Col. Ira "Teen" Palm was my dad's commanding officer in German in the early 60s. He left an indelible impression in the lives of all that knew him as the best officer they ever knew and of an incredible man of God. Col. Palm's life is an amazing story of his commitment to Jesus Christ and to his career in the Army.
Teen Palm was born in 1913, grew up in North Carolina. He became a Christian while attending a Presbyterian Church in Salisbury, NC. He started attending Clemson University, but dropped out after his freshman year and never graduated from college. As a gifted saxophonist, he accepted an invitation to play in one of the great East Coast swing bands of that era.
Col. Palm met his wife Helen in 1939, was married in 1941, was drafted by the Army in 1942, went through OCS, and departed for the war in Europe in 1944. He served in the front lines and was in constant combat from September 1944 until the end of the war. He was wounded and received numerous decorations.
Shortly after crossing the Rhine, the US Army received intelligence that Hitler was visiting his apartment in Munich. Thinking that a bold move might end the war early, the Army formed a special, small unit to advance quickly behind enemy lines, enter Munich, seize Hitler's apartment and arrest or kill Hitler if he was there. Lt. Palm volunteered for and was part of that unit.
The unit had to cross 200 miles behind German lines but, amazingly, never encountered German troops. They successfully entered Munich, seized Hitler's apartment, but, of course, Hitler was not there. They "liberated" many of Hitler's possessions, including a gold Luger with a serial number of 1 that Luger had created for Hitler. Lt. Palm ended up with the gun and gave it to his pastor in North Carolina upon his return to the States. (The gun was stolen from the pastor's home in a burglary and, decades later, appeared again in the collectors' market in the U.S.).
After the war, Col. Palm, like many veterans, decided to leave the Army. However, after a few years, he and his wife Helen felt the Lord calling them back into the Army as missionaries to the military itself (at that time, the officer corps in the Army was decidedly non-Christian in its character and morals). It was a lousy time to reenter the Army. The Army was downsizing and was certainly not an upward career track for any young officer, particularly one without a college degree.
But God had other plans for Col. Palm. After reentering the Army in the late 40s, he was quickly promoted. He rose from Captain, to Major and then to Lt. Colonel within only one year. When my dad first served under him in 1961, Col. Palm was a full colonel and commander of a special Battle Group within the 24th Infantry Division that the Army was experimenting with. His immediate predecessor as commander of the Battle Group was Bernard W. Rogers, a future Army Chief of Staff. The U.S. Army was clearly prepping Teen Palm for future senior command. His meteoric career in the Army was inexplicable given his lack of a college degree, his departure from the Army for several years, and his reentry into the Army during a period when it was downsizing.
But God had plans for Col. Palm other than senior command. Prior to his service in Germany, Col. Palm had been stationed at the nuclear test site in Nevada. Like many of those troops, Col. Palm developed cancer (Hodgkins disease) forcing him to retire early. He died in 1966 Col. Palm's death was yet another example of what Sheldon Vanauken termed God's "Severe Mercy".
The two most striking characteristics of Col. Palm and his wife Helen were their devotion to God and their love for the people around them. When our family arrived in Germany, with my dad a mere Captain at that time, Col. Palm and his wife met our family at the bus station. They did not know we were arriving then. They told my parents that God simply had moved them at that time to go to the bus station. Their meeting of my folks was a Godsend. My mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, and due to last-minute changes in orders and planning by the Army, we had no housing and my parents had no idea where to go. The Palms immediately arranged a place for our family to stay with other OCF members until housing could be arranged and took care of many of the other details involved in moving a family to a foreign country.
Later, at a time when my dad was out for month-long maneuvers, word came that my mom had to go immediately to the US Army Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for radiation treatment for her cancer. Radioactive materials had just arrived from the U.S. which had to be immediately administered before they expired. The radiation therapy at that time was new and experimental, so my mom was to be completely isolated for days in order to protect the other patients and staff at the hospital.
My mom had no idea what to do. She had three little children that she could not abandon. So Mrs. Helen Palm, knowing of the situation, marched into the office of the Division Commanding General, Edwin Walker (who was then already famous and later became infamous) to tell him about the situation and to demand that he do something. For all his faults, our family is indebted to General Walker. He ordered his personal staff car to take my mom to Landstuhl immediately and sent out orders for my dad to return from maneuvers that day.
Col. Palm was unique as a commanding officer. He told the officers that worked for him that he expected them to be home from the office no later than 5 pm every day. He explained that if they stayed later, it told him one of two things: that they were either incompetent at their job or that they were avoiding issues at home that they needed to address. Despite that ethic, the Battle Group under Col. Palm received the highest ratings of any unit in Germany.
Col. Palm also led Bible studies at every place he was stationed while in the Army. He was active in OCF during its early formative years and is a major reason that it was so successful and is today comprised of thousands of U.S. and foreign officers. Col. Palm and his wife were perhaps the most significant Christian role models in the lives of my parents and many other US Army officers from the 50s and 60s.
When Col. Ira Teen Palm died, dozens of officers who had served under him each wrote a short tribute to him and then had the collection bound in leather and given to his wife, Helen. That small effort by those officers is a moving tribute to a man of God who served God with his whole heart and glorified Him by his conduct as an officer. Every officer I have met who served with, under or knew Col. Palm described him as the greatest man they ever knew. But Col. Palm's legacy was not his own glory, but the glorification of God in all that he did.
I'm also going to try to attach a couple of pictures of Col. Palm. One I found on the internet and it was taken of him in Augsburg, Germany, when he was my dad's commanding officer. The other one is a personal photo of him and his wife Helen.
Teen Palm was born in 1913, grew up in North Carolina. He became a Christian while attending a Presbyterian Church in Salisbury, NC. He started attending Clemson University, but dropped out after his freshman year and never graduated from college. As a gifted saxophonist, he accepted an invitation to play in one of the great East Coast swing bands of that era.
Col. Palm met his wife Helen in 1939, was married in 1941, was drafted by the Army in 1942, went through OCS, and departed for the war in Europe in 1944. He served in the front lines and was in constant combat from September 1944 until the end of the war. He was wounded and received numerous decorations.
Shortly after crossing the Rhine, the US Army received intelligence that Hitler was visiting his apartment in Munich. Thinking that a bold move might end the war early, the Army formed a special, small unit to advance quickly behind enemy lines, enter Munich, seize Hitler's apartment and arrest or kill Hitler if he was there. Lt. Palm volunteered for and was part of that unit.
The unit had to cross 200 miles behind German lines but, amazingly, never encountered German troops. They successfully entered Munich, seized Hitler's apartment, but, of course, Hitler was not there. They "liberated" many of Hitler's possessions, including a gold Luger with a serial number of 1 that Luger had created for Hitler. Lt. Palm ended up with the gun and gave it to his pastor in North Carolina upon his return to the States. (The gun was stolen from the pastor's home in a burglary and, decades later, appeared again in the collectors' market in the U.S.).
After the war, Col. Palm, like many veterans, decided to leave the Army. However, after a few years, he and his wife Helen felt the Lord calling them back into the Army as missionaries to the military itself (at that time, the officer corps in the Army was decidedly non-Christian in its character and morals). It was a lousy time to reenter the Army. The Army was downsizing and was certainly not an upward career track for any young officer, particularly one without a college degree.
But God had other plans for Col. Palm. After reentering the Army in the late 40s, he was quickly promoted. He rose from Captain, to Major and then to Lt. Colonel within only one year. When my dad first served under him in 1961, Col. Palm was a full colonel and commander of a special Battle Group within the 24th Infantry Division that the Army was experimenting with. His immediate predecessor as commander of the Battle Group was Bernard W. Rogers, a future Army Chief of Staff. The U.S. Army was clearly prepping Teen Palm for future senior command. His meteoric career in the Army was inexplicable given his lack of a college degree, his departure from the Army for several years, and his reentry into the Army during a period when it was downsizing.
But God had plans for Col. Palm other than senior command. Prior to his service in Germany, Col. Palm had been stationed at the nuclear test site in Nevada. Like many of those troops, Col. Palm developed cancer (Hodgkins disease) forcing him to retire early. He died in 1966 Col. Palm's death was yet another example of what Sheldon Vanauken termed God's "Severe Mercy".
The two most striking characteristics of Col. Palm and his wife Helen were their devotion to God and their love for the people around them. When our family arrived in Germany, with my dad a mere Captain at that time, Col. Palm and his wife met our family at the bus station. They did not know we were arriving then. They told my parents that God simply had moved them at that time to go to the bus station. Their meeting of my folks was a Godsend. My mom had just been diagnosed with cancer, and due to last-minute changes in orders and planning by the Army, we had no housing and my parents had no idea where to go. The Palms immediately arranged a place for our family to stay with other OCF members until housing could be arranged and took care of many of the other details involved in moving a family to a foreign country.
Later, at a time when my dad was out for month-long maneuvers, word came that my mom had to go immediately to the US Army Hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, for radiation treatment for her cancer. Radioactive materials had just arrived from the U.S. which had to be immediately administered before they expired. The radiation therapy at that time was new and experimental, so my mom was to be completely isolated for days in order to protect the other patients and staff at the hospital.
My mom had no idea what to do. She had three little children that she could not abandon. So Mrs. Helen Palm, knowing of the situation, marched into the office of the Division Commanding General, Edwin Walker (who was then already famous and later became infamous) to tell him about the situation and to demand that he do something. For all his faults, our family is indebted to General Walker. He ordered his personal staff car to take my mom to Landstuhl immediately and sent out orders for my dad to return from maneuvers that day.
Col. Palm was unique as a commanding officer. He told the officers that worked for him that he expected them to be home from the office no later than 5 pm every day. He explained that if they stayed later, it told him one of two things: that they were either incompetent at their job or that they were avoiding issues at home that they needed to address. Despite that ethic, the Battle Group under Col. Palm received the highest ratings of any unit in Germany.
Col. Palm also led Bible studies at every place he was stationed while in the Army. He was active in OCF during its early formative years and is a major reason that it was so successful and is today comprised of thousands of U.S. and foreign officers. Col. Palm and his wife were perhaps the most significant Christian role models in the lives of my parents and many other US Army officers from the 50s and 60s.
When Col. Ira Teen Palm died, dozens of officers who had served under him each wrote a short tribute to him and then had the collection bound in leather and given to his wife, Helen. That small effort by those officers is a moving tribute to a man of God who served God with his whole heart and glorified Him by his conduct as an officer. Every officer I have met who served with, under or knew Col. Palm described him as the greatest man they ever knew. But Col. Palm's legacy was not his own glory, but the glorification of God in all that he did.
I'm also going to try to attach a couple of pictures of Col. Palm. One I found on the internet and it was taken of him in Augsburg, Germany, when he was my dad's commanding officer. The other one is a personal photo of him and his wife Helen.