His obituary says:  "He joined the U.S. Army at age 16 and was one of the last of the cavalry horse soldiers. He served three tours of service in the Army and was stationed all over the world, including Taiwan, Korea, Vietnam and South America. He was part of a Department of Defense military advisory group that helped with the liberation of the Philippines. He retired from active service in the Army as a major in 1959 and finally retired in 1975 with a rank of GS18, serving 56 years overall with the Army and the Department of Defense.  He was fluent in Spanish and Mandarin Chinese."
  He is a 4th cousin to me so I was researching him today and found your question.  Are you also related?
Denise (merritthouse@hotmail.com)