history

Throwback Thursday: 1970 EWU Army ROTC Commissioning

09/17/2020 by jstafford3 3 Comments

From our EWU Army ROTC archives comes this newspaper clipping of Kenneth W. Attebery being commissioned as a Second Lieutenant 50 years ago back in 1970. Back then EWU was known as Eastern Washington State College. Attebery was commissioned as an officer into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. According to the caption he was a graduate of West Valley High School and majored in Urban Planning. His wife Diane and his mother Phyllis pinned the gold bars on his uniform. Does any of our Fighting Eagles alumni remember Kenneth Attebery?

Attebery

Throwback Thursday: Lieutenant Colonel Coonelly With A Big Smile in 1981

08/20/2020 by jstafford3 Leave a Comment

In this 1981 archive image, the former Professor of Military Science at Eastern Washington University, Lieutenant Colonel, Thomas Coonelly looks at and gives a big smile to a Cadet while checking a radio. If any alumni have any stories to share about LTC Coonelly please share them in the comments section.

Go ROTC! Go Fighting Eags!

Throwback Thursday: 1989 EWU Army ROTC Ranger Challenge Team

10/31/2019 by jstafford3 2 Comments

This picture is of the Eastern Washington University (EWU) Army ROTC Ranger Challenge team conducting what appears to be the ruck march event back in 1989. Does anyone from the 1989 graduating class remember where the competition was held and how the team did at Ranger Challenge that year?

Throwback Thursday: 1968 Picture of the EWU Army ROTC Jeep

10/17/2019 by jstafford3 Leave a Comment

This is a picture from the 1968 Kinnikinik Yearbook published by then Eastern Washington State College of the Army ROTC Jeep. Eastern’s mascot back then was the Savages and thus the Jeep was named “Lil Savage”. Today the university’s mascot is the Eagles and thus the ROTC Jeep is named “Lil Eag”. After all these decades the ROTC Jeep is still up and running and can be seen at every home football game next to the Cannon Crew.

We encourage any of our EWU Army ROTC alumni and friends to stop by and see “Lil Eag” and our historic World War II howitzer when attending home football games. We hope to see you there! Go Eags!

Throwback Thursday: The 1968 Eastern Washington University Rifle Team

10/10/2019 by jstafford3 Leave a Comment

The Eastern Rifle team, under the direction of Sgt Kyle Payne, captured the conference title with a clean sweep. The undefeated marksmen were victorious in all six of their conference matches and scored their second flawles.s season in three years. The men fired .22 calibers that were specially designed for the range. They are 15 lbs. and ten pounds heavier than regular .22 rifles. The model 52C weapons are precision-made for accuracy and have several added range features. The cost is approximately $400 per weapon. Jim Zimmerman, who placed eleventh in the Big Sky conference at the invitational match, led the team and the league with a 287.8 average for the year. A perfect score is 300. Pat Aegerter finished the season with a 285.5 average, good for second in the league.

In target competition, each man is required to make ten shots in each of three positions; prone, standing and kneeling. Time is a prime factor in the contest as each man has 36 minutes to complete his rounds. Points are accumulated according to the distance from the center of the target. A man receives ten points when he completely shoots out the “Bull’s Eye”. Eastern placed five marksmen in the top ten positions in the conference at the end of the season. On the squad are Zimmerman, Aegerter, Rich Hamrich, Ray Grimes and Cal Kam. Pat Culllgan, who failed to accumulate enough points for conference standings, won third in the Big Sky Invitational for the prone position. [1968 Kinnikinik Yearbook]

Did you know that Eastern Washington University still has a rifle team today? If you are interested in competitive shooting and would like to be part of the rifle team you do not need to be part of Army ROTC program to do so. The rifle team is an elective college class open to everyone in the university to enroll into. Anyone with questions can contact our EWU Army ROTC office at Cadet Hall at 509-359-2386 with their questions.

Throwback Thursday: The Eastern Washington University Campus in 1964

08/15/2019 by jstafford3 Leave a Comment

EWU Campus 1964

Here is a picture of what the Eastern Washington University (EWU) campus looked like back in 1964. Back then the school was called Eastern Washington State College. Cadet Hall is pictured next to the old Fieldhouse that burned down back in 1970’s. The Computing and Engineering Building was built in its place next to Cadet Hall in 2006. The football stadium that is pictured was replaced by today’s Roos Field constructed on the other side of Washington Street from the EWU campus. The old football stadium has been knocked down and replaced with the construction of the JFK Library and a grassy area known today as JFK Field. This field is where we hold some our weekly ROTC leadership labs at during the year.