assault on west point

Army Navy Spirit Week is great as long as you never graduated from West Point.  Unfortunately in 1972 the 18th Company Officer turned out to be a good sport and so was the Brigade of Midshipman Class of 1973.  As plebes we looked on in total amazement as what was going to happen during the next seven days...Here is one of those stories:

                                                        Assault on West Point

In the four years at Annapolis no exchange officer suffered more than Major Wuerpel. the Company Officer for the 18th Company on the 4th floor of the 3rd Battalion area of Bancroft Hall.  On the first day (Day 1) of spirit week in 1972, Major W. arrived to open the door to his office filled from top to bottom with toilet paper.  On the second day (Day 2) of spirit week, he was barricaded in his room.  This was not a problem to a Special Forces type of soldier who just went to his closet and got a rope and repelled out of his third floor onto the ground below to the amazement of the 3rd Battalion standing in formation.  Who keeps 200 feet of line in their office closet?  He had no way out except through the window.  This was done right before noon lunch formation, and the 3rd Battalion looked on in utter amazement as he descended from the building, brushed himself off and walked into King Hall as if nothing ever happened. 

This guy was hard as nails.  You would have thought this was the end of it, but it was not over for the Army because this was Spirit week.  On the fourth day of spirit week, the Cadets from West Point stole one of our goats.  This was not good, and so the Major W. would feel the brunt of this action.  Major Wuerpel drove a 1972 Volkswagen Beetle painted Army Green Camouflage 
On Friday during Noon meal formation his beetle was relocated to Tecumseh court and demolished in front of his eyes.  He was the Duty Officer standing in noon meal formation observing this and could not move to prevent the midshipmen from destroying his car with sledgehammers.  We looked on in amazement.  He had tears in his eyes, but he remained in position until the noon parade was over.  As he walked to his car and shook his head, he turned to find another new 1973 Volkswagen being delivered to him.  The class of 1973 had pitched in to buy him a new car before touching his old one.  The Army-Navy game was held in Philadelphia at John F. Kennedy Stadium.  During the Army-Navy Game, the Major sat on the Army side and cheered from a distance on the other aspect of the field as he watched his team beat Navy that year 23-15.  He had a new car and a win!

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