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Thomas S. Mayberry

 

No. 20140Feb 28, 1931 - Dec 2, 2013          

Died in Williamsburg, VA

Interred in Arlington National Cemetery, VA

 

Thomas Sidwell ‘Tom’ Mayberry was born on February 28, 1931 in Cookeville, TN to Henry Eugene (Gene) and Beatrice (Bea) Maynard Mayberry. In his early years he lived in a small cottage in the country near the “cavalry barn,” an icon for the rural Tennessee National Guard community, where his father served as a field artillery officer and caretaker. Not surprisingly, he developed a fondness for horses that stayed with him over the years. Tom was a popular, personable and diplomatic youth, serving as captain of the Cookeville Central High School football team his senior year. He also served as president of his freshman and junior classes, on the student council and in numerous other activities (the “C” Club, “Hi-Y,” sergeant-at-arms, Latin club and science club. In his senior year, Tom’s classmates voted him the “Most Handsome Boy” and “Mr. Central.” After graduating in 1949, Tom attended Sullivan’s Preparatory School in Washington, DC before entering West Point in 1950 with a congressional appointment.

At West Point, Tom became close friends with all the academic departments. His efforts to accumulate all the bits of knowledge required of him—particularly in math, physics and “juice”—took dedicated concentration during the academic periods of his time at West Point. His constant good humor and determination were an exemplary display of his resolve to graduate and become a member of the Long Gray Line. All of his classmates held him in the highest regard for conquering the challenge to reach graduation.

Upon graduation and commissioning, Tom started his career with various  infantry, intelligence and advisory assignments. Tom married the love of his life, Sue Anne Eskridge, on April 2, 1955. They had two sons, Thomas S., Jr. and Alan. They had many wonderful years together. Tom served in the Panama Canal Zone as Chief of the Regional Office’s Counterintelligence Detachment, ensuring the canal’s security during the peak of the Cold War. From 1961 to 1963, he served as a Company Commander of the 506th Infantry Regiment (Airborne) and Operations Officer in the 101st Airborne Division. After recovering from a broken back suffered on his very last airborne jump at Fort Campbell, KY, Tom served as Intelligence Advisor to the G2 for the Armed Forces of El Salvador from 1963 to 1966. During this assignment he managed to perfect his command of the Spanish language. While assigned to the U.S. Army Office of Personnel Operations, he worked all aspects of appointments, assignments and transfers for the 7,000 officers comprising the Military Intelligence (MI) Branch and received accolades for his efforts in increasing officer strength during the Vietnam build-up period. Tom then attended the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, KS in 1967 to 1968. From 1968 to 1969, Tom served as an MI Battalion Commander in the 525 MI Group, based in Can Tho, Republic of Vietnam, and received a Legion of Merit for his exemplary effort against the North Vietnamese Army and the Viet Cong. Under Tom’s leadership, intelligence reporting increased by 300 percent and improved anti-communist forces’ ability to quickly target and destroy the enemy.

Tom next served as Chief of the U.S. European Command J2’s Counter-intelligence (CI) Section. He prepared and monitored the command’s joint CI policy for the theater and also authored a critical CI Estimate for all NATO forces. He was presented a Legion of Merit for actions he took to identify and neutralize hostile intelligence activities as well as for his efforts to directly improve overall security in the command. After Germany, Tom served as the Chief of the Threat Analysis Branch in the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command’s Intelligence Division at Fort Monroe, VA. He coordinated threat operations for standard scenarios and studies that were conducted by 22 Army service schools and other study agencies. A third Legion of Merit followed this assignment.

Tom contracted corioretinitis while serving in El Salvador. The condition started with seeing a blip on the horizon while visiting a beach on the Pacific Ocean and steadily degraded his vision, resulting in legal blindness and his medical retirement to Williamsburg, VA in 1976. Tom suffered a stroke in 1990 at age 60. This left him mobile but impaired his ability to articulate what he was thinking, and it also severely affected his long and short-term memory. In 2009, Tom suffered a second stroke, followed by a lethal one in 2013.

Tom was a devoted husband and loving father. He enjoyed fresh and saltwater fishing, skiing, his vintage reel-to-reel stereo system, yard work, grilling out, woodworking and delving into the earliest home personal computers.

Tom also enjoyed the regular reunions at West Point and other classmate-hosted locations. One of his own was always there to guide him to where he needed to be on the parade field for the alumni formation. His classmates sat with him at dinner even though they knew that they were not in for much conversation. This sense of caring followed him home after the reunion, and Sue could count on regular calls from concerned classmates to check on Tom. West Point was a major part of his life, as attested by the items he selected to take with him to his small room at his retirement home: his time-worn class ring, his framed diploma, his 1954 Howitzer and even his cadet shako.

Tom was much beloved by his family and will be missed. He is survived by his wife, Sue Eskridge, who was very dedicated to taking care of Tom in every way since his first stroke, and by two sons, one daughter-in-law and five grandchildren. He is also survived by two brothers, Dr. William E. and James D. Mayberry.  Tom brought great credit to the Long Gray Line and fully embodied the true meaning of Duty, Honor, Country through all phases of his life.

 

Originally published in TAPS 2015

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