Bryan Coffield Arnold
Posted on December 17, 2014 by Royal Rosamond Press
Bryan C. Arnold 1937
Cullum No. 10973 • Nov 14, 1987 • Died in Los Altos, CA
Interred in Alta Mesa Cemetery, Palo Alto, CA
Bryan Coffield Arnold, born in Gatesville, Texas, on 1 October 1913, was the son of a distinguished jurist, Jasper Henry Arnold, and his artist wife, Ray Coffield Arnold. Attending elementary and high school in Gatesville, he was introduced to the military through a year of CMTC, two years of Reserve Officer Training Corps, and a year in the Texas National Guard. This, together with his high school football and drama experience, surely helped persuade Congressman O.H. Cross of the Eleventh Congressional District (Texas) to select and appoint Bryan to the United States Military Academy at West Point, to which Bryan matriculated in 1933.
Early in his plebe year it became apparent that Bryan marched to a different drummer, determinedly so. His deep and abiding belief, which he was to sustain all his life, in the brotherhood of all mankind and in equal justice under all law endeared him to his friends and profoundly disturbed others, not the least of whom were his military superiors. Even so, in June 1937, having fully participated for four years in sports, choir, and Hundreth Night Shows, and having regularly been in attendance on the yard, Bryan stood proudly with his classmates to receive his commission as a second lieutenant of Infantry.
Of his years in the service, Bryan was later, in retrospect, to write, “My career was far from outstanding, but I tried to play the game honestly, and did my duty usually as I understood it, although as a human being the understanding was often fallible.”
Pearl Harbor found him commanding Headquarters Company of the 21st Infantry Regiment at Schofield Barracks, Territory of Hawaii. Soon after, Captain Arnold transferred to the Air Transport Command, where he was assigned as intelligence officer and adjutant of the 18th Transport Group in Amberly, Australia. He remained in this assignment until his return to the States in 1944 to attend the 18th General Staff Course at Fort Leavenworth.
Taking time out to marry Eugenia Smith in Cincinnati, Ohio, he returned to duty at the Army Training Center at Hamilton Field, California until the war’s end. Now, after completing a re-
fresher course at Fort Benning, Bryan returned to his first love, as Infantry battalion commander at Camp Fannin, Texas. An interesting detail as radiological safety officer for “Operation Crossroad” at Bikini Atoll preceded a short tour at Fort McClellan, Alabama. He then took his family to Fort Jackson, where he served as a battalion commander in the 10th Infantry Regiment.
In February 1946, Eugenia bore him a son who was to die tragically in 1965. In 1950, after the birth of daughter Victoria Lee, Major Arnold moved his family to France for four years while he served in various assignments, the last a two-year stint as deputy post commander at Brus-sac. Then, following a tour as Bud Underwood’s deputy at Fort Niagara, he spent sixteen months in Korea, and eighteen months at Camp Zama in Japan. He retired as a lieutenant colonel in 1961 and took his family to Oakland, California, to begin life as a civilian.
After five years in Oakland, during which Bryan worked in real estate, and Eugenia as a secretary at Modern Day School, they moved to southern California. Here Bryan worked for the city of Mountain View, then for the state, first for the Department of Water Resources, and later for the Highway Department. He also served as editor of the American Right of Way Association Newspaper. Eugenia began working in El Camino Hospital in 1965, where she was to remain for 21 years.
Physical difficulties forced Bryan’s retirement in 1983. About this time he moved into his daughter’s home in Los Angeles, and died in a nursing home in Sunnyvale in November 1987.
Our gentle Texan, with the voice of an angel, has gone. May God grant him rest.
Dr. Henry Summerfield Arnold (b. April 17, 1837, d. July 10, 1913)
Henry Summerfield Arnold was born April 17, 1837 in Mount Pleasant, Tennessee, and died July 10, 1913 in Coryell County, Texas. He married Polly Molly Walker on November 19, 1865 in Brazos County, Texas, daughter of William Calvin Walker and Nancy Bolton.
More About Henry Summerfield Arnold and Polly Molly Walker:
Marriage: November 19, 1865, Brazos County, Texas.
Children of Henry Summerfield Arnold and Polly Molly Walker are:
- Edwin P. Arnold, b. August 15, 1866, Texas, d. September 15, 1910.
- Jasper Henry Arnold, b. 1869, Texas, d. date unknown.
- George J. Arnold, b. May 01, 1871, Texas, d. date unknown.
- Joseph Arnold, b. September 01, 1874, Texas, d. date unknown.
- Robert Marion Arnold, b. 1876, Texas, d. date unknown.
- Harry Lee Arnold, b. March 1880, Texas, d. 1934.
| Name:Bryan Coffield ArnoldBirth Date:1 Oct 1913Gender:MaleBirth Place:Gatesville, Coryell, Texas, USAFather:Jasper Henry ArnoldFather Birth Place:Brazos County, TexasMother:Ray CoffieldMother Birth Place:Hays County, TexasMother Residence:Gatesville, Texas |
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