ROSWELL, New
Mexico — Dick Knowles moved to Roswell around the time I became editor of the
Roswell Daily Record in the summer of 1974.
I knew little
about Dick, aside from friends describing him as a retired general who had
opened an antique shop. “Guess what he named it?” they would ask. Before I had
a chance to guess, they would blurt out: “The General’s Store.”
I began to know
Dick after a group of Republicans asked him to run for election to the New
Mexico Legislature. Dick agreed to seek office. As editor of the local
newspaper, I would see him frequently. First, he came by the newsroom to be
interviewed and have his photograph — or mugshot — taken. I would see him at
political rallies and parties, giving speeches and shaking hands.
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Lt. Gen. Richard T. Knowles |
He and I also joined
the same Rotary club, so each Thursday we joined some 150 other people for
lunch.
Dick stood out
in a crowd. He was 6-foot-4. He also was very soft-spoken. I noticed Dick
was a good listener and I could tell he weighed what he was told. When people
talked to him, they had his attention. I’m sure this helped him win the seat in
the state House of Representatives.
He did well in
the Legislature, earning the trust and respect of fellow lawmakers on both
sides of the aisle. Dick had served in enough military staff and command
positions to know there were multiple sides to any issue.
Dick rose high
in the Legislature for a minority member, eventually becoming House minority
leader. He treated each colleague the way they treated him and his wife, Betty
Kay. Once, after he had voted for the election of Democrat Raymond Sanchez as
speaker of the House, I asked him why he had supported Sanchez over the more
conservative candidate. Dick’s reply made excellent sense. “The other guy was
rude to my wife. Raymond has always been a gentleman to her.”
Raymond also was
a shoe-in for House speaker. He never forgot Dick’s support and valued Dick’s
friendship. If Dick Knowles got behind an issue, he generally received as much
support from House Democrats as members of his own party.
Dick also told
me on several occasions a legislative body existed by compromise. This did not
set well with a group of partisan Republicans from his hometown and his
legislative district. They wanted a barroom brawler in the State Capitol, not a
statesman. So members of this group began looking for someone to run against
Dick in the next Republican primary election.
After 16 years
in the state Legislature, Dick decided against seeking re-election. Though he
never said so within earshot of me, I think he was unhappy with the prospect of
running in a campaign holding the promise of mudslinging. Dick believed in the
political process and did not want to see it denigrated by a nasty campaign.
Over the years I
would visit with Dick about his time in the Army. Both of us had been helicopter
pilots in the Vietnam War, so we had a common topic we could discuss. Our
reminiscing sometimes would lead to other stories about military experiences.
Gradually, I learned more about Dick’s background.
One story he
enjoyed telling me was how, earlier in his career, he had saved Camp Wolters
from being closed. Dick, of course, knew I had trained at the U.S. Army Primary
Helicopter Center at Fort Wolters. This was where all Army rotary-wing aviators
received their initial flight training during the Vietnam War.
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Dick Knowles and wife Betty Kay |
Dick shared
other stories with me. Slowly I was learning the major role he played in developing
the helicopter’s role in combat.
In the late
1980s, I learned even more from another source. During a Vietnam Helicopter
Pilots Association reunion in Fort Worth, the former pilots and their wives
were bused to Fort Wolters to look around and eat lunch. Helping give the
welcome was retired Lieutenant General Harold “Hal” Moore. I did not know
anything about Hal Moore at the time and thought he might be Colonel Howard
Moore, who had commanded the 145th Combat Aviation Battalion, to which my unit
— the 118th Assault Helicopter Company — was assigned.
After Hal
Moore’s welcome address, I approached the stage, introduced myself, mentioned
my hometown of Roswell, New Mexico, and asked if he had commanded the 145th.
“No,” he replied, then asked: “Do you know Dick Knowles?” When I said I did, Moore
told me what a great commander Dick had been when they served together in the 1st
Air Cavalry Division.
“Please give him
my regards,” Moore said as I walked away.
Hal Moore and
former United Press International reporter Joe Galloway later would co-author
the book “We Were Soldiers Once and Young” about the Battle of Ia Drang Valley,
the major engagement between the 1st Cavalry Division and the North Vietnam
Army. Moore had commanded the ground forces in the battle; Galloway stayed with
the 1st Cavalry throughout the fighting, covering the battle for UPI.
Later the book
would become a major Hollywood film, with the titled shortened slightly to: “We
Were Soldiers Once.”
I met Hal Moore
again and Joe Galloway, as well, when they came to Roswell on separate
occasions to speak before the New Mexico Military Institute cadets. Each time
they would renew their friendship with Dick Knowles.
Once, when I
visited with Dick about the battle, he told me he had selected the initial
landing zone used by Hal Moore and his troops.
When the Roswell
Rotary Club and NMMI honored Dick for his achievements in the Legislature, I
offered to produce a video. I worked closely with Dick on the project. He would
bring me photographs of his past. Then we would work on the dialogue for the
video.
The guy who had
represented me for years in Santa Fe during legislative sessions, my fellow
Rotarian, the former aviator who had swapped war stories with me was a major
player in what led to the most eventful year of my life — flying helicopters in
combat during the Vietnam War.
On September 18,
Dick died, preceded in death 10 months earlier by Betty Kay.
Dick’s son
Richard called me several days after to ask if I had photos of his father for
use at a memorial service planned for September 26 at New Mexico Military
Institute. I attended the service.
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Dick and his dog Sarge in Roswell |
The next day,
Richard sent me a note saying he had found his father’s slides from the Vietnam
War while he and his sisters were cleaning up Dick’s home. “Would I like them?”
Richard asked me to call the following morning so we could get together and he
would give me the boxes of slides.
I called the
next day. “Can you come to the house right away?” Richard asked. “I’ll be there
in 5 minutes,” I told him.
As Dick’s home,
Richard led me to the office. Richard told me to take anything I would like.
With the offer of the slides, I had decided to offer them to the Vietnam War
Center and Archives at Texas Tech University in Lubbock. Now there was a great
deal more of Dick’s career and life. Eight boxes more.
Later that day I
called my friend and fellow chopper pilot Tom Baca in Albuquerque. “I have a
job for you and I know you will love it,” I told Tom, and then explained I had
boxes of photographs, records and memorabilia that belonged to Dick Knowles.
“I can think of
5 or 6 museums, as well as the Vietnam War Archives at Texas Tech, that would
be interested,” I told Tom. He said he would drive to Roswell on Monday and
help me sort through the materials.
Then I sent an
email note to Joe Galloway and members of the David Westphall Board of
Directors, who oversee support for the Vietnam Veterans Memorial and Chapel at
Angel Fire, New Mexico. One of the directors is Ron Milam, associate professor
of history at Texas Tech and a Fulbright Fellow who taught in Vietnam and
China. Ron served as a Marine in Vietnam during the war. I also serve on the
Westphall Foundation board, so I knew there was a place at the Memorial for
some of the items.
Joe wrote back
immediately and suggested giving some of the items to the 1st Cavalry Museum at
Fort Hood, Texas. Good suggestion.
After Tom
arrived at my home last Monday, we began dividing Dick’s keepsakes up among 7
museums and archives. As I had promised, Tom enjoyed the work. I did, as well.
We were learning of Dick’s roles at the center of the helicopter war in
Vietnam.
We found one
document on pink, onionskin paper of particular interest. It was Dick’s
invitation to a 1965 briefing on lessons learned from the 11th Air Assault
Division. Colonel Dick Knowles headed division artillery.
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As Task Force Oregon commander |
Later, these
lessons would be put into practice after the 11th Air Assault Division became
the 1st Air Cavalry Division, which then deployed to South Vietnam with Dick
Knowles as its assistant commander.
Tom and I would
term the document the birth certificate of the airmobile concept introduced
during the Vietnam War.
There was much
more, from photographs of General William C. Westmoreland pinning general’s
stars on Dick Knowles' uniform to a newspaper article about Dick being shot down
while piloting his helicopter.
Paperwork and
certificates showed Dick at various points in his military career: Attending
the artillery officer career course during World War II, his graduation certificate
from the War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, a report on receiving
the Silver Star Medal during the Korean War, books of photographs taken when he
served as chief of staff at II Field Force Vietnam, commanding general of Task
Force Oregon (Americal Division) and commander of the 196th Light Infantry
Brigade.
Later he would
command I Corps in South Korea and then serve as deputy commander of the 8th
U.S. Army. A year after beginning that assignment, Dick would retire from the
Army and move to Roswell, New Mexico.