FORT SILL, Okla. (July 9, 2015) -- They say a picture is worth a thousand words, but behind every picture at the Fort Sill Artillery Officer Candidate School Hall of Fame (HoF) is at least a thousand-word story.
There are 1,070 portraits in the HoF, and the hall administrators are eager to tell visitors the stories behind any of them.
Randy Dunham, FA OCS Alumni Chapter secretary, and his wife, Penny Dunham, HoF administrator, volunteer running the hall on a daily basis.
"We want visitors to understand how important the Officer Candidate School, which was where from 1941 to 1973, was to the history of Fort Sill, the military and the nation," Randy said.
The HoF was created by a grant from the U.S. Field Artillery Association in June 1968, to recognize prominent OCS alumni from the coast, field and air defense artillery branches.
Eligible candidates must have graduated from one of seven OCS artillery programs, such as the one at Fort Sill. Others include Seacoast Artillery Army OCS Fort Monroe, Va., which operated 1942-44; the Anti-aircraft Artillery OCS Fort Bliss, Texas, which was open 1951-53; and OCS Fort Benning, Ga., in use from 1973 to the present.
They must also meet one of four other criteria:
- Recipient of the Medal of Honor or the Distinguished Service Cross.
- Attained the rank of colonel or above while on active duty or in the reserve.
- Have been appointed or elected to an office of national prominence, such as a senator.
- Have rendered outstanding service to his/her nation, community or profession.
HoF members include Gen. Tommy Franks, who led the attack against the Taliban in Afghanistan after the 9/11 attacks; Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman joint chiefs of staff 1993-97; and the Army's first black aviator Maj. Charles Brown, an artillery liaison pilot.
NOMINATIONS
Every year, alumni are nominated for induction. A panel consisting of the FA OCS Alumni Chapter's president, vice-president, secretary and treasurer screen the nominations.
The panel submits its recommendations to the 428th Field Artillery Brigade commander, who forwards them to the Field Artillery School commandant for final approval/disapproval. There are plans to bring the ADA School commandant into the final selection process, said Randy, who graduated from FA OCS in May 1969, here.
On average, about 11 alumni are inducted each year during a banquet at Fort Sill in May. Randy said he expects the first woman member to be inducted as soon as next year.
UNIQUE MEMBERS
If HoF members have to be Army artillery officers, then why are a Sailor, an enlisted Soldier and civilians in the hall?
Navy Capt. Stanley Holloway, Class No. 35A 1967, left the Army as an artillery officer and he tried to come back in with his former rank, but he was turned down, Randy said. So he went into the Navy, became an aviator, then later commanded Seal Team 7, and attained the pay grade of O-6.
Command Sgt. Maj. Frederick Sexton, Class No. 21A 1967, spent 42 consecutive months in Vietnam as an artillery officer. He was released from the Army during a reduction in force in 1975.
"He decided that he loved the military, so he reverted back to his enlisted status, and rose to the rank of command sergeant major," Randy said.
There are several HoF members who attained prominence through civilian endeavors, including a secretary of commerce and a few CEOs, Penny said.
HoF member writer Shelby Foote, former artillery captain, attained notoriety as a Civil War historian.
HoF member Capt. Johnny Clack lost three limbs in Vietnam, and was retired for medical reasons. After his wife left him, he home schooled his children. He is an advocate for veterans' benefits, and memorials in Georgia, and he retired as a civil service employee from the Department Veterans Affairs, Penny said.
The HoF has two Medal of Honor recipients, including 1st Lt. James Robinson Jr. He was killed in Germany in 1945, and in 1953 the OCS area here was named Robinson Barracks in his honor.
The hall also memorializes more than 1,300 other artillery officers, and Fort Sill non-artillery OCS officers, who were killed in action, in its Hall of Heroes.
MORE THAN PHOTOS
The HoF features not only members' portraits, but tells the story of the artillery OCS school at Fort Sill with photographs, military records, class rosters, displays and memorabilia donated by graduates.
One display on the second floor of Durham Hall, depicts an OCS student's room in the barracks in the early 1960s, complete with training materials, personal letters and shaving kits.
There are numerous class guidons, as well as class photographs showing black and white students together.
During World War II, artillery OCS at Fort Sill was integrated, Randy said. Soldiers were assigned to six-man hutments solely by their last name alphabetically.
"You might have a hutment with one African-American Soldier, or one hutment with all African-Americans," he said. "There was no segregation in OCS, but after they went to their units there was segregation."
VISITORS
Randy said he cannot recall ever spending less than one hour with a visitor in the hall -- even those who said they just wanted to spend a few minutes there.
"A graduate or a family member will start walking around then they will see a photo and say, 'I served with him or he was my commander or I remember him when he was a lieutenant,'" Randy said. "And, they don't want to leave."
Penny recalled the story of a Soldier here who was getting ready to PCS, but hadn't yet visited the HoF. His father had graduated from OCS here in the 1950s and was now living in Austin, Texas. So the Soldier, with his sons, met his father at the HoF.
"We had three generations of that family visiting," she said. "The grandkids, boys about 7 and 8, were posing the grandfather around his picture in the hall."
The HoF has been administered by FA OCS Alumni Chapter volunteers since 1999. Randy first began working at the HoF in 2005, and was inducted into it in 2013, for his years of ministration to the hall and FA OCS Alumni Chapter.
Penny and Randy not only take visitors through the hall, but they stay busy performing research, responding to email inquiries, updating the hall's website, maintaining its mailing list, and planning and coordinating the artillery reunion.
"I believe it's a nearly full-time job for both of us," Randy said. "You might say it's an obsession, but we enjoy doing it."
To schedule a visit to the HoF, call 580-355-(JARK) 5275 or email admin@artilleryocsalumni.com. To virtually peruse HoF records and images, visit www.artilleryocsalumni.com.
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