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WILLIAM MOSS MCVEIGH III was the only
son of William and Lorena McVeigh of Ft.
Worth, TX, and lived in his beloved Texas
until he entered West Point. In 1949, he
graduated from Highland Park High School
in Dallas, and with the help of a Texas senator,
Bill entered the Academy with the Class
of 1954 on 5 Jul 1950. It was a hot summer
along the Hudson River, but Bill, like a true
Texan, had no problem acclimating. From the
start, he was “Tex” to his newfound friends.
During his four years as a cadet, Bill participated
in every aspect of Academy life. He
swam for two years on the corps squad swim
team, served on the Hop Committee for several
years, played golf, skied, and fi shed. He
topped it all off as head Rabble Rouser his
Firstie year.
On a memorable November Saturday in
1953, the Corps of Cadets, in long overcoats,
marched into Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium,
halted, and faced the tall stadium wall. On
top of the wall, wearing the white sweater and
trousers of the USMA Rabble Rousers, stood
Bill “Tex” McVeigh, slowly waving his megaphone
for attention. The stadium went silent
as he slowly placed the megaphone next to his
left foot, assumed the starting position, and
led the Corps in a rousing cheer to announce
their presence. On that cold day, we celebrated
the only football win over Navy during the
Class of 54’s four years at the Academy.
Graduates of Bill’s era also remember an
earlier Navy encounter. After Bill and several
other classmates successfully violated curfew,
they commandeered a large canoe, padded
its sides with blankets, and drifted down the
moonless Hudson River. There, they quietly
painted “BEAT NAVY” in very large letters
on the starboard side of a visiting Navy frigate.
Of course, they had cleverly planned for the
strong outgoing river tide that demanded they
brush the letters in reverse order—“YVAN TAEB.” To add to the coup, someone in the
group had alerted a well-read New York newspaper
and arranged for an early dawn aerial
photo of the ship to appear on the front page
of the morning edition. Sadly, Army lost the
football game that year!
At the Academy, Tex was described as “Mr.
Corps Spirit,” but his involvement in so many
extra-curricular activities never threatened his
achievement of the required academic results.
He also never lost sight of his goal to be an
Air Force pilot. To the chagrin of many of
his cadet friends who properly pursued the
Army goals of Infantry, Artillery, Armor, and
the other options available to Academy graduates,
Tex chose Air Force and was accepted for
flight training upon graduation.
Tex successfully completed flight training
and earned the silver wings he had sought.
For his first assignment, this unmarried second
lieutenant jet pilot was selected as an Air
Training Officer (ATO) at the newly opened
Air Force Academy in Colorado. The ATO’s
job was to act as an upper class cadet and set
an example for those early Air Force Academy
cadets. No better selection could have been
made than the new 2LT McVeigh! After his
Air Force Academy tour and a short upgrading
to a new aircraft, Tex was posted to a
NATO tactical reconnaissance base in France,
flying RF-101 aircraft.
Tex returned to the States in 1961. He
soon met and married Martha Baker, a young
Air Force widow. Tex, Martha, and her two
young boys then moved to The Citadel in
South Carolina, where Tex served as an instructor
in the Air Force Reserve Officer
Training Program.
In the mid-1960s, with war looming in
Southeast Asia, Tex was reassigned to the
Air Training Command, where, as an experienced
instructor, he trained new jet pilots.
In 1968, Tex served in Viet Nam, flying
missions into North Viet Nam from
Thailand. The newly minted pilots he had
trained became his copilots and wingmen
when he fl w these missions. Tex was awarded
the Distinguished Flying Cross, a Bronze
Star, and eight Air Medals for his excellence
in Viet Nam. His combat tour complete, Tex
was selected to take his piloting experience
to the Air Training Command, this time as a
flight training squadron commander.
Tex’s wide-ranging experience as an instructor,
staff officer and commander was
soon recognized. He and his family moved
to Hawaii, where Tex, now a colonel, joined
the staff of the commander in chief of Pacific
Command in Hawaii. After four delightful
years in the islands, the family went back to
Texas, where Tex served as the assistant director
of operations for Air Training Command.
After a few years, Tex and Martha decided it
was time to settle down. He retired from the
Air Force and went back to school.
Tex earned an MBA from Webster
University and worked briefly with an aeronautics
company in north Texas. Tex saw an
interesting future in the Texas banking business,
however, and began working as an assistant
vice president in the Dallas-based
Republic Bank. He once described those
early banking years as “surviving mergers,
bank failures, and buy outs” in several
banks. Never deterred, over the next twelve
years he progressed from working as an assistant
to become the “Executive’s Banker” in
NationsBank’s Private Banking Division. In
1994, Tex retired from banking.
Shortly thereafter, Tex contracted cancer,
denying what would have been many
good years from this fine officer and gentleman.
On 4 Jun 1995, he died at the age of
62. He is survived by Martha, his wife of 34
years; a son, Bill IV; two daughters, Peggy
and Charlene; a sister Marilyn; two step-sons,
Larry and Aaron Baker; and nine grandchildren,
one of whom is a Class of ’97 grad. We
all miss Tex McVeigh.
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