Texas A&M University Corps of Cadets

Texas A&M University recognized the lifetime achievements of four distinguished gentlemen during the Corps Hall of Honor induction ceremony on Saturday,
Feb. 9, in Rudder Auditorium on the Texas A&M campus.

James K.B. Nelson ’49, Rear Admiral (Ret) Robert Smith III ’61, Lieutenant General (Ret) James T. Scott ’64 and Lieutenant George P.F. Jouine, Class of 1907 were inducted.

The Corps Hall of Honor was established in 1993 to pay tribute to former students of the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets who have lived a life that exemplifies the Aggie Spirit.

They must also possess the values upon which the Corps is founded: honor, loyalty, service, patriotism and leadership. To date, 63 former cadets have been inducted into the Corps Hall of Honor.

James K.B. Nelson

Class of ’49

Mr. James K.B. Nelson, Class of ’49, received dual bachelor’s degrees in mechanical and petroleum engineering from Texas A&M. While a cadet, Mr. Nelson was a Ross Volunteer, a Cadet Lt. Colonel Corps Staff, Senior Class secretary and treasurer and editor of The Battalion.He received a commission as a second lieutenant in the United States Air Force upon graduation.

While still in school and at the beginning of his career, Mr. Nelson worked in and around the Houston area as a roughneck with several drilling companies including Carl. B. King, Loffland Brothers and Thompson-Carr. In 1950, he became a drilling engineer with Thompson-Carr where he worked until 1955 when he became a drilling and production superintendent with Starett Oil Company.

In 1960, Mr. Nelson began his tenure with Grey Wolf Drilling Company, also in Houston, first as vice president of operations and then as president and chief executive officer from 1979 until 1997.

Presently, Mr. Nelson is president of Felicity Ventures, Ltd. and serves on the Board of Directors of Grey Wolf Drilling, and is president, treasurer and trustee of the James K.B. and Audrey Calais Nelson Foundation.

Mr. Nelson has held offices in local Texas A&M Clubs, The Association of Former Students, the Twelfth Man Foundation, several A&M Mothers Clubs, the Corps Development Council, the Corps of Cadets Association, the Corps Leadership Outreach and the Aggie Band Association.

Mr. Nelson received the 1997 Entrepreneur of the Year Award in Houston, was a 1997 inductee into the Texas A&M Petroleum Engineering Academy of Distinguished Graduates and was additionally honored as both an Outstanding Alumni of the Dwight Look College of Engineering in 2000 and a Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students Distinguished Alumnus in 2005.

Rear Admiral (Ret) Robert Smith III

Class of ’61

Rear Admiral Robert Smith III, Class of ’61, received a bachelor’s degree in agricultural economics from Texas A&M and is a 1977 graduate of Louisiana State University’s School of Banking of the South.As a student at Texas A&M, Rear Admiral Smith was a member of the Corps of Cadets, the Agricultural Economics Club and the Dallas Hometown Club.

Rear Admiral Smith was commissioned into the United States Navy in 1962. He is a graduate of the Naval War College and also attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, completing a course in national security in 1991.

During his 35 years in the United States Navy, he served in assignments in the Pacific, Washington, D.C. and the Atlantic and retired in 1996 as chief of staff to the commander, United States Pacific Fleet, Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. In 1987, Rear Admiral Smith was selected a rear admiral (lower half) and later earned his second star in 1991.

The Navy recognized his distinguished military career with honors including the Defense Superior Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Meritorious Service Medal and the Navy Unit Commendation Award.

Rear Admiral Smith began his civilian career with the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas in 1968. He has served as secretary to the Bank’s board of directors and to the Federal Reserve System’s Conference of Presidents. In 1975, he served as assistant secretary to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Rear Admiral Smith is currently senior vice president of the Federal Reserve Bank, responsible for its Houston’s branch.

He is actively involved as a Texas A&M former student and an ardent supporter and past president of The Association of Former Students and the Dallas A&M Club and past chairman of the Texas A&M Foundation.

Rear Admiral Smith is a past member of the 12th Man Foundation board of directors and the Chancellor’s Century Council. He is a member of the Corps of Cadets Development Council, chairman of both the Presidential Board of Visitors and the President’s Council of Advisors.

In 1999 he received the Jimmy Williams Distinguished Service Award from the Dallas A&M Club, was awarded the “Outstanding Houston Aggie of the Year” by the Houston A&M Club in 2002 and was inducted as a Texas A&M University and The Association of Former Students Distinguished Alumnus in 2005.

Lieutenant General (Ret) James T. Scott

Class of ’64

Lieutenant General James T. Scott, Class of ’64, received his bachelor’s degree in animal husbandry from Texas A&M and his MBA from Fairleigh–Dickinson University, graduating Magna cum Laude.

Throughout his 32-year military career in the United States Army, he held several key senior commands in Europe, Africa, Korea and the United States and participated in operations in Somalia, Haiti and the Balkans as well as in counter-terrorism and counter-narcotics missions worldwide.

Lieutenant General Scott’s military experience includes command of tactical units at all levels, from platoon through division. Some of his key staff assignments include service with the West Point faculty; speech writer and editor in the Office of the Chief of Staff and Deputy for Plans and Policy, United States Pacific Command.
He served in six foreign countries and participated in five combat tours, three of which were in Vietnam where he served as an Infantry Platoon Leader, Company Commander and Operations Officer.

From 1993 until his retirement from the Army in 1996, he was Commanding General of United States Army Special Operations Command at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. In this position Lieutenant General Scott was responsible for all Army Special Operations Forces, both Active and Reserve.

From 1997 through 2001, Lieutenant General Scott was the Director of the National Security Program at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University where he taught graduate- and executive-level programs on national security matters and issues. He remains a member of several Harvard affiliated national security study groups and committees, including the Executive Committee on Domestic Preparedness.

He currently serves as chairman of the Veterans’ Disability Benefits Commission; is a partner at Watson & Associates, a financial services firm located in Coleman, Texas; and teaches political science at Howard Payne University in Brownwood, Texas. He is also a member of the board of directors of the Calibre [pronounced cal-i-bur] Corporation, a technical services company based in Alexandria, Virginia.
During his service, the Army honored Lieutenant General Scott with five military awards for valor and two Purple Hearts for wounds received in combat. He is a qualified combat Infantryman, Master Parachutist and Army Ranger.

Lieutenant George P.F. Jouine

Class of 1907

Lieutenant George P.F. Jouine, Class of 1907 received his bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas. As a cadet he was active in a number of student organizations including treasurer of the senior class, a member of the Student Council, a Ross Volunteer and was recognized in his junior and senior years for his outstanding military bearing.

Following graduation, Lieutenant Jouine worked with a number of engineering firms and joined the U.S. Corps of Engineers to work as a surveyor on levee construction on the Mississippi River.

With the outbreak of war in Europe in 1914, he departed to join the French Army as a private and was soon commissioned as an artillery officer. For over 34 months he commanded a trench mortar company and in near constant action through 1916, Lieutenant Jouine was wounded four times and awarded the French Legion of Honor— the highest award given by the French Republic for outstanding service to France, regardless of the social status or the nationality of the recipients.

Upon his recovery, he was transferred to command one of the first mobile tank units in modern warfare. His leadership, active role in the development of new tank tactics and action at the front over the balance of the war resulted in additional wounds and decorations—in all he received 14 decorations from the France, England, Belgium and the United States.

After the war, Lieutenant Jouine returned to work in the engineering profession, becoming president of the Gladys City Oil Company of Beaumont and serving for 17 years as the official French Consul in Houston.

Prior to his death, he donated his extensive engineering library to Texas A&M and established one of the earliest endowment funds to provide scholarships for cadets.
In recognition of Lieutenant Jouine’s service and his achievements as a successful post-war engineer, since 1958, the year following his death, the Corps of Cadets has annually designated the most outstanding scholastic cadet unit as the “Jouine unit”.