Two more 'home-grown' generals added to the list

How could we forget Gen. Bruce C. Clarke, a "home-grown" general and the pride of Adams?

After all, a school bears his name.

And yet another native general has been brought to our attention: Air Force Gen. John L. Woodward Jr., a 1964 graduate of Watertown High School. So we now are aware of eight natives of Jefferson County who were saluted as generals.

Our tally began in the "Times Gone By" column of Sept. 7, when we recalled the life of Brig. Gen. James S. Boyer. In that story, we recognized generals Robert J. Dacey, Arthur E. Williams and Mark Clark. We subsequently learned about two Civil War generals, Delos Bennett Sacket and Bradley Winslow.

Readers have since reminded us about Bruce Clarke and John Woodward.

Bruce Clarke was a four-star general when he retired from a 44-year Army career that was highlighted by his leadership in France during World War II.

John Woodward, a product of the Reserve Officers Training Corps, spent portions of his career in Taiwan, Saudi Arabia and the Philippines. He retired from the Air Force in 2002, when he was deputy chief of staff for communications and information, Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C.

Some may ask if we forgot Gen. Jacob Brown. He was not a native of the region, arriving here as an explorer when he was about 23. For the same reason, we do not include officers who were stationed for a time at Madison Barracks or Camp/Fort Drum. Hence, you don't find on our list an eventual president, Ulysses S. Grant.

Generally speaking, do we want to venture out into the other branches of the service to seek out high commanders who claimed Jefferson County routes? We'd like to put this issue to rest, but to be fair, we stand at attention for Rear Adm. Robert P. Hickey Jr., Watertown High class of 1960. A veteran of Vietnam and former commander of a carrier group and the Nimitz Battle Group, he retired in 1995.