Maj Whitesides' Rememberance of Col Studt
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REMEMBRANCE OF COLONEL JOHN C STUDT
BY MAJOR WALTER WHITESIDES USMC (RET)
LtCol John Studt was my battalion commander in Vietnam. I served slightly over a year in the 3rd Battalion 26th Marines as a radio operator in Comm Platoon H&S Company. I served under four different battalion commanders – two for very brief periods of time and two (to include LtCol Studt) for the full length of their tours. He was, by a marked difference, superior in all ways to the battalion commander he replaced.
When he first arrived at 3/26 we were at the Siege of Khe Sanh and I was attached to India Company on Hill 881S. I first met him when I returned to Khe Sanh Combat Base in early February. I began to serve on rotation within the Battalion CP as the TACP radio operator. He was instrumental, along with Majors Caulfield and Loughran, in getting me meritoriously promoted to Corporal. I didn't use the term “professionalism” in those days, but I was immediately impressed with his knowledge and discipline. He expected a lot from his troops, but he also never forgot that he was once a troop himself.
We left Khe Sanh in mid-April 1968 and operated out of the Quang Tri area for about a month. In May, we were all set to deploy to the DMZ area to counter NVA troops in the Cua Viet area. Sometime during the night, our orders were changed and the battalion was transferred to the operational control of the 1st Marine Division. We were almost immediately deployed to support operations southwest of Da Nang. We were to spend the remainder of my tour in the bush. With the exception of a couple of weeks when I filled in for the battalion radio operator in Kilo Company while he went to Hawaii on R&R, I spent the rest of my time in the battalion CP group. There I got to observe close up LtCol Studt and I admired him for his leadership. He was a big believer in the use of supporting arms in that an artillery barrage preceded the movement to a new hill as we chased the NVA westward through the mountains. Despite still suffering from wounds received in the Quang Tri area a month or so earlier, he was insistent upon carrying his own gear. Several times I personally heard him arguing with officers in the rear at 1st Marine Division, who from the safety of their position were insisting upon actions that he felt would be detrimental to the battalion. I would have followed him anywhere.
In May 1969, I got out of the Marine Corps and went to college. One day I was walking through the student union and heard my Vietnam nickname. It was my former platoon commander who was now an Officer Selection Officer. I shortly signed up to return to the Corps. While in OCS, we had an assignment to write about an individual whom we admired. I chose LtCol Studt.
My first tour after completing TBS and Communications School was in Comm Company Headquarters Battalion, 3rd Marine Division. Midway through my tour, sometime in 1975, we had a battalion change of command and now Colonel Studt was named the new commander. I scheduled a few minutes to say hello and was impressed that he remembered me from Vietnam. I had recently been approved for a two year extension as a Reserve Officer and he encouraged me to apply for augmentation. I later was surprised to find out that he was the Reviewing Officer on my next fitness report and on my augmentation package. Evidently he had asked our company commander to write my fitness report vice the OIC of the Communications Center (who was also my platoon commander) which was the normal practice. I attribute his enthusiastic review as greatly helping me augment into the Corps.
Several years later, I was stationed at Quantico and was being transferred to 1st Radio Battalion in Hawaii. If I remember correctly, Colonel Studt was the Chief of Staff at the Education Center. In any case, I stopped by before leaving to tell him that I was grateful for his support over the years. I never forgot the lessons he taught me through observation.