Thanks for posting.

When I was a fish in White Band, we won the Hochmuth cord to wear the following year. Was very proud to have won, had no idea who he was. As an adult, I googled him up, and have been extremely impressed with this fine Ag. Lots of stories out there about him, lots of admiration for him in the ranks.

One of my favorite stories was a young private who was tasked with sweeping Hochmuth's office. He spotted the general's hat hanging on the rack, and couldn't resist trying it on. As he was admiring himself in the mirror, Hochmuth walked in. The private thought he was dead, but the general just grunted and said "Keep it on. Looks better on you than me," and went back to work.

https://www.vvmf.org/Wall-of-Faces/23473/BRUNO-A-HOCHMUTH/

Quote:

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MCRD was my first active duty post after a direct commission as a Navy optometrist (Medical Service Corps). I reported aboard on 1 January 1966. One my first duties was to attend an interview with the CG, MGEN Hochmuth, on 2 Jan 1966 along with other newly assigned officers. I wore my newly acquired Marine Corps greens to the meeting and thought I looked very sharp. After the intial pleasantries, General Hochmuth looked at me and announced that "Dr. Lewis, you are out of uniform". A little mystified, I wondered what I had done wrong. It turned out that I was wearing my Navy tie clip, which was a plain gold bar without the Marine Corp insignia. He quickly put me at ease with a laugh and, taking off his own tie clip, handed it to me. I put it on and was "now in uniform" and wore that tie clip for the rest of my military career.

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Here's an eyewitness report from the pilot of the following helicopter.

http://www.hmm-364.org/1967/death-of.html

Side note, Hochmuth was the first general killed in Vietnam, but not the only. There was an Air Force MGEN who died later, in the collision of two B-52s.

BTW, congrats on saying "by accident". Seems like the common usage today is "on accident", which is wrong and sounds like a twelve-year-old.