"Give me an army of West Point graduates and I'll win a battle . . .Give me a handful of Texas Aggies and I'll win the war."
--Gen. George S. Patton
"No more convincing testimony could be given to the manner in which the men of Texas A&M lived up to the ideals and principles inculcated in their days on the campus than the simple statement that the Congressional Medal of Honor has been awarded to six former students, that 46 took part in the heroic defense of Bataan and Corregidor, and that nearly 700 are on the list of our battle dead."
Tarrant Field in Fort Worth was renamed after Major Carswell in 1949.
"The men of Texas A&M can stand up to any men in the world and compare favorably their education and training for leadership -- leadership in the pursuits of peace, and if it comes to war, leadership in battle."
--Gen. Omar Bradley, 1950
The 131st was captured on Java early in 1942 by an overwhelming Japanese force, and joined the survivors of the cruiser USS Houston, which was sunk at the Battle of Sunda Strait about the same time. The Texans were transported to Burma to build the infamous "Railway of Death," best known for the Kwai River bridge portrayed in the motion picture.
The Aggie survivors were: