Letter to the Editor

I read the article on VADM William Fallon in the summer 2001 issue of Villanova Magazine with a special kind of personal pride. 

I had the pleasure to be the 2"d Class (junior class) instructor at the Villanova NROTC Unit from 1966 to 1969. That assignment spanned the era when Bill Fallon was a Villanova student.

I am proud to have taught him‑and the other two admirals mentioned in the article: RADM Jim Eastwood and VADM Walter Doran. All three were exemplary midshipmen and Villanova representatives. It always gratifies an educator when his or her students reach a level of career excellence that perhaps had been enriched by a deed or word of instruction.

At that time the VU NROTC organization was always ranked as one of the top three largest units on the 53 NROTC campuses across the United States. You'll recall that "the sixties" encompassed the Vietnam‑era and, suffice it to say, VU's Mendel Field was never the contentious campus scene encountered at other schools. VU was consistently proud of its midshipmen. I am confident that all of the Navy and Marine Corps officers who were graduated and commissioned from Villanova went on to serve their country with a special pride that only a Villanova experience could provide.

On a personal note, both my wife and I earned our Masters degrees during my tour at VU. Our first son (John W. Alter, III) was born in 1967 mid‑way in my Villanova tour. Later, as a VU student himself, John became the Battalion Commander of the NROTC unit, and received his degree (' 89 C&F) as did his wife, Barbara Keating Alter (' 89 C&F). My memories of Villanova's NROTC unit are as vast and deep as the oceans sailed by her NROTC graduates.

Capt. John W. Alter Jr, U.S.N. (Ret.) '69 M.A.

Bascom, FL