Retired Lt. Gen. Woodmansee ’52 receives maroon letter sweater to match grandson

Retired Lt. Gen. John (Jack) Woodmansee ’52 recently received a new maroon letter sweater, which he plans to wear to his 75th reunion next year.

Woodmansee had a white letter sweater with a Culver C he earned for playing baseball back in the 1950s, but he never added the letter he earned for cheerleading. When his grandson, Sean Woodmansee ’24, visited his home wearing his Culver maroon letter sweater, Woodmansee admired it. He went up to his attic, pulled out a box and found his cheerleading C and posed for a photo with his grandson.

The general joked that he liked the maroon sweater “because you can get it dirtier than a white one. It’s a great color.”

The general’s son, Rob, had taken Sean to the uniform shop at Culver to have the two letters for robotics put on a letter sweater shortly before graduation.

“So his last couple of days at Culver he had a letter sweater,” he said. “I told Sean, ‘You need to put that on and show your grandfather you earned a letter sweater at Culver.’ ”

After seeing how much his father admired the maroon letter sweater, Rob reached out to Col. Michael Squires, commandant of cadets, to see if he could get a maroon sweater for his father. Squires connected him to uniform manager Matt White, who had a maroon sweater en route within 24 hours.

Woodmansee, also the grandfather of Kelsey (McKee) Ladd '04 and Taylor (Pickett) Caulfield '07, was a two-year student at Culver. He transferred to Culver because he was unfulfilled going to public schools in Memphis, Tennessee, and his grades were going down. His father, who had remarried and moved to Fort Wayne because of his job with Ford Motor Co., suggested he move in with him and enroll at Culver.

“I said: ‘What the heck for?” Woodmansee said.

His father told him with the Korean War beginning and the possibility of Woodmansee being drafted after high school, he thought it would be good to attend a military school so he would have the needed military discipline. Woodmansee said he had to study hard to keep up at Culver. He said he’d be studying after lights out.

“I’d be under the blanket with a flashlight studying,” he said. “It was hard. I was working my butt off.”

He said that three months after he started at Culver he had to pass a mechanics test. He said the instructor told him he was the only cadet to earn a 100.

“You gave me a hundred?” Woodmansee said. “I don’t know if I ever got a 100 before.”

“Do you think having a dad who was a career car salesman helped you understand the automobile mechanics better?” his son asked.

Woodmansee laughed. He said he also showed he could strip an engine and put it back together.

“That’s something I could do that most people couldn’t do,” he said.

Woodmansee said from that point he had no problem studying.

“I loved it,” he said. “That was the first time I looked forward to school.”

His academic success and renewed love of learning motivated him to apply to the U.S. Military Academy. He said being at Culver helped because it was one of a handful of schools that acted as a feeder school. Those nominated had to compete for the appointments. Three Culver students received appointments to West Point that year.

Woodmansee went on to a distinguished military career He entered flight school in 1957 and served in Vietnam flying Huey gunships, where he was recommended by the Marine Corps for the Navy Cross. During his second tour, he commanded the 7th Squadron, 1st Cavalry Regiment, the largest air cavalry squadron in Vietnam. He logged more than 1,500 hours of combat flying over two years and was awarded the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross five times, and the Air Medal with valor device and the numeral 39, signifying he’s received 39 separate Air Medals. Woodmansee has also received the Army Distinguished Service Medal and a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster, and Legion of Merit and a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster. In 2003 he received the Army Armor’s Center highest honor, the St. George Gold Medallion. In 2019 he became just the fourth recipient of the Defense Department's Braddock Award, recognizing lifetime achievement while serving the Defense Science Board and Army Science Board.

He is believed to be the first Army aviator to fly solo with night-vision goggles in 1963. He was inducted into the Army Aviation Hall of Fame in 2004.

He served as an assistant to Secretaries of State Dean Rusk and William Rogers under both Presidents Lyndon Johnson and Richard Nixon.

He also served 12 years on the Culver Board of Trustees, retiring in 2009. He was named an emeritus trustee. He played a role in the renovation of the Lay Dining Hall in 2011. He also was instrumental in changing the curriculum at Culver to make it an elite leadership-oriented boarding school.  He brought in retired Lt. Gen Walter Ulmer Jr., who was then president of the Center for Creative Leadership. 

“When we think of Jack Woodmansee, we think of leadership -- servant leadership,” then-board Chairman Jim Henderson ’52 W’47 said. “Jack and leadership are synonymous. First, Jack has been a leader for our country, and thereby brought luster to Culver, but also for his church, each community in which he and Patty lived, and, of course, we are fortunate he has found time to be a great leader for Culver.”

Woodmansee and Henderson were both members of Company C while at Culver and Henderson persuaded Woodmansee to serve on the board.

Woodmansee was the keynote speaker at a 2018 dinner at Culver to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Armistice Day. He told those gathered there that Culver's mission of developing character is what has carried its alumni to greatness in many fields. He said his love of learning and other habits he picked up at Culver have "served me all my life."

Woodmansee is planning to attend his 75th reunion next year.

“I’m really looking forward to it,” he said.