Gen. Robert M. Shoemaker

The task was enormous: Plan a welcome to the 5th Infantry Division (Mechanized), which was moving from Fort Polk, La., to Fort Hood, Texas.

And underneath the "big heading" of welcoming the troops were numerous sub-headings such as:

• See that adequate, affordable housing is available to meet the needs of the incoming troops.
• Make sure that schools in the area gird up to adequately educate the additional students.
• Work with the cities to see that their physical infrastructures are brought up to the point that they can handle such a rapidly expanding population.

And there were other added suggestions such as getting to work on the highways in the area to take care of a major increase in traffic.

This was the task handed retired Gen. Robert M. Shoemaker when he was named chairman of Task Force Howdy! Many would have cut and run at such an assignment, an assignment which would see many spinoffs as work on the project progressed.

How successful was the endeavor? Here, in the words of Lt. Gen. Paul E. Funk, III Corps and Fort Hood commander, is the answer: "The movement of the 5th Infantry Division to Fort Hood was a major success. The citizens of Killeen and the area, through Howdy! Task Force, played the crucial role in that success. The area did more than welcome these soldiers and family members with open arms; it reached out to them with generosity and concern for their needs."

For the untold hours he volunteered to this project and for the dynamic leadership which saw it turned into an area-wide endeavor, Gen. Shoemaker is being honored today with the Frank W. Mayborn Humanitarian Award, which recognizes selfless service to improve the lives of Central Texans.

Under Shoemaker's leadership, numerous Projects emerged to make the move of the 13,000 plus soldiers from Fort Polk to Fort Hood as smooth as possible.

A group of 45 area residents made the trip to Louisiana for a Texas barbecue for every com-mander at any level within the 5th Infantry Division. The barbecue was attended by more than 350 commanders and their spouses. A town hall meeting was held in connection with the trip with information about the Fort Hood area being furnished.

Three Howdy fairs also were held, two in Louisiana and one at Fort Hood. Approximately 100 booths were set up at each event, describing every segment of the Fort Hood area com-munities. These booths were named by hundreds of Central Texans.

Thousands of 5th Infantry soldiers attended these special events.

As a part of the Howdy! Task Force efforts, a group of civic leaders went to Austin and successfully persuaded the Texas Highway Department to speed up plans for improving major roads in the Fort Hood area. As offshoots of the Howdy! effort, bond issues were passed in both Killeen and Copperas Cove school districts to make additional classrooms available, and a bond issue was approved in Killeen to upgrade the city's infrastructure to prepare for a rapid increase in population.

The Howdy! group even flew to Fort Campbell, Ky., to provide an orientation for an incom-ing engineer group, not connected with the 5th Infantry.

Although the award is based on the successful Howdy! project, Shoemaker has contributed greatly to the area since his retirement from 36 years in the Army, which included tours as commander of III Corps and Fort Hood and as commander of FORSCOM, the command for all the Army troops in the continental United States.

A graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Shoemaker had a distinguished military career, holding major commands and receiving, among numerous decorations, the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, Legion of Merit, Distin-guished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with 48 Oak Leaf Clusters, and Army Commendation Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

Since returning to Bell County to live following his retirement in 1982, Shoemaker has served two terms as Bell County commissioner for precinct 2, a job he is giving up at the end of this term. He also has been a strong civic leader, working tirelessly for Boy Scouts and in United Way campaigns. He was honored by the Scouts with the Distinguished Citizen Award in 1987.

Shoemaker turned over his Howdy! chairmanship earlier this year, but he was immediately put to work on another endeavor: Serving with other retired general officers in preparing the area's presentation for those involved with the Base Realignment and Closure Commission, the group which recommends military post closures and realignments.

The retired general and his wife, Mary Alice, who is better known as Tuk'e, reside in the Bell County home they built on their ranch after retirement from the service.

- - from award program Wednesday, November 9, 1994