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Leonard
Hayes ‘Len’ Fuller Jr.
was born in
Crowder, OK on April 24, 1930 to Leonard Hayes Fuller and Mary
Robinson Fuller.
He was an Army brat who graduated from
high school in Lawton, OK. Following that, he spent a year in Japan
with his parents. Upon returning, he entered Texas A&M, completing
his freshman year. After a year working with the Texas Highway
Department, he entered West Point with the Class of 1954 on July 5,
1950. He skillfully threaded his way through plebe year, and
academically he stood high without much effort. As an upperclassman,
he and his roommates concocted diabolical schemes for amusement. For
instance, they built a false TV set and took pictures of three
cadets (with backs turned) watching TV. They then circulated the
picture much to the bafflement of the Tactical Department. Len was
an excellent draftsman, and he created a West Point version of
Monopoly. It included such icons as the gym, the Piccadilly Hotel,
Flirty, and the Tappan Inn. He participated in many extracurricular
activities, including Dialectic Society, Pointer, Howitzer,
French Club, Pistol Club, and Skeet Club. In his First Class year,
he was a lieutenant. During his class’ stopover at Fort Bragg, NC on
the Combined Arms trip, he paid a trooper $50 to change places for a
pay jump. Len completed the jump with no one the wiser. He said that
all he knew was to keep his eyes on the horizon.
Len married Seley Johnson
of Corsicana, TX in June 1954 at St. John’s Episcopal Church. It was
a traditional military wedding, with his father, Lieutenant Colonel
Leonard Fuller, Field Artillery, as best man. The ushers were George
McMillan, Bobby Chapman, Dion Johnson, Kerly Barrand, Jack Delamain,
and John Woodyard—all from Company F-l.
As a Field Artillery second
lieutenant, Len attended the Field Artillery Basic Course and then
reported for duty with the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood, TX.
Like many in his class, he participated in Exercise Sagebrush in and
around Fort Polk, LA in the fall of 1955. He was reassigned to the
101st. He was aide toMajor General Edwin Walker during the
desegregation of Central High School in Little Rock, AK.
With great foresight for
anticipating short tours, Len and Seley bought an old home in
Corsicana next door to Seley’s father. Seley now had a comfortable,
familiar home during Len’s three, almost back-to-back, short tours.
In later years they fixed up the old house, and it is now on the
Historical Register.
After finishing The Foreign Service
Institute, Len was assigned to JMAAG Thailand advising the Thai Army
and helping it to establish an artillery training center. While
participating in the evacuation of civilians from Laos, to his great
surprise, he came face to face with another classmate from Company
F-l who was flying resupply missions in an Air America helicopter.
Next followed a Stateside tour from
1961 to 1964 at Killeen Base, TX babysitting nuclear weapons.
Vietnam was heating up by then, and he received his orders to go.
However, when he reported to the POE in San Francisco, because of
the sensitivity of his last assignment, his orders were changed to
Korea. He was assigned to be the liaison officer to the Royal Thai
Company with the 7th Infantry Division. Reassigned next to the 52nd
Artillery Group at Fort Sill, OK it took only nine months to deploy
to Vietnam in the First Field Force Artillery. He was awarded the
BSM.
Len, Seley, and their son, Hayes,
finally achieved a semblance of stability when Len became a student
and faculty member at the Command and General Staff College. His
next assignment gave him the command of a nuclear-capable, 175mm gun
battalion in Giessen, Germany as part of the 9th Artillery Group,
7th U.S. Army. The time was the early 1970s. The Army was
contracting following Vietnam, and he faced herculean difficulties.
In spite of them, his battalion passed its readiness test and the
nuclear surety tests, each a great achievement. Len’s final
assignment was to V Corps, and he had the difficult task of
traveling to Berlin, Rome, London, and Paris to check on reservists
on their annual active duty. He and Seley became familiar faces at
many a flea market.
In 1975 they retired to their
Corsicana home. Len immersed himself in Rotary, church affairs, the
Family Services Association, and the Council for the Arts. After
9/11 he coordinated Red Cross activities for Navarro County. He also
played the stock market with skill. They traveled frequently both in
the United States and Great Britain.
He and Seley doted on their son,
Hayes, now a successful lawyer in Waco, TX, and his family. They
became grandparents to Eric and Annie and great grandparents to
Alexandria.
Leonard possessed a very subtle sense
of humor often tinged with cynicism. He would unexpectedly insert a
one-liner or an “um hum” at the right moment. His poker face would
give off no clues, but sometimes he would burst into an infectious
cackle (much to the delight of this writer’s children who were
listening in the bedroom). During one of 54’s reunions, the Fullers
and my wife and I were standing on the balcony of Cullum Hall
talking to a cadet from Corsicana. Somehow the subject of the
cadet’s TAC officer came up. The cadet gushed that he was really
nice. Len said, “Hmm, must not be doing a very good job.” The four
of us were convulsed, and the cadet stood uncomprehending, blank.
Len was a good soldier, good husband,
good father, and a good grandfather. He had a rich, productive Army
career, and he continued to serve well into retirement.
Well Done; Be Thou at Peace…Out.
— Seley, his wife;
Hayes, his son;
and John, his friend
and classmate
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