James Hamlin Schofield, Jr.
No. 13364  •  24 November 1917 – 12 March 2003
Died in Frederick, Maryland, aged 85 years
Interment: Arlington National Cemetery, Arlington, Virginia

GETTING TO WEST POINT TOOK LONGER THAN GETTING THROUGH.

After high school in 1934, I worked for five years. In 1937 placed third in Congressman Hamilton Fish’s competitive USMA exam. I passed the entrance examination in spring 1938. Teaching horseback riding 30 June 1939, literally sitting on a horse, I was handed a telegram appointing me to West Point from Wisconsin. 
On graduation my assignment was the 94th Infantry Division, Camp Phillips, Kansas. There I met Molly Dowse; we married a year later. Within weeks I went to Europe with the 14th Armored Division. I ended the war a major, the Division Signal Officer.

Next years included an M.A. in Foreign Affairs at George Washington University and two assignments on the General Staff. Our son, Jim, was born in 1950. I was promoted to Colonel in 1959 after three years in the Far East, C&GS and Armed Forces Staff College. Assigned as Political Military Advisor to the Secretary of Defense, for Central Europe including Berlin. Accompanied the Secretary to the Western Heads of Government meeting, Paris, December 1959; NATO Foreign Ministers meetings in Istanbul and Washington in early 1960; and the Summit with Khrushchev in Paris in May. After a heart attack May 1961, I became U.S. Army Project Manager of Tactical Radios.

Took disability retirement in 1967 and joined the Magnavox Company. Tragedy came with the death of Molly in April 1974. After 20 years with Magnavox, retired as Corporate VP, Government Relations, in 1988.

Originally published in January 1943 50th Anniversary Yearbook

James Hamlin Schofield, 85, a retired Army Colonel who also was an executive with Magnavox Government and Industrial Electronics Co., died of pneumonia March 12, 2003, at his home in Hagerstown, Maryland.

Colonel Schofield, a former McLean, Virginia, resident, was born in Jersey City, New Jersey. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1943 and served in Europe with the 14th Armored Division during World War II.

He later received a master's degree in foreign affairs from George Washington University and became an adviser to the secretary of Defense on European and Soviet Union political-military affairs. Among his responsibilities was participation in NATO ministerial level conferences.

His final assignment was with the Army Materiel Command as special assistant for project management.

He joined Magnavox upon his military retirement in 1967 and rose to director of its Washington office in 1970. He retired again in 1988 as corporate vice president of government relations.

His wife, Molly Dowse Schofield, died in 1974.

Survivors include a son, James Schofield of Hagerstown, and three grandchildren.

Colonel USA (Ret), 85, of Hagerstown, Maryland and formerly of McLean, Virginia, died Wednesday, March 12, 2003 of pneumonia at his home. He had heart and lung ailments.

Born November 24, 1917 in Jersey City, New Jersey, he was the son of James Hamlin Schofield, Sr., and Mary Ann Seybolt Schofield.

A graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York (January 1943), he served in the U.S. Army from 1943 to 1967. In World War II he served with distinction and honor in the Signal Corps with the 14th Armored Division in Europe. From 1945 until his retirement as a Colonel he served in various command and staff assignements overseas in Japan and in the Washington area. From 1959 to 1962 he served as an advisor to the Secretary of Defense on political military matters related to the Federal Republic of Germany, Berlin, Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union. He participated in numerous NATO Ministerial level conferences including Istanbul and the East-West Summit in May 1960. Served as the first U.S. Army Project Manager of Tactical Radios. At the time of his retirement from the Army he was Special Assistant for Project Management to the Commanding General, Army Materiel Command.

He joined Magnavox Government and Industrial Electronics Co. in 1967. He was appointed Director of the Magnavox Washington office January 1970, retiring in 1988 as Corporate Vice President Government Relations Magnavox Government and Industrial Electronics Co. 

He obtained a Masters Degree in Government (Foreign Affairs) from George Washington University in 1953 and did graduate work at the University of Indiana.

His wife Molly Dowse Schofield preceded him in death on April 3, 1974. One son James H. Schofield III of Hagerstown; and three grandchildren survive him, Katharine Schofield of Ormond Beach, Florida; Elizabeth Schofield of Athens, Ohio; and Sarah Schofield of Hagerstown.

Graveside services will be held 9:00 a.m. Thursday, March 20, 2003, at Arlington Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.

There will be no viewing.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Washington County, Western Maryland Center, Pennsylvania Ave., Third Floor, Hagerstown, Maryland 21742.

Photo By M. R. Patterson, October 2002