Robert J. Lamb

Robert J. Lamb Jr., son of Robert J. and Ethel Lamb, was born and grew up in Whiteville, North Carolina. Bob had two sisters, Betty Ann and Ethel. While attending Whiteville High School he acted in several one-act plays in state-wide contests, attended Boy’s State at the University of North Carolina and was elected President of the North Carolina Beta Clubs in his Senior year. He graduated high school in 1942 and was designated valedictorian of his class.

When Bob was ready for college at the height of World War II, his father, having served with and admired United States Military Academy graduates in World War I, recommended he pursue an appointment to West Point. After a year of preparation at North Carolina State College, Bob entered the Military Academy in 1943 as a member of the three-year Class of 1946.

Having endured the rigors of Plebe year, academics, physical training and not yet 21 years old, Bob graduated, was commissioned Infantry and within a year was a Platoon Leader in a rifle company overlooking the 38th parallel in the Republic of Korea. Leadership of that platoon was the first of five command positions Bob held in his 26 years of active service that included company command in Korea before the war and a second company command during the Korean War where he was awarded the Silver Star and Purple Heart. He later commanded an armored-infantry battalion in Germany and a basic training brigade at Fort Bliss, Texas. Interspersed between these command assignments, he served on staff and faculty postings at his Alma Mater and at the Army Command and General Staff College, as well as with the Seventh Army in Germany, the Eighth Army in Korea and at the Pentagon on the Army Staff.

His final tour was on the Military Academy staff as the Secretary and Treasurer of the Academy’s Association of Graduates. Upon his retirement from the Army, the Association established the position of Executive Vice President as the full time operating officer and hired Bob where he served for 18 years until his mandatory retirement in 1990.

Not long after Bob retired from the Association of Graduates, he and wife Miriam moved to Patriots Colony, a retirement community in Williamsburg, Virginia. Bob was elected the first President of the community’s residents association, wrote historical articles for the community’s newspaper, and dedicated many hours of satisfying volunteer time to the National Park Service at Historic Jamestown.

In the spring of 1945 while a Second Class cadet, Bob met and courted Miriam Dingley Leetch, a member of a prominent family from the Georgetown area of Washington D.C. They became engaged a year later and were married on December 27, 1946. Between 1950 and 1960 Miriam and Bob added four children; two daughters, Kathy and Madalen; and, two sons, Bob and Bill. During the subsequent decades, those children provided Miriam and Bob the joy of 10 grandchildren (six of whom have served in their nation’s armed forces) and 13 great grandchildren. For 30 years, Miriam and Bob gathered their continuously growing family at North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for joyful family reunions assuring a legacy of family for generations to come.

Final interment will be at the United States Military Academy in West Point, New York, date to be determined. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Association of Graduates at West Point, New York or to the Patriots Fund at Patriots Colony in Williamsburg, Virginia.