersey. He entered West Point on July 1, 1941 as a member of the Class of 1945, later reorganized as the Class of June 1944. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he graduated near the top of his class and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. In October 1944, he married Elizabeth Bette Brennan whom he had met on a blind date. He helped with the reconstruction of Japan after the war, served as a military adviser to the Chinese Nationalist Army, constructed dams in New England, built bridges over the Rhine, defended the Fulda Gap during the Berlin Wall crisis, was on guard duty during the Tet Offensive and inspected the nation’s nuclear capability. He earned his master of science in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was inducted into the engineering honor society. He was a professor of military science at Clemson University in South Carolina. He and Bette were the parents of four daughters. After his retirement in 1974, he and Bette continued to live in San Rafael, California. He died on March 21, 1998 in San Rafael of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Survivors included his wife, Bette and their four daughters, three grandsons and four granddaughters.
Source: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates memorial.
He was born on January 1, 1922 in Lawton, Oklahoma, the second of three sons of Herman and Eleanor Grisch Erlenkotter. His father was a member of the USMA Class of 1909, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the field artillery before his death at age 48. All three of his sons graduated from West Point: Robert, USMA Class of 1934, Richard, USMA Class of 1944 and David, USMA Class of 1945. After his father’s death, his mother settled in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. He attended the Stanton Preparatory School in Cornwall, New York, to prepare for the West Point entrance examinations and received a senatorial appointment from Senator W.W. Barbour of New Jersey. He entered West Point on July 1, 1941 as a member of the Class of 1945, later reorganized as the Class of June 1944. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he graduated near the top of his class and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. In October 1944, he married Elizabeth Bette Brennan whom he had met on a blind date. He helped with the reconstruction of Japan after the war, served as a military adviser to the Chinese Nationalist Army, constructed dams in New England, built bridges over the Rhine, defended the Fulda Gap during the Berlin Wall crisis, was on guard duty during the Tet Offensive and inspected the nation’s nuclear capability. He earned his master of science in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was inducted into the engineering honor society. He was a professor of military science at Clemson University in South Carolina. He and Bette were the parents of four daughters. After his retirement in 1974, he and Bette continued to live in San Rafael, California. He died on March 21, 1998 in San Rafael of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Survivors included his wife, Bette and their four daughters, three grandsons and four granddaughters.
Source: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates memorial.
USMA Class of 1944. Corps of Engineers.
He was born on January 1, 1922 in Lawton, Oklahoma, the second of three sons of Herman and Eleanor Grisch Erlenkotter. His father was a member of the USMA Class of 1909, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the field artillery before his death at age 48. All three of his sons graduated from West Point: Robert, USMA Class of 1934, Richard, USMA Class of 1944 and David, USMA Class of 1945. After his father’s death, his mother settled in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. He attended the Stanton Preparatory School in Cornwall, New York, to prepare for the West Point entrance examinations and received a senatorial appointment from Senator W.W. Barbour of New Jersey. He entered West Point on July 1, 1941 as a member of the Class of 1945, later reorganized as the Class of June 1944. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he graduated near the top of his class and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. In October 1944, he married Elizabeth Bette Brennan whom he had met on a blind date. He helped with the reconstruction of Japan after the war, served as a military adviser to the Chinese Nationalist Army, constructed dams in New England, built bridges over the Rhine, defended the Fulda Gap during the Berlin Wall crisis, was on guard duty during the Tet Offensive and inspected the nation’s nuclear capability. He earned his master of science in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was inducted into the engineering honor society. He was a professor of military science at Clemson University in South Carolina. He and Bette were the parents of four daughters. After his retirement in 1974, he and Bette continued to live in San Rafael, California. He died on March 21, 1998 in San Rafael of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Survivors included his wife, Bette and their four daughters, three grandsons and four granddaughters.
Source: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates memorial.
He was born on January 1, 1922 in Lawton, Oklahoma, the second of three sons of Herman and Eleanor Grisch Erlenkotter. His father was a member of the USMA Class of 1909, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the field artillery before his death at age 48. All three of his sons graduated from West Point: Robert, USMA Class of 1934, Richard, USMA Class of 1944 and David, USMA Class of 1945. After his father’s death, his mother settled in Weehawken, New Jersey, where he graduated from Woodrow Wilson High School. He attended the Stanton Preparatory School in Cornwall, New York, to prepare for the West Point entrance examinations and received a senatorial appointment from Senator W.W. Barbour of New Jersey. He entered West Point on July 1, 1941 as a member of the Class of 1945, later reorganized as the Class of June 1944. On D-Day, June 6, 1944, he graduated near the top of his class and was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers. In October 1944, he married Elizabeth Bette Brennan whom he had met on a blind date. He helped with the reconstruction of Japan after the war, served as a military adviser to the Chinese Nationalist Army, constructed dams in New England, built bridges over the Rhine, defended the Fulda Gap during the Berlin Wall crisis, was on guard duty during the Tet Offensive and inspected the nation’s nuclear capability. He earned his master of science in civil engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was inducted into the engineering honor society. He was a professor of military science at Clemson University in South Carolina. He and Bette were the parents of four daughters. After his retirement in 1974, he and Bette continued to live in San Rafael, California. He died on March 21, 1998 in San Rafael of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Survivors included his wife, Bette and their four daughters, three grandsons and four granddaughters.
Source: United States Military Academy Association of Graduates memorial.
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