Good Soldier

Lt. Col. John A. Gilman '9B who, in his capacity as Constructing Quartermaster and Field Agent of The Quartermaster General for the West Point Land Project, has had the responsibility of spending about $6,000,000 on new construction at the United States Military Academy in the last five years, left West Point early in March for a well-earned rest laden with personal and military honors for his good and faithful service. On July 31, he retires officially from active service in the army.

Before entering the army as a Captain in the Engineer Reserve Corps in 1917, Colonel Gilman exercised his Thayer School C. E. as superintendent of the Copperfield Mines in Vermont, in purchasing and mapping coal lands for the L. 8c N. R. R. Cos., Greenville, Ky., and in organizing and operating the Kentucky Utilities Cos. Assigned to the Construction Division of the army, he served at Camp Dodge, lowa, and Camp Wheeler, Ga. Later with engineer replacement troops at Camp Humphreys, Va., and Camp Shelby, Miss.

In 1920, Colonel Gilman was commissioned in the Quartermaster Corps of the Regular Army and continued the nomadic life of an army officer. Proud monuments to his wanderings are the following construction projects he has executed: Wright Memorial, Kitty Hawk, N. C.; new Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and its approach, at Arlington National Cemetery, Washington, D. C.; Pioneer Memorial monument, Harrodsburg, Ky.; and first permanent construction project at Fort Knox, Ky. In 1935, he was shifted to West Point and handed the $6,000,000 construction program.