Softly call the Muster
Student body prepares for A&M’s most sacred tradition
Published: Friday, April 20, 2012
"In 1942, Brig. Gen. George F. Moore, Class of 1908, called the most famous Muster in the tradition’s history onCorregidor Island in the Philippines. In the midst of World War II, Americans, including many Aggies, had engaged Japanese forces in combat on the island and were subject to an intense bombardment. Moore joined Maj. Tom Dooley, Class of 1935, and 25 fellow Aggies to hold a Roll Call for the former students who had been killed in battle.
Corregidor eventually fell to Japanese forces, and some of the men who famously mustered on the island became World War II casualties.
“Among the bravest of these brave are twenty officers, sons of Texas A&M, unable themselves to answer this year’s annual muster,” wrote Gen. Douglas MacArthur in an April 21, 1946 message from his office as supreme allied commander for the Allied Forces. “It is for us, therefore, to do so for them — to answer for them in clear and firm voice — Dead on the battleswept Corregidor where their eternal spirit will never die but will march on forever, inspiring in those who follow the courage and the will to preserve well that for which they bled.”
At the war’s end, 15,000 Aggies gathered at Kyle Field to honor the former students who were killed in combat. The Muster address was delivered by Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, supreme allied commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force and eventual U.S. president.
“The Aggie Muster totally manifests the Aggie spirit. … Not a single person attending the Aggie Muster is quite the same again,” wrote Richard “Buck” Weirus, Class of 1942, in the foreword of “Softly Call the Muster.” “All have tears in their eyes, perhaps because of the name of a loved one called, the lighting of a candle, the Ross Volunteers’ rifle volley ... or just being there.”"
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