[TexKat]

General Maxwell Thurman: Maxwell Thurman, 64, had been diagnosed with leukemia in 1990. Dubbed "Mad Max" and "Maxatollah" by colleagues for his aggressive style, Maxwell Thurman delayed his retirement at the request of the Bush administration so he could spearhead the effort to oust Gen. Manuel Noriega's regime. Gen. John Shalikashvili, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, called Thurman "a remarkable soldier" who loved the Army. "He was a visionary who carved out a path for the Army of today and, by doing so, showed us courage, talent, intelligence and strength of character," Shalikashvili said. Maxwell Thurman was named commander of the U.S. Southern Command, based at Quarry Heights, Panama, in September 1989. Responsible for U.S. forces in South and Central America, Thurman pledged at the time to confront "tyranny in all its insidious forms." He was widely credited with persuading the Pentagon leadership and the Bush administration to use military force against Noriega's regime.

Thurman retired in February 1991 after a 37-year career. He had learned he had an aggressive form of leukemia in July 1990. The general made his reputation as an aggressive, take-charge commander -- a man known, in the words of one officer, for "driving his staff crazy because he was a bachelor and the guy never went home." Born Feb. 18, 1931, in High Point, N.C., he was a graduate of North Carolina State University in Raleigh, where he enrolled in ROTC and got his officer's commission. Thurman held a variety of staff and command positions in Europe and the United States, and served in Vietnam, first as a corps intelligence adviser and later as commander of the 2nd Battalion, 35th Field Artillery, during the Tet offensive. That 1968 battle was considered a public disaster for the United States but a tactical victory in the field for U.S. forces. He held numerous key Army posts, including vice chief of staff and commanding general of the U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command at Fort Monroe, Va., before taking the top spot at Southern Command. Maxwell Thurman headed the Army's Recruiting Command at Fort Sheridan, Ill., where he worked to develop the service's "Be all that you can be" campaign. It was during these years, in the mid-1980s that Thurman is credited with vastly improving the quality of the average soldier. Under Thurman's guidance, according to an Army release, "the modern professional Army we now possess came into existence." Maxwell Thurman is survived by his brother, retired Army Lt. Gen. John R. Thurman III of Alexandria, Va. He is to be buried Thursday at Arlington National Cemetery. Source: Oklahoman Newspaper Publication Date: December 02, 1995

http://freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~lthurman/obits.html

[Ax]

Thanks, TexKat. I met General Thurman in "The Tunnel" at Quarry Heights, HQS SOUTHCOM during Operation JUST CAUSE in December 1989. Later, while on home leave in Chatham MA, the priest at mass requested prayers for General Thurman. He must have retired somewhere on the Cape.