Frank Ambler Camm was a tall, straight-arrow, combat engineer leader who fought in three wars, drafted military plans and strategy, and built fine places in which to live, work, and play.
Frank and his twin brother were born at Camp Knox, KY, to Lieutenant Frank and Felicia Taylor Camm. He enjoyed riding horses at Fort Bragg, surfing in Hawaii, and visiting his family’s farm, “St. Moor,” with his twin, younger brother, and sister. He won an appointment to West Point, where he earned stars, coached classmates, won horseshow ribbons and a Major “A” in high jumping, and flew an airplane before he could drive. The Cadet Prayer reinforced his family values.
Graduating in January 1943, Frank became a combat engineer in the 78th Infantry Division where his father was an artilleryman. Finding his howitzers stopped one day before a flimsy truss bridge, Frank’s father was told, “That tall, skinny engineer lieutenant says the bridge is safe,” and replied, “I know that engineer. Drive across!” Much to Frank’s relief, the bridge held.
In the bitterly contested Hurtgen Forest during the Battle of the Bulge, Frank’s engineers defended his division’s exposed south flanks and later helped penetrate the Siegfried Line’s dragons teeth, pillboxes, minefields, and deep snow to seize a Rohr River bridge that blocked three field armies from reaching the Rhine. Frank’s company then checked the dam to ensure it wasn’t mined.
When his division helped the 9th Armored Division seize the Remagen Bridge, Frank’s was the first complete Allied company across the Rhine. Commandeering German boats to evacuate casualties and ferry over artillery phone lines, his men helped frustrate German counterattacks on the bridgehead. His company conducted three assault crossings over the Sieg River in the attack into the Ruhr Pocket.
Frank took command of his battalion when he was barely 23 and led it through his division’s occupation of Berlin during 1945-46. Frank subsequently commanded two atom bomb units, two Engineer OCS battalions, the 2nd Infantry Division engineer battalion in the Korean War, the 521st Engineer Group in Germany, and the South Pacific Engineer Division. Frank was intensely proud to be a combat engineer.
Frank earned graduate degrees in engineering (first in his Harvard class) and international relations (at George Washington) and graduated from the National War College and the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program.
Among 60 officers selected to take over the Manhattan Project from scientists, he led the prototype military atom bomb assembly team (while meeting and marrying his “fair desert flower,” the beautiful and sparkling Arlene Brinkman) in Albuquerque, NM. Later, he became the Army Staff’s first nuclear planner, adjusted Seventh Army war plans to nuclear reality, and led tactical nuclear war planning as the only military director with the “Whiz Kids” who brought systems analysis to the Pentagon. As Director of Military Applications of the Atomic Energy Commission, he directed the Los Alamos, Sandia, and Livermore Nuclear Weapon Laboratories, the Nevada Test Site, and nine weapon production plants.
He installed the sensor-driven McNamara Line in Vietnam and later led Army Engineer adjustment to the “Environmental Revolution” in the Far West. He served as Assistant Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and then Deputy Commander of Training and Doctrine Command, supervising 26 Army schools and training centers and Army ROTC. There, he fostered training with laser beams and war games simulating combat, and represented users in development of the Big Five Army systems.
In 1977, he became Deputy Director of Intelligence for Collection of national human, signal, and photo intelligence. In 1979, President Carter appointed him to FEMA, where he directed civil defense, continuity of government, the national stockpile, and civil mobilization.
After retiring in 1981, Frank led pro bono efforts that yielded the “Constitution Corner,” the Class of January ’43’s 50-year gift to West Point; the Herbert Hall Alumni Center at West Point; and The Fairfax military retirement community at Fort Belvoir, now home to 500 happy residents. He also designed and built engineer castle playhouses with his grandsons. In 1999, the District of Columbia West Point Society gave him its prestigious Castle Memorial Award. In 2005, the West Point Association of Graduates presented him its Distinguished Graduate Award.
Frank was a man of great integrity and moral courage. His experience and objectivity produced sound, thorough judgments. He was patient under adversity and had strong expectations and convictions. He loved his family, community, and country deeply. He lived every day to the fullest and brought personal energy and enthusiasm to all he did to serve others. He was always open to new ideas and opportunities to master new fields. Comfortably rooted in the traditions of the past, he always wanted to know what a new day would bring and where the future might lead him, his family, and his friends.
In his ’43JAN 50th yearbook, Frank wrote: “Arlene is the best that ever happened to me. She’s been a constant joy, nurturing two marvelous children and four fine grandchildren. No other career offers such a satisfying life of service, shared values, goals, and mutual trust. It’s been a great fifty years with a wonderful family, magnificent soldiers, congenial friends, and good breaks. Who could ask for anything more?”
After moving to The Fairfax in 2007, he died peacefully there on Jan 17, 2012. His daughter, Arlene, predeceased him. His wife Arlene, son Frank, four grandchildren—Sam, Nick, Michelle, and John; two great-grandchildren, Nickie and Katie—survive him.
— Son & classmate