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ON JANUARY 11, 1955 Second Lieutenant Eugene F. Wirth was killed flying out of Bainbridge, Georgia, when the engine of his T-6 failed on a practice night takeoff.
The service record which was closed out that day had first been opened when Gene came down to West Point from an Illinois farm town with a good scholastic record and four years of football and basketball behind him and with the will to succeed showing through in everything he did. When he found that he was too light for Academy football and not tall enough for basketball, he learned to play lacrosse and became one of the best players on a team, which ranked among the best we've ever had.
He always had a great influence over his friends and classmates although he never said much. He was soft-spoken; sometimes you could hardly hear him when he talked, but his voice carried the most weight in an argument. He never pressed a point even when he knew that he was right; people just talked themselves out and then came around to the way he was thinking. Everyone came to him for advice, or to be coached, or just to talk.
He pushed himself hard; he was a man of principle. He was so strict with himself and others on the matter of personal integrity that jokingly we called him "Sam the Honor Man". In a place where strict personal honesty was a byword, he was outstanding.
He was always overburdened with work, sports, extra-curricular activities, coaching and his studies, but he took the time to do everything well, capitalizing on the stamina which showed so well in his athletic activities. He put in four hard years.
Gene finished in the upper sixth of the class, although he gave up half of his study time coaching other cadets. Many nights he would be studying his own assignments by the hall lights after taps because he had spent the whole night helping someone else get ready for the next day's classes.
On graduation, Gene was married to Miss Patricia Haumann of Providence, and he chose the Air Force for his career. At the time of his death he was, characteristically, one of the top student pilots at Bainbridge and a member of the three-man student staff.
His daughter, Linda Jean, was born in Providence seven months after his death. His career and his life were very short, but the influence he exerted over those he knew cannot be calculated. He had a way of life that inspired us all, and in a way he lives on in the indefinable things that he gave to us. Let us never stop talking about him for he was a tribute to his God, his wife, his parents, his country and his friends.
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