Story submitted by Grant Bush, proud Texas Aggie

Hansen Evans Scobee was born September 17, 1926, in Leesville to Henry Rice Scobee and Leonora Hansen Scobee. He graduated from Leesville High School then went on to Texas A&M University in mechanical engineering. He was in the armed forces and served a tour of duty in the Pacific. He moved to Baton Rouge in 1948 and was employed by Ethyl Corp. Later, he was the head of a construction company and involved in several businesses. In 1962, he became president of Electrical Wholesalers, Inc. He married Dotty Voorhies in 1950. Hansen Evans Scobee died in February 2012 in Baton Rouge. His twin brother, Henry Rice Scobee Jr., went to Leesville High School and served in the Korean Conflict. Henry moved to Lake Charles and died in 2016.

Hansen Evans Scobee was the only man present from Louisiana and Leesville at famous 1945 Corregidor Philippines Muster in 1946 at the mouth of the Malinta Tunnel.

The most well-known Aggie Muster took place during World War II in 1942 on the Philippine Island of Corregidor. At this time, Corregidor was the last American stronghold against the Japanese forces in the Philippines, and Japanese artillery and warplanes were constantly attacking. The American artillery commander on Corregidor was Brigadier General George F. Moore, a 1908 graduate of Texas A&M. With the help of Major Tom Dooley, class of 1935, Moore gathered the names of 25 other Aggies under his command. Despite the fierce fighting, as the Japanese laid siege to the island on April 21, 1942, Moore held a roll call—known as muster in army terms—calling the names of each of the Aggies under his command.

Muster again on the island of Corregidor, on “the Rock” where Aggies did the same in 1942 right through the Japanese Siege. Bunkered inside the Malinta Tunnel, most of those men of 1942 died or were taken prisoner when Corregidor fell to the Japanese Only 12 of the 25 survived the battle and the POW camps to which the survivors were sent. Dooley told a United Press correspondent about the gathering, and the reporter sent an article back to the USA about the 25 Aggies who had “Mustered”. The story captured the imagination of the country and “helped boost American spirits at a time a lift was badly needed.” Lt. Col. (Ret.) William A. Hamilton, Jr., Class of 1940, recognized as the last living survivor of the “Muster on the Rock”, died on January 4, 2018, at age 99. In April 1945, just eight weeks after Corregidor had been recaptured by the Allies, three Aggies conducted a Muster “on the Rock”. They wrote letters home to McQuillen to let him know about their impromptu Muster. A year later, on April 21, 1946, an even larger Muster occurred on Corregidor. With the war now over, A&M held a special Victory Homecoming Muster on Easter morning in 1946. Over 15 thousand Aggies gathered at Kyle Field to listen to a speech by General Dwight D. Eisenhower. Lt. Col. Tom Dooley also presented the “Muster Tradition” and conducted a WWII Roll Call. To represent the 900 alumni who died in World War II, the names of the four deceased WWII Aggie Medal of Honor recipients were called. Association of Former Students Executive Secretary E. E. McQuillen, Class of 1920, credited with refocusing San Jacinto Day as a remembrance for fallen Aggies. He changed the April 21, 1943, celebration to be the first known as an Aggie Muster and sent packets to each A&M club, Aggie Moms club, and to US military bases around the world with a detailed program of events for April 21. It included greetings from the A&M President and the Muster Poem. The response was overwhelming, with 10,000 alumni worldwide mustering in 500 locations. The following year, McQuillen added a list of recently deceased Aggies to the packets, asking each local group to choose names from the list and call them aloud during their ceremony, and “as each name is called a comrade will answer ‘Here’.”

Muster became a student organization in 1950, and students now coordinate all aspects of the campus Muster in College Station, Texas. Thanks to April Salazar of Fort Johnson, there has been a Muster each year at Wagon Master Steak House in Leesville, Louisiana.