A Return to Glory: The Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor & Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53 [Hardcover]

Bill McWilliams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: August 2000

Now the basis for the made-for-television ESPN Original Entertainment movie "Codebreakers" (premiering at 9 P.M Eastern Time on 10 December 2005), A Return to Glory is the first book to bring readers behind closed doors at West Point during the unprecedented, widely controversial, tragic cheating episode of 1951.

Told with great precision and keen insight, A Return to Glory fuses the intertwined struggles for officers and cadets to maintain honorable conduct on the athletic field with the challenges to officers and enlisted men on the battlefields of Korea, the Cold War’s first frustrating and deadly "limited war." The parallels and corollaries are astounding and often profound.

The book also tells one of the great, never-before-told collegiate football stories of the twentieth century, namely the inspiring true story of how the vaunted Army football team—nationally dominant during much of the decade preceding the incident—recovered from losing almost 40 players in the devastating cheating scandal of 1951.

Timeless and compelling, A Return to Glory is as surprising and meaningful for today's readers as it will be for those who lived the events of a half century ago. Both a period history and lively true story, the book tells of authentic and unsung heroes and young men attempting to live up to the extraordinarily high standards demanded by the Academy and its Honor Code.

While the work accurately portrays the joys, rewards, and tragedies of life in the military, it also tells thought-provoking, often humorous, uplifting stories about people and institutions, "warts and all," woven into a larger story and theme, with deliberately broad appeal intended to reach the general public.

Most importantly, in a new age of desperate battles that challenge the integrity of military leaders on and off today’s battlefields, A Return to Glory tells the inspirational story of some of their Army forebears who selflessly chose the harder right over the easier wrong...and prevailed.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A compelling lesson in the meaning of...honor...and 'choosing the harder right instead of the easier wrong.'" -- Assembly Magazine

"A powerful, well-written book...The pace races...tells in absorbing detail of the long trek back to glory." -- The Journal of Military History

"Academy graduates and military buffs alike will embrace this book." -- Military Heritage Magazine

"Generations to come will find A Return to Glory an enduring insight into crisis." -- Army Magazine

About the Author

Bill McWilliams competed for an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point from the 3rd Congressional District of Colorado, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree, and was commissioned in the United States Air Force in 1955. He earned a Master’s degree in Business Administration from The George Washington University and completed the US Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.

As an Air Force officer, he served as a flight and classroom instructor in undergraduate pilot training and fighter training. During the Vietnam War, he flew 128 fighter-bomber missions, mostly in direct support of American and South Vietnamese ground forces. At the United States Air Force Academy, he served as an Air Officer Commanding and a flight instructor for cadets undergoing light aircraft familiarization training. After a two-year assignment in the Republic of Korea, he completed his military service at the Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center, Las Vegas, Nevada.

McWilliams began his writing career during his more than eight years in various systems management positions in industry. His considerable breadth of experience writing, management system evaluation, and investigative work, in both the private and public sectors, includes investigating, evaluating, and reporting causes of fourteen major Air Force aircraft accidents.

In addition to a wide variety of articles and columns in several newspapers in California, Nevada, and Texas, he has published articles in Air Force Maintenance Magazine and Assembly, the quarterly journal of the United States Military Academy Association of Graduates. He is also the author of On Hallowed Ground: The Last Battle for Pork Chop Hill (United States Naval Institute Press, 2003 and Berkley Books, 2004). The work is a detailed account of the final battle for the Pork Chop Hill outpost, three weeks prior to the Korean War armistice in July, 1953. A Los Angeles production company has recently expressed interest in producing a film based on the book. A third major work now in progress, From Pearl Harbor With Love, is the never-before-told, true story of the evacuation by sea, of wounded, civilians, and military dependents from Hawaii in December 1941, following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Bill and his wife Ronnie married the day after he graduated from the Military Academy and live in Las Vegas, Nevada. They have three grown children who live in Boise, Idaho.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 1144 pages
• Publisher: Warwick House Pub; 1st edition (August 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890306223
• ISBN-13: 978-1890306229
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 2.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,809,393 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars How an institution recovered and perservered!, November 16, 2005

By 

JWG (Western Pennsylvania) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Return to Glory: The Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor & Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53 (Hardcover)

"A Return to Glory" by Bill McWilliams is 3 books in one. It is the
story of West Point's tragic 1951 cheating scandal; Academy graduates in
the Korean War, including a condensed version of the
last battle for Pork Chop Hill; and the restoration of the
Academy's honor system and football program/team in the years
immediately following the 1951 incident.

Weaved into the work is the story of Army coach Earl "Red" Blaik and
all he went through following the cheating incident, in personal
efforts to retain the Cadets ultimately discharged. The book has numerous
examples of the extensive correspondence between Blaik and General
Douglas MacArthur that demonstrates their close friendship and Blaik's
relentless pursuit of the cadets' retention. This also went to the highest
levels in the Pentagon and all the way to President Harry S. Truman.

The 1951 cribbing incident, as some refer to it, occurred during the
first year of the Korean War. The 1951 Army football team was the
pre-season pick for the number one college football team in the
country. Even Army's second-string team was rated better than the other
top-10 teams of that era, which included Southern Cal and Notre
Dame. A total of 83 Cadets resigned. Among them was Coach Blaik's
son Bob, Army's starting quarterback.

Earl Blaik nearly resigned following the 1951 disclosures, but at
General MacArthur's urging, didn't, and in the 1953 season,
brought his Army team back to national ranking.

The middle portion of "A Return to Glory" deals with events
surrounding the last battle for Pork Chop Hill three weeks before
the Korean War ended and the actions of West Point graduates from
1950 through 1953. The war had become trench warfare of World War
I revisited.

This is an engrossing and riveting work. You get more than a hint of
the pressure a football coach is under.

The Honor Code at West Point worked and still does, albeit in ways,
not necessarily to everyone's liking. I should know, I have a son and
daughter currently enrolled as upperclass Cadets.

"A Return to Glory" has lessons for today not necessarily limited to
football and the military. While many changes have occurred at West
Point in the last half-century, the important fundamentals haven't.

"A Return to Glory" is 1115 pages.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars But you have to love football (especially details)..., January 25, 2002

By 

D. Stevens (Ontario Canada) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Return to Glory: The Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor & Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53 (Hardcover)

Excellent coverage of a variety of issues relating to the Glory Days of Army Football - pre, during and post. Well told story but I found the extensive, play-by-play details of far too many football games somewhat distracting. Still, if you love the Academy, this is a fascinating period to read about.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Duty, Honor, Country, February 19, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: A Return to Glory: The Untold Story of Honor, Dishonor & Triumph at the United States Military Academy, 1950-53 (Hardcover)

The work is meticulous. One must like details. And if one takes the time which is well spent, it is a great book. The Academy was under critical fire for this difficult period where a lot of things were breaking down, from a Cheating Scandal to conflicts between the academic and athletic departments, the Korean War rages on and is always in the foreground, a nationally ranked football is descimated with resignations. The title says it best. A great read and wonderful historical review and analysis of a very difficult time.