Table Of ContentD 103.43:870-1-65
EP 870-1-65
October 2002
Major General
Richard S. Kem
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EP 870-1-65
October 2002
Engineer Memoirs
MAJOR GENERAL RICHARD S. KEM
U.S.A. Retired
Office of History
Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
Alexandria, Virginia
Engineer Memoirs
Interviewers
Dr. William C. Baldwin is a historian in the Office of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. He is a graduate of the College of William and Mary and received his doctorate in
military history from the University of Michigan. He is the author of The Engineer Studies Center
and Army Analysis: A History of the U.S. Army Engineer Studies Center, 1943-1982, and he was the
interviewer and editor of the Engineer Memoirs of Lieutenant General John W. Morris.
Dr. Paul K. Walker is Chief of the Office of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers. Dr. Walker is a graduate of The George Washington University and received his doctorate
in history from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He is the author of Engineers of
Independence: A Documentary History of the Army Engineers in the American Revolution, 1775-
1783 and The Corps Responds: A History of the Susquehanna Engineer District and Tropical Storm
Agnes and coauthor of Financing Water Resources: A Brief History. He has written articles on the
Battle of Yorktown and canals in early American history.
Dr. John T. Greenwood is Chief of the Office of Medical History of the Office of the Surgeon
General, U.S. Army Medical Command. He is a graduate of the University of Colorado and received
his doctorate in history from Kansas State University. After serving as a historian for the Air Force,
he was Chief of the Office of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, from 1978 to
1988. He was Director of Field Programs and International Programs and then Chief of Field
Programs and Historical Services Division at the U.S. Army Center of Military History until he
joined the Surgeon General’s office in October 1998.
Acknowledgements
Marilyn Hunter, Susan Carroll, and Jean Diaz edited this interview at various stages in its
production. The Publishing Group of the Engineer Research and Development Center also edited and
prepared the interview for publication.
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Richard S. Kem
Contents
Foreword.iii
Interviewers.iv
Acknowledgements.iv
Introduction.ix
Career Summary.xi
Promotion History.xiii
Education.xiii
Decorations.xiii
Interview.1
Early Years and West Point.3
23d Engineers, 3d Armored Division.24
62d Engineer Battalion (Construction).47
University of Illinois.49
Engineer Advisor in South Vietnam.55
Chicago District.74
Alaska Earthquake.82
Advanced Course, U.S. Army Engineer School.88
307th Engineer Battalion, 82d Airborne Division.91
Command and General Staff College.96
Commander, 577th Engineer Battalion (Construction).99
Staff, U.S. Military Academy.132
Naval War College.140
Military Personnel Center.143
Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army.166
Chief of Public Affairs, Office of the Chief of Engineers.172
Commander, 7th Engineer Brigade.185
Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer, USAREUR.224
Deputy Assistant Chief of Engineers.248
Deputy Director of Civil Works.263
Commanding General, Ohio River Division.268
Commanding General, U.S. Army Engineer Center and Fort Belvoir.327
Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer, USAREUR.382
Chief of Staff, USAREUR.414
Deputy Chief of Engineers.433
Acronyms.488
Index.492
Appendix A: Centralized Command Selection Paper.A-l
Appendix B: Engineers - A "Corps" in the Army’s Regimental System.B-l
Appendix C: E-Force, Army of Excellence, Combat Engineers.C-l
Appendix D: Corps of Engineers Automation Plan (CEAP) Briefing for Assistant Secretary
of the Army (Civil Works).D-l
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Engineer Memoirs
Photographs
Major General R. S. “Sam” Kem, Deputy Chief of Engineers, 13 July 1990.2
Cadet Kem met with Congressman Ralph Harvey, who had appointed him to West Point, in the
Hotel Willard after marching in the Eisenhower inauguration parade in January 1953.4
Cadet “Sam” Kem.10
Cadet Kem showed his parents and brothers the “sammy” (syrup) pitcher on the dining table in
Washington Hall during his plebe Christmas at West Point in 1952.17
First Lieutenant R. S. “Sam” Kem.30
First Lieutenant Kem watched a motor pool vehicle inspection in West Germany in November 1958.33
Captain Kem was an advisor with the 201st Engineer Battalion of the Army of the Republic of
Vietnam in 1962.58
In May 1962 Company B of the 201st Engineer Battalion was rebuilding the French airfield at
An Khe.59
In May 1962 Company C of the 201st Engineer Battalion was constructing a road north from
An Khe to Kannack.59
Cantonment of Headquarters and B and C Companies of the 201st Engineer Battalion, Army of
the Republic of Vietnam.61
Captain Kem as an Engineer advisor talking with a local inhabitant near Pleiku in South Vietnam
in April 1962.62
In August 1962 the 20th Engineer Group of the Army of the Republic of Vietnam was opening
a road from Cheo Reo to Cung Son.67
Captain Kem, Deputy District Engineer, Chicago District, and Ann Kem in 1965.75
Brigadier General Raymond J. Harvey, Assistant Commandant of the Engineer School, presented
the Army Commendation Medal to Captain Kem for his work during the Alaska earthquake in
October 1965.87
Lieutenant Colonel Kem commanded the 577th Engineer Battalion from July 1968 to July 1969.101
Army Engineer bridges over the Ban Thach River in South Vietnam.105
The 577th Engineer Battalion quarry operations at Chop Chai Mountain near Tuy Hoa, South
Vietnam, in January 1969.106
The 577th Engineer Battalion (Construction) built the Ban Thach River bridge from pre-cast
elements in 1968.108
Reviewing stand of Headquarters, 577th Engineer Battalion (Construction), at Phu Hiep, South
Vietnam, in September 1968.110
U.S. Army helicopters leapfrogged M4T6 trestles along the route from Tuy Hoa to Cung Son
in February 1969.114
The completed Ban Thach bridge was dedicated on 7 December 1968.116
Lieutenant Colonel Kem spoke at the dedication of the Ban Thach bridge.117
Lieutenant Colonel Kem with Brigadier General John W. Morris, Commander of the 18th
Engineer Brigade, at Don Duong, South Vietnam, in May 1969.118
Colonel Kem received the colors of the 7th Engineer Brigade from Lieutenant General Frederick J.
Kroesen, Commanding General, VII Corps, in July 1976.185
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Richard S. Kem
Colonel Kem, Commander of the 7th Engineer Brigade, addressed soldiers of the 78th
Engineer Battalion on 30 November 1977.191
Colonel Kem inspected the bridging exercises on the Rhine River conducted by the labor
service companies and the 565th Engineer Battalion in the spring of 1977 .203
Colonel Kem reviewed the 20th Engineer Battalion’s plans to destroy bridges on the Iller River
in Exercise Carbon Edge, REFORGER 77, in September 1977.212
Lieutenant General David Ott, Commander of the VII Corps, and Colonel Kem as Kem left his
assignment as Commander of the 7th Engineer Brigade in July 1978.223
Ann Kem and Lieutenant General John W. Morris, Chief of Engineers, pin brigadier general’s stars
on General Kern’s uniform during his promotion ceremony in November 1979.252
General Kern’s wife, children, and parents at his promotion to brigadier general in November 1979.253
General Kem with Mr. William R. Gianelli, who was Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil
Works from 1981 to 1984.277
General Kem at his promotion to major general in July 1984.328
General Kem received the school colors from General Carl Vuono, Commanding General,
Training and Doctrine Command, when he became Commander of the U.S. Army Engineer
Center and Fort Belvoir, Virginia.329
General Kem and Major General James N. Ellis, departing Commander of the U.S. Army
Engineer Center and Fort Belvoir, Virginia, at the change of command ceremonies on
21 August 1984.329
General Kem, Commandant of the Engineer School, congratulated his son. Second Lieutenant
John Kem, on his graduation from the Engineer Officer Basic Course on 27 November 1985.335
General Kem and Lieutenant General Elvin R. Heiberg III, Chief of Engineers, observed a test
of the M9 ACE during the summer of 1985.342
General Kem with Brigadier Roland Zedler, Commandant of the West German engineers,
during a visit to a German engineer river crossing in 1986.348
General Kem greeted Lieutenant Colonel Garth Hewish, British Liaison Officer, and his wife
Sheila when he was Commander of the Engineer School.355
General Kem met with Israeli Defense Force officers during a visit to Israel while he was
Commander of the Engineer School.361
The first Honorary Colonel of the newly established Engineer regiment, called the Corps of
Engineers, Lieutenant General Frederick J. Clarke (Retired), former Chief of Engineers, passed
the colors of the regiment to General Kem, Commandant of the Engineer School, at the unfurling
of the new colors at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on 23 June 1986.370
Lieutenant General Elvin R. Heiberg HI, Chief of Engineers and Colonel of the Engineer
Regiment; Lieutenant General Frederick J. Clarke, Honorary Colonel of the Regiment and
former Chief of Engineers; and General Kem at the ceremony establishing the regiment.371
General Kem presented a commemorative painting from the Engineer School to General Bruce C.
Clarke (Retired), a prominent Engineer officer, on 10 March 1987.376
General Kem received the Distinguished Service Medal from the Commander of the Training
and Doctrine Command, General Maxwell Thurman, at the Change of Command Ceremony at
the Engineer School on 6 July 1987.382
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Engineer Memoirs
General Kem, Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer (DCSENG), U.S. Army Europe, with Mr. Korte
of the West German Ministry of Defense, Dr. Fischer, Ministry of Finance, and Jorge Fuentes,
Chief of the Real Estate Division, DCSENG.396
Commander-in-Chief to Commander-in-Chief meeting in Heidelberg, West Germany, in 1989.426
General Kem, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Europe, and Major General Fursin, Chief of Staff of the
Group of Soviet Forces Germany, at a 1989 celebration of the meeting of American and Soviet
forces on the Elbe River in 1945.427
Major General Kem escorted Major General Fursin, Chief of Staff of the Group of Soviet Forces
Germany, on a visit to Grafenwohr in 1989 during the CINC to CINC visit.428
General Kem toured the Pineville, Kentucky, project as the Nashville District prepared to drill
tunnels.436
General Kem with leaders from the Nashville District at the Divide Cut of the Tennessee-Tombigbee
Waterway in 1990.445
General Kem, Deputy Chief of Engineers, inspected the chemical demilitarization facility on
Johnston Island during a visit to the Pacific in 1990.454
General Kem with members of the Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers staff..468
Groundbreaking Ceremony at the new Winfield Lock.478
In a ceremony at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, on 3 May 2002, Major General Richard S. Kem, USA
(Ret.), received the Gold Order of the deFleury Medal from Lieutenant General Robert B. Flowers, Chief
of Engineers and Colonel of the Army Engineer Regiment. The Gold Order of the deFleury Medal is the
most prestigious individual recognition award presented by the Army Engineer Regiment. Only one such
medal is presented each year. General Kem also is wearing the Silver Order of the deFleury Medal, which
he received in May 1989.487
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Richard S. Kem
Introduction
by
William C. Baldwin
Major General Richard Samuel “Sam” Kern’s distinguished Army career culminated in two
prominent senior positions: Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Europe and Deputy Chief of Engineers.
For two years at the end of the Cold War he was one of the senior leaders of the Army’s most
important front line combat force, and in his last assignment he helped lead the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers during a critical transition period in its modem history. As General Kem thoughtfully
describes in this interview, his earlier assignments had well prepared him for his senior positions.
After graduating from West Point in 1956 and attending Ranger, Airborne, and Engineer training.
General Kem went to a junior officer assignment in America’s most important potential theater of
operations, Europe, in one of the key units in that theater, an armored division. His experiences in the
3d Armored Division and the lessons he learned would serve him well for the next 30 years of his
career. In just a few years, however, while still a junior officer, he saw early the challenges that
would confront the United States in its next combat operations in Southeast Asia, as an engineer
advisor assigned to South Vietnamese engineer units in 1962. After honing his combat engineering
skills with the 307th Engineer Battalion, 82d Airborne Division, he returned to South Vietnam in
1968 in the middle of the war as commander of the 577th Engineer Battalion. After seven years as a
student, teacher, and staff officer, he returned to troop command in America’s front line army in
Europe as commander of the 7th Engineer Brigade. His experience in combat and command
culminated in General Kern’s tour as commandant of the Engineer School where he oversaw the
training of young officers, the reorganization and strengthening of engineer combat units, and the
development of new and vital engineer doctrine and equipment. He then returned to Europe to apply
his skills and implement the lessons he had learned as Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer, and Chief of
Staff of the U.S. Army Europe at the peak of Reagan Administration defense buildup and on the eve
of the collapse of the Soviet Union. From his earliest military training and assignments, General
Kern’s experiences prepared him well for his culminating positions in America’s senior overseas
theater.
His service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also prepared him for assignment to senior
positions in the organization that would become a major Army command (MACOM) in 1979. After
earning a master’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois, General Kem was
assigned to the Chicago District, at that time a large district with both civil works and military
construction responsibilities. In addition to learning about the activities of an engineer district,
General Kem experienced firsthand the Corps’ important role in helping communities recover from
natural disasters. In 1964 the district sent him to Alaska to help with the cleanup following the
devastating earthquake. Later General Kem served as Chief of Public Affairs in Corps headquarters
as the agency struggled with its new environmental missions and the many controversies they
produced. In his next Corps assignment as Deputy Assistant Chief of Engineers in the Pentagon,
Kem was a key player in the Army’s programming and budgeting cycles and in relations with
Congress. As Deputy Director of Civil Works, he learned more about the Corps’ water resources
program. With this varied Corps background, General Kem was named commander of the important
Ohio River Division (ORD) headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. ORD’s diverse civil and military
responsibilities required careful management, especially in the early years of a new presidential
administration committed to bolstering the nation’s defenses and finding new approaches to the
Corps’ water resources program. These varied Corps assignments culminated in General Kern’s
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Engineer Memoirs
becoming the Deputy Chief of Engineers and Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps
of Engineers in 1989. He assisted the Chief of Engineers, LTG Henry Hatch, in confronting the many
difficult issues facing the Corps, including research and development, automation, and strategic
planning. After a distinguished career of 34 years, General Kem retired in the fall of 1990.
This oral history interview contains General Kern’s recollections and reflections on his
background and his career in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. Like all oral history interviews, the
transcript includes General Kern’s personal thoughts and perspectives. Neither his views nor those of
the interviewer necessarily reflect those of the Department of Defense or the Corps of Engineers. The
strength of oral history is that it captures the unique perspectives and interpretations of individuals
who witnessed or participated in historical events. Oral history can supplement and enrich the
official record but never replace it. Interviews are often not objective nor are they expected to be.
Their value is contained in the unique personal perspective they provide.
The interviews in this publication were conducted by three historians who were members of the
Office of History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, when they taped the interviews.
Dr. Paul K. Walker conducted the session on General Kern’s tenure as Deputy Chief of Engineers
and Deputy Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on 19 October 1990, shortly
after General Kem retired from the Army. Dr. John T. Greenwood conducted two sessions on
General Kern’s three years as Commanding General of the Engineer Center and Commandant of the
Engineer School at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, on 29 June and 13 July 1987, as the general was leaving
that position. Dr. William C. Baldwin and Dr. Walker conducted the remainder of the interview on
22, 24, and 29 October 1990; 13 August, 12 September, 11 October, and 5 November 1991; and 6
February 1992.
The interviews concerning command of the Engineer School and deputy command of the Corps
of Engineers capture events shortly after they occurred and have an immediacy that comes from
being close to events. Inevitably, however, they lack the perspective brought by the passage of time.
That perspective informs the rest of the interview that ranges over General Kern’s life and career
from childhood to his retirement from the Army. General Kem and the interviewers reviewed and
edited the transcripts, and Marilyn Hunter, Susan Carroll, and Jean Diaz edited the interview for
publication. The original tapes of the interview are in the Research Collections of the Office of
History, Headquarters, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. The photographs in this publication are from
General Kern’s personal collection.
Conducting, transcribing, reviewing, editing, and publishing an oral history takes a long time.
The Office of History thanks General Kem for the sizable amount of time he devoted to this project
and for his support and patience during the lengthy publication process. His time is especially
valuable because of his busy schedule as Director of the Department of Public Works for Arlington
County, Virginia, a position he has occupied for more than a decade. While the production of these
Engineer Memoirs, a series that began more than two decades ago, is time-consuming for all
participants, the Office of History believes it is time well invested because of the unique and
valuable historical information and perspective the Memoirs preserve and make available to those
who read and benefit from them.
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