The 2007 Castle Memorial Award is presented to LTG Henry J. Hatch for outstanding service to the Nation, to the U.S. Army, and to West Point.  General Hatch has exemplified "Duty, Honor, Country" throughout his active duty, subsequent civilian career, and in his subsequent contributions to national and developing world engineering. In 1992, General Hatch completed a distinguished 35-year career in the United States Army, retiring as a Lieutenant General and Chief of Engineers and Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, whose missions include military construction and environmental engineering for the Army and Air Force and the Army’s civil water resources program. As Chief of Engineers, for four years, General Hatch commanded over 40,000 members of the Corps and supervised Corps and other Army programs of over $13 billion annually. He strengthened project management; developed a more effective environmental ethic and program within the Corps; fostered and developed productive “partnering” with customers and contractors; championed alternate dispute resolution; and conceived and promoted new concepts for peacetime operations for the Army. Supporting both field engineering and military construction, he was a major force in improving the garrison and tactical well being of the American soldiers and airmen and the effectiveness of our Armed Forces around the globe.

General Hatch graduated from West Point as a Regimental Commander and a leader of the class and the Corps. Commissioned in the Corps of Engineers, his early commands in the 82^ndAirborne and in Okinawa honed his leadership skills and marked him as future senior leader for the Army.  Following distinguished service on the West Point faculty as an instructor and assistant professor, he led the 326th Engineer Battalion of the 101^st Airborne Division through the turbulent post-Tet period in Viet Nam.  He returned to Washington to serve in the Office of the Chief of Staff of the Army. Following attendance at the Army War College, he became Deputy Engineer for the New York District in 1973-4 and was assigned to West Point where he oversaw construction of expanded facilities for the Academy, keeping the program on budget and schedule.  Following this he was selected for two successive senior commands, first as Commander of the Corps of Engineers Nashville District and then as Commander of the 2^nd Infantry Division Support Command in Korea. After promotion to General Officer, he served as the Engineer for US Army Europe, as Commander of the Corps’ Pacific Ocean Division in Hawaii and Assistant Chief of Engineers on the Army staff.  In all of these assignments he was a major force in improving the quality of life for soldiers and their families and in enhancing the readiness of the tactical units he supported. 

On his retirement he began a second career of service, this time to the nation as a whole.  Serving as Chairman of Law Companies Group, Inc., an international engineering and environmental services company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, he brought new professionalism to the civilian engineering field.  In 1996 he became President and Chief Executive Officer of Fluor Daniel Hanford, Inc. in Richland, Washington and led Fluor’s $9 billion management contract for DOE’s environmental cleanup at Hanford.  Recognizing the challenges facing modern engineers, he then agreed to become the Chief Operating Officer of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) and to guide its major programs.

On his retirement from ASCE he embarked on new ventures in a volunteer role, continuing to contribute to the engineering profession and the Nation.  In 2002 he was National Chairman of National Engineers Week. Today, General Hatch, a registered professional engineer in the District of Columbia, is active with the National Research Council (NRC, the operating arm of the National Academies of Engineering and Science), the American Society of Civil Engineers and the American Association of Engineering Societies.  Currently he chairs the NRC’s Federal Facility Council and Board on Infrastructure and the Constructed Environment (where he has been active in the forensic evaluation of the results of Hurricane Katrina). He is currently involved in building engineering expertise and capacity in Iraq and Afghanistan, and supporting the role of the U.S. engineering community in strengthening the engineering programs of United Nations’ Educational, Social and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), where he serves as an at-large member of the U.S. National Commission.

In addition to his numerous military awards, General Hatch has been widely recognized for his engineering leadership.  In 2006 he was selected to receive the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Outstanding Projects and Leaders (OPAL) Awards for service to Government.  He was elected to the National Academy of Engineering in 1992 and was awarded the rank of Honorary Member of the ASCE in 2004. He also has received the American Society of Civil Engineers President’s Medal (‘91) and Presidents’ Award (‘98), the Natural Resources Council of America Chairman’s Award (‘92), been designated as one of the American Public Works Association’s Top 10 Public Works Leaders (‘90), awarded the American Council of Engineering Companies’ Distinguished Award of Merit (’99),  the Society of American Military Engineers Academy of Fellows Golden Eagle Award (’03), and the American Association of Engineering Societies’ Kenneth Andrew Roe Award for promoting unity among the  engineering professional societies (2004).  General Hatch is on the Industrial Advisory Committee fore the Department of Geography and Environmerntal Engineering and the Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering at the U.S. Military Academy.  He is also a Class Trustee of the Association of Graduates and President of the Class of 1957 District of Columbia Region.

In recognition of his service in both peace and war, on active duty, in business, and as an active volunteer in retirement, while displaying outstanding qualities of character, distinguished service and stature which clearly symbolize the highest ideals of West Point, it is most fitting for the West Point Society of the District of Columbia to honor LTG Henry J., USA (Ret), USMA Class of 1957, with the 2007 Castle Memorial Award.