Colonel Heath Twichell Jr

Retired US Army Colonel Heath Twichell Jr. died at Charlton Memorial Hospital in Fall River, MA due to complications from Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia (CLL). He was 82.Heath was born in Washington, DC, on October 13, 1934, to Heath and Frances M. Twichell. His father, a West Point graduate and an officer in the US Army Corps of Engineers, was then stationed at Fort Belvoir, VA. As an "army brat," Heath grew up living wherever his father's duties took him, the longest time in one place being State College, PA, while his dad went off to war. In 1946, Heath and his mother joined him to live in post-war occupied Germany for two years. In 1952, Heath graduated from The Albany Academy in Albany NY, and entered West Point.Graduating 22d in a class of 480 in June 1956, Heath was commissioned as a 2d Lieutenant in the Infantry, and began a distinguished career spanning 24 years. He was with the 101st Airborne Division at Little Rock, AR, when President Eisenhower intervened to desegregate Little Rock Central High School in September, 1957. After a commanding a mechanized infantry company in Germany, Heath earned a Master's degree in Modern European History from American University in preparation for a three-year teaching assignment at West Point. He left West Point in June of 1967 for duty with the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam, where he served first as a division staff officer during Tet '68 and then as a battalion executive officer and separate task force commander. Next came a year at the Army Command and General Staff College at Ft. Leavenworth, KS, and two years on the Army Staff in Washington, DC, where he concurrently completed his PhD in History. His dissertation, a biography of Major General Henry T. Allen (1859-1930) won the Allan Nevins Prize for the best dissertation, nationwide, in American History for 1971, and was published by Rutgers University Press in 1975. Heath returned to Vietnam in June, 1971, serving first as a staff officer with the 101st Airborne Division and then as a Regimental Senior Advisor with the 3d ARVN Division on the DMZ. In the latter position, he participated in the defense of Quang Tri during the Easter Offensive of 1972, the largest attack by the North Vietnamese Army during the entire war. Returning to the US, he was next assigned to the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, where he served first as the Division's chief logistician and then commanded the 1st Battalion, 508th Infantry (of D-Day fame) for two years. Following a year commanding the Army's Baltimore Recruiting District, he was selected to attend the Naval War College in the summer of 1976. A year later, he graduated first in his class, being promoted to full colonel on the same day. Because of his academic credentials, he was asked to join the faculty at the War College, where he taught Strategy and Policy for the next three years until a serious heart attack forced him into retirement in 1980. His military awards and decorations include: the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal (2 awards), the Bronze Star (3 awards, 1 w/V), the Air Medal (5 awards) and the Army Commendation Medal (3 awards), the Combat Infantryman's Badge, and Master Parachutist's Wings. Rebounding from his heart attack and a concurrent divorce, in 1981 Heath began a second career as a college professor, initially at the Naval War College's Center for Continuing Education, and later at Salve Regina University, where he became the founding director of the University's graduate programs in International Relations and Continuing Education. He left Salve Regina in 1987 to pursue a third career as an independent scholar, writer and educational consultant. In the years since then, he published his second book (the story of the building of the Alaska Highway during WWIIa"based on his father's letters home in 1941-'42a"which has become the source for five different television documentaries), continued to teach part time at Salve Regina and the Naval War College, served for four years as a consultant at the latter's War Gaming Center, became a Literacy Volunteer, and periodically guided narrated tours of WWII battlefields in Europe. From 2010 until the time of his death, he taught an on-line version of a core NWC course called "Strategy War" to students stationed all over the world.He was very much involved in the life of his church, serving on the Vestry of Newport's Emmanuel Church, and in numerous other volunteer positions over the years. A recovering workaholic, his passions were good friends, good conversation and good fooda"in that order. Not surprisingly, his favorite hobby was cooking, especially for company.He is survived by Mary, his wife of 17 years, by his daughter, Ruth Crane, of Providence RI, and three grandchildren: Chloe Vaast (Netherlands); Stephan Vaast (Newport); and Jack Crane, of Providence. Three sisters, Janet Singly, Abigail Gerhard, and Ruth Cochrane and two daughters, Francis Margaret Twichell and Katherine Vaast, preceded him in death.Visiting hours will be 4:00PM-7:00PM on Thursday, June 29, 2017 at Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport, RI 02840. A memorial service will be held at Emmanuel Church, 42 Dearborn Street, Newport, RI 02840 at 11:00AM on Friday, June 30, 2017. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to Emmanuel Church in Newport, RI. Cemetery Details Private RI,