Barton James Mallory – Colonel, United states Army

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Courtesy of his classmates, United States Military Academy:

Barton James Mallory
No. 13374  •  25 March 1920 – 6 June 1963
Died in Headquarters European Command, France, aged 43 years
Interment: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

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Bart Malloy was born in Maryland on 25 March 1920 while his father was serving as a surgeon at Walter Reed Army Hospital. Bart never articulated why he came to West Point, but the genes were there, and it is easy to infer from his dedication. Like all of us, he had trouble getting an appointment in that period. Unlike most of us, he did it all without even letting his family know until he was appointed. They were in the Philippines at the time.

The Mallory family came from Ireland to become farmers in Virginia. Bart’s grandfather was a volunteer soldier in the Civil War. His father was the youngest of eleven children, and a volunteer in the Spanish-American War, as a sergeant in Company “M” of the 34th Virginia Volunteer Infantry. He served in World War I and continued on in the Regular Army Medical Corps as a surgeon. Beginning in 1937, he as in the Philippines. He wrote the plan and supervised the establishment of the first Army underground hospital in Malinta Tunnel of Corregidor. He was also personal physician to General MacArthur. In 1939, he returned to the States. After Pearl Harbor, he volunteered to return to the Philippines, but was held on the West Coast for duty. Bart’s mother — a lovely, creative woman and a wonderful Army wife and mother — was born and raised on the Eastern Shore of Virginia.

During these years, Bart graduated young from Roosevelt High School in Washington, D.C., continuing on for two years at City College in Baltimore. His aim for West Point took him for a year to the Manlius School, and then a year at “Beanie” Millard’s and another college year at the University of Richmond. At last he won appointment from Virginia and entered with our class just as his unsuspecting family returned to the United States.

Bart suffered through Beast Barracks with quiet humor and joined “C” Company, where he rose to lieutenant by first class year, impressing all by doing the job with efficiency and minimum fanfare. His Manlius letters in basketball and baseball helped the company “Intermurder” teams, and his organizational skills led to several years on the staff of The Pointer, the 100th Night Show, and the Election Committee. By graduation he was ready for his chosen branch — the Artillery, which later was to become Coast Artillery and then Air Defense.

One of the first to reach a combat theater (North Africa), Bart won seven campaign stars and a Bronze Star award, signed by Mark Clark, for his achievement in Italy in early 1944 when he conceived, developed, and personally drafted a circular slide rule for gunnery which was so effective that it was adopted by the other battalions in Italy.

In the shuffle after VE Day, he wound up in Germany to complete his overseas tour. At that time it was decided to exploit German technology, and Bart was sent on six months temporary duty to Fort Bliss, Texas, to take a course from Werner von Braun, preparing for missile work. That tour was more important for another reason: John Healy introduced him to a lovely occupational therapist at Beaumont General Hospital. There was an immediate attraction — what Bart called a real meeting of the minds. After a whirlwind courtship, Bart returned to Germany to finish his tour, only to find that he had stayed six days too long in the United States and was on a new tour of duty in Europe. With problems in getting married in Germany, a Catholic chaplain made arrangements for them to be married in Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, with Jack Wood as best man. Few classmates can claim such a wedding site.

For the next three years, the happy couple lived in scenic Bad Tolz in Bavaria, where Bart was with the MPs of the Big Red One. Then it was home to the Artillery School and the following three-year tour as Assistant PMS&T in Atlanta, training fine young officers for service in Korea and beyond. For one year Bart was called to Eniwetok for a nuclear exercise called OPERATION CASTLE. The result was another Certificate of Achievement to join the one from ROTC duty. Then Bart and Jeane joined a small group of the class at Fort Leavenworth, where Bart did us proud by standing in the top three at C&GSC — real achievement in that group of several hundred workaholics.

Washington followed. Bart and Jeane’s warm presence graced many a potluck dinner with classmates. Who can forget Bart’s flaming steak a la dry martini when someone mistakenly doused the flame with a pitcher of same? On the serious side, Bart spent a year in Career Management and then moved up to OSD,  simultaneously winning a master’s in personnel management from GWU. In 1959, Bart was selected to command the 2nd Missile Battalion, 51st Artillery at Fort Baker, California. By this time, young Bart had joined the family, born in 1957 in Washington. When Bart, Sr., left his battalion in 1961 for the Air War College, another Certificate of Achievement went with him.

As we could have forecasted, Bart graduated from the Air War College among the top students and with another master’s degree, this one in international affairs from GWU. From there it was a quick move to EUCOM, then located west of Paris where they had been married. Bart quickly made a mark in the Operations Directorate and he, Jeane, and young Bart passed the twentieth anniversary of graduation with happiness, a loving family, and a brilliant career ahead.

On 6 June 1963, Bart and Jeane were off on a vacation trip to Italy and Greece. That morning he had to report to Headquarters at Camp des Loges to brief one of the generals. Shortly after arriving at the office, Bart suffered a massive heart attack and died without regaining consciousness — an untimely and totally unexpected death. The suddenness was a shock to all who knew him, and particularly to his family.

In early 1964, a posthumous award was made to Bart at EUCOM, but the records have been lost and all we know is that his superb service and dedication were marked in some fashion by those among whom he served. He now lies in Arlington together with many of his classmates. Jeane and their son returned to the United States and eventually to Los Angeles, where Jeane now teaches. Young Bart, as yet unmarried, is a tall, handsome young man who took ROTC at UCLA and was a member of Pershing Rifles (his father would be proud). He also lives in Los Angeles and works for the Disaster Services of the Red Cross.

Bart Mallory’s career achievements were many, his friendships with his fellow soldiers warm and strong, his love for his family an inspiration for us all. We miss you, old friend, and know you would have gone on to greater heights in our profession. But let us not mourn the past and what could have been — let us rather remember your accomplishments, your ever-advancing military career, the warm camaraderie you offered us all, and the love you shared with your family. These we remember and hold close.

— His classmates

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