Edward M. Almond and the US Army

This biography examines the long career of Lt. Gen. Edward M. Almond, who was born to a family of modest means in rural Virginia. His early education at the Virginia Military Institute, steeped him in Confederate lore and nurtured his “can do” attitude, natural aggressiveness, demanding personality and sometimes self-serving nature. These qualities later earned him the sobriquet “Sic’em, Ned,” which stuck with him for the remainder of his career. Almond commanded the African-American 92nd Infantry Division during World War II. The division failed in combat and was re-organized, after which it contained one white, one black, and the Army’s only Japanese-American (Nisei) regiment. The years since that war have seen the glorification of the “Greatest Generation,” with all racist notions and ideas “whitewashed” with a veneer of honor. When war came to Korea, Almond commanded X Corps in the Inchon invasion, liberation of Seoul, race to the Yalu. When the Chinese entered the war and sent the US Army into retreat, Almond mounted one of the largest evacuations in history at Hungnam -- but not before the disaster at Chosin claimed the lives of hundreds of soldiers and marines. This book reveals Almond as a man who stubbornly held onto bigoted attitudes about race, but also exhibited an unfaltering commitment to the military profession. Often viewed as the “Army’s racist,” Almond reflected the attitudes of the Army and society. This book places Almond in a broader context and presents a more complete picture of this flawed man yet gifted officer.

Retirement and Epilogue

His retirement brought new activities and he was a active in the alumni affairs for Virginia Military Institute, but he found himself unprepared for a changing world. Clinging doggedly to the past and influenced by his Army experience, Almond fought school integration after Brown v. Board of Education and became more intractably racist. Since his death, his bigoted views have come to dominate his place in history. This chapter reconsiders Almond in light of all his accomplishments in addition to his failings to reflect a true measure of the man.

Coming of Age

The book opens with Almond’s development from boyhood through college, his marriage, and entry into the Army, which set the pattern for his life and military career. Life at the Virginia Military Institute, with its strong Confederate and military influences, shaped his outlook. Almond no doubt developed attitudes toward black people early on that would become apparent only decades later. Neither he nor his contemporaries would have considered their views racist. The Supreme Court decision Plessy v. Fergusson had enshrined the separate but equal doctrine in the nation’s social and legal framework guaranteed a separation of the races, and this was Almond’s reality. Almond had enjoyed success in high school and college, but his high achievement masked a sense of insecurity that would plague him for the rest of his life.

Occupying Army

A prosperous landowner in Indian Town, Currituck County, Joseph B. Morgan, experiences the strange and unpredictable regimen of living under military occupation. Meanwhile his son, Patrick, is at Virginia Military Institute-safe, as far as Morgan knows. But when Gen. Franz Sigel’s troops in the Shenandoah Valley are threatened with attack, he sends for the VMI cadets. They march eighty miles, then are thrust into battle at New Market, charging across the muddy “field of lost shoes” with horrific casualties. Patrick survives, even as his father endures the cruelties of guerrilla attacks and reprisals.

Optical Polarimetry in Undergraduate Education

Polarimetry plays an important part in observational astronomy, but it is all too often given limited attention in astronomy textbooks. Coupled with a sometimes confusing mathematical introduction, students may feel that polarization is a difficult subject best left for study at a different time, or worse, not at all. Additionally, polarimetric observations and analysis are not typical exercises students are likely to engage in as part of an observational astronomy course. Over the past few years students at Virginia Military Institute have used an optical polarimeter, which was designed and constructed in-house, on the 20 cm Cassegrain telescope at the VMI Observatory to study the polarization of stars. These observations have enhanced their astronomical knowledge and allowed them the opportunity to gain valuable experience using this important technique. The subsequent analysis of stellar polarization has led to a better understanding of the mathematics of polarization, its interpretation, and statistical treatment. In this paper I describe the design and construction of an optical polarimeter suitable for a small college observatory and outline the observing and data analysis strategies. I will also present observations that range from brief introduction exercises that can be included as part of an observational astronomy course to longer programs suitable for undergraduate research projects.

Sources: Russia at War: From the Mongol Conquest to Afghanistan, Chechnya, and Beyond

This work joins a growing number of "country at war" titles from the same publisher, including China, Germany, Japan, and Mexico. Dowling, professor of history at Virginia Military Institute and published military history author, has assembled a large international group of authoritative contributors. The encyclopedia "fulfills two important functions: it explicitly serves as a reference for the Russian and Soviet martial past, and it implicitly serves as entrée to a non-English-speaking military culture" (xxxvii).