The Citadel Alumni Association Distinguished Alumnus Highlight LtGen Frank C. Libutti, USMC, Ret., '66 Libutti saw combat service in the Vietnam War. His military awards include the Defense Distinguished Service medal, the Navy Marine Corps Distinguished Service Medal, the Defense Superior Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit with one oak leaf cluster and the Purple Heart with two award stars. He served as commander of Marine Forces Korea, Marine Forces/Pacific; Fleet Marines/Pacific; and Marine Bases/Pacific. He retired from the Marine Corps in 2001. Libutti was nominated by President George W. Bush as U..S Undersecretary for Information Analysis and Infrastructure Protection and headed the Department of Homeland Security's intelligence operations. In 2002 he was appointed deputy police commissioner and head of the New York City Police Department's Counter Terrorism Bureau, supervising a force of 300 personnel and serving as liaison to state and federal agencies. Libutti served as CEO of Digital Fusion Corporation and president and COO of 3D Global Solutions. To learn more about The Citadel Alumni Association Distinguished Alumni List, visit citadelalumni.org/news-stories/distinguished-alumni.

December 11, 2024

CAA Members: Give the gift of travel by booking your 2025 destinations with your fellow Bulldogs! Contact our travel partner, AHI Travel, to make arrangements. You will find their contact information at cit.ahitravel.com. We are offering: August 31 – September 12: Coastal Gems of the Emerald Isle featuring the Wild Atlantic Way September 9 – September 17: Pleasures of Provence Gather your classmates, friends and family and join us in 2025!

December 9, 2024

No gift compares to the connection to their alma mater and their classmates your Cadet will receive with a gift of Life Membership in The Citadel Alumni Association. A Life Membership in The Citadel Alumni Association would make a great Christmas gift for your current cadet, available at the discounted price of $400.00 until your cadet's commencement day. The membership must be paid in full by that day. To purchase visit https://citadelalumni.org/product/life-membership-current-student-paid-in-full.

On December 8, 1941, the United States declared war on Japan and, the following spring, the Class of 1944 was called to serve in World War II. They are known as The Class That Never Was. https://today.citadel.edu/remembering-the-class-that-never-was

1LT Frank Monroe (Skip) Murphy, USA, '65, was killed in action on December 7, 1966, in South Vietnam by a land mine while rescuing members of his platoon who were in a firefight after being jumped from behind by the Vietcong. Murphy is memorialized along with 2ndLt Joseph C. Missar, USMC, '65, with a bronze statue, located in Johnson Hagood Stadium, in the photograph here. Missar was killed in action by a mine in the Quan Nam Province of Vietnam on May 6, 1966. The statue honors all Citadel Alumni who died in the Vietnam War.

The only enrolled cadet to be killed in action during the Civil War was W.J.B. Patterson, Class of 1865, who died on December 7, 1864 as a result of injuries at the Battle of Tulifinny. He was buried in his family’s plot in an unmarked grave in Magnolia Cemetery on December 17, 1864. The Fort Sumter Civil War Round Table obtained a marker from the Veterans Administration, dedicated on November 14, 2021. The engagement at Tulifinny Creek is of historic importance because it involved the deployment of the entire Battalion of State Cadets from The Citadel and Arsenal Academies as an independent military unit engaged in armed combat with Union forces. In December of 1864, the Governor of South Carolina ordered the Battalion of State Cadets from The Citadel and Arsenal to deploy to Tulifinny Creek south of Charleston to reinforce Confederate troops defending a key railroad bridge against a much larger advancing Union force. On December 7, the Battalion of State Cadets, along with Confederate militia units from North and South Carolina and Georgia, engaged a much larger Union force in pitched battle for several hours, advancing against rifle and cannon fire and forcing the federal troops back to their entrenchments. On December 9, the battalion of cadets successfully repulsed a Union counter-attack on their defensive position by the railroad trestle with their disciplined rifle fire. The Battalion of State Cadets suffered eight casualties in the engagement, including one killed, and were commended by Major General Samuel Jones, CSA, Commanding General of South Carolina and Georgia Departments, for their gallantry under fire. A mural depicting the December 9th engagement at the Tulifinny Creek railroad trestle is on display in the Daniel Library.