Sandy Carneal

Sandy graduated from Western in 1964 and immediately received an Army artillery commission. He finished the Field Officer’s Basic Course at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and received assignment to the 76th Field Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division in Kitzingen, Germany, where he served as first officer and battery executive officer. While in Oberrammergau, Germany, he obtained nuclear weapons officer rank and served as a battalion special weapons officer; then he served as 3rd Infantry Division artillery personnel officer until he rotated back to Fort Sill in 1967. At Fort Sill, as a part of the Non-Resident Instruction Department (NRID), he authored a sub-course on the employment of nuclear weapons. He received a discharge in 1967 with the rank of captain.

After his military career, Sandy began work as the human resources/union relations manager for several companies, including Goodyear Tire and Rubber, General Electric, American Sterilizer, and International Paper. Next, he became the union relations director for the New Jersey Aluminum Company and then human resources director for Kulka Smith, a subsidiary of North American Philips Company.

At this point Sandy made a total career change by going into the computer field, where he began by installing computer operating systems for Continental Insurance Company and then as consultant for IBM. He finished his career with an electronics company in Howell, New Jersey.

Sandy is now divorced and living in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

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Betsy Carroll

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George Case

George left Western in 1964 and went back to New York, where he found a job driving a bus. According to George, the job “sucked,” so he joined the Navy Reserve and in December of 1965 began active duty. He enjoyed the Navy life so much he decided to make it his career, spending most of the time in the personnel field. During his time in the Navy, he first served on the LST Pulaski, which delivered LCUs to Saigon; then he participated in operations with the Seventh Fleet, which took him to several ports in Southeast Asia, including Chu Lai, Nha Trang, Da Nang, and Vung Tau in Vietnam. George transferred back to the States in December 1966 and received assignment to the USS Mt. Baker, an ammunition ship docked at San Francisco. In December 1967 he transferred to WestPac in support of the Seventh Fleet, participating in operations in the Gulf of Tonkin and Subic Bay. In January 1968 he transferred to the USS Franklin Roosevelt, operating with the U. S. Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean Sea.

George decided at this time to marry, in his words, “the love of my life,” Barbara Postel. Soon after the marriage he began a three-year tour of duty at the Army Induction Center at Roanoke, Virginia. It was during this duty that he received the Joint Services Commendation Medal. In July 1971 he received assignment to the Naval Air Station Oceana, where he served on the USS Franklin Roosevelt with the “Black Aces” Fighter Squadron Forty-One. Next he transferred to advanced schooling in San Diego and then to duty at the Naval Training Center, Great Lakes, Illinois. After that he served as assistant personnel officer on the USS Forrestal and then in November 1981 transferred to the Navy recruiting school in Orlando, Florida. His next move was to the Navy Recruiting District Headquarters in Little Rock, Arkansas, where he was responsible for the District Processing Center in the now infamous Murrah Building in Oklahoma City. After a short duty on a destroyer in the Middle East, George retired in 1986 with the rank of master chief (E-2) after twenty-one and one-half years of service.

After his retirement from the Navy, George worked for a short time in Little Rock and then transferred to Tampa, Florida, where he and his wife, Barbara, now reside. He is presently employed as the office manager for a U. S. mail contract trucking company.

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Blake Clark

Blake graduated from Western with a business degree in 1965, intending to make the military a career and assuming he would go to Vietnam. According to Blake he had this idealistic vision at the time that the only way to be an American “was to die in Vietnam—a real kamikaze attitude!” However, things did not work out according to his vision.

He went to basic training and jump school at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then to jungle school in Panama. During his initial stay in Panama, he realized he did not want to make the military a career but, because of his jungle training, he believed he would be sent to Vietnam. To Blake’s surprise, he did not receive an assignment to Vietnam, but remained in Panama assigned to a quartermaster unit, where he served the remainder of his tour of duty. In Blake’s words, “Even though I never went to Southeast Asia, I still have the ultimate admiration and respect for those who did.”

Blake received a discharge from the Army in 1968 and married Susan Chadwell, a former Rebelette. They immediately moved to Jacksonville, Florida, where Blake worked as a rehabilitation counselor. In the meantime, Susan graduated from the University of Florida and became a school librarian. Blake received a master’s degree in 1970 and a doctorate in 1972 from the University of Florida.

Blake and Susan moved to Staunton, Virginia, where Blake became director of training at Woodrow Wilson Rehabilitation Center for the next eight years. In 1981 he began a private counseling practice, his present employment.

Blake and Susan have one daughter, Joanna. He enjoys golf and in 2007 is looking forward to retirement in a year or two.

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Steve Crider

Steve graduated from Western in 1962 with a major in biology and immediately received a commission as a RA second lieutenant. He went to AOC basic at Fort Knox and jump school at Fort Benning, completed a three-year tour with the 3rd ACR in Germany, and rotated back to the States in 1966. The Army then assigned him as S-4 2/II ARC and deployed him to RVN in July 1966. He returned in July 1967 to the armor school at Fort Knox and retired from the Army in 1968, when he returned to Western to complete a master’s degree in biology. He then enrolled in a University of Louisville doctoral program, majoring in environmental science. However, he decided to end doctorate work when his wife issued an ultimatum that he “get a real job.” He has worked as a commercial property manager for the last thirty-five years and is currently the plant director for St. Xavier High School in Louisville, Kentucky.

Steve is married to Norma Glass of Bowling Green and lives on a farm near La Grange, Kentucky. In his spare time he enjoys fruit and organic vegetable farming.

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Ramey Cunningham

Ramey graduated from Western in August 1962 and immediately went on active duty in September, where he remained until August 1990. He had intended to make the military a career but a medical problem intervened, and he spent the next few years doing volunteer work. He is now fully retired.

Ramey is, in his words, “short, bald, and still blind.” He has two sons and three grandchildren. Unfortunately, Ramey recently lost his wife.