Colonel Gene Hawkins

When I ride through the Presideo of San Francisco, I always think of Gene Hawkins. He was the last commander of the Post, I think. What Gene has to remembered for, however, is that he was the premium airborne soldier in the modern army. Gene was a mustang, meaning he came up through the ranks. From Private to Commander of the Presideo of San Francisco. 

My first encounter of Gene was when he was head of the airborne school at Fort Benning, Georgia. All who want to be paratroopers have to go to jump school to qualify. I tried to intervene with him over a slightly overweight priest that had failed out of jump school. Gene, a good Catholic himself, was unrelenting. If the priest can't make it through jump school, he has no business trying to serve paratroopers. We had a shouting match. He never relented. When we met up at the Presideo, we laughed about it. Gene was such a great guy. In the top three leaders in the Army ever, in my view. A renaissance  man through and through. A great honor to remember Colonel Gene Hawkins. Gene, "Airborne All the Way!"