Page 51 - Senior Link Magazine Fall 2024 - Online Magazine

ceLeBratinG 10 YearS VeteranS
2017

wounded was often during country.” eDition
the heat of the battle.” While After 63 rank
in Vietnam, he received the years,
Distinguished Flying Cross, Bernie Lt. General/
the Bronze Star Medal with is still Army Surgeon
a V (for Valor) with Oak serving General
Leaf Cluster as well as other his
awards for his service. adopted country. When asked how
he would like to be remembered, he
After his 12-month Vietnam simply stated, “How fortunate I was BrancH
Gen. Mittemeyer and his tour, Bernie seriously to become an American.” Army
daughter
considered leaving the service.
But he elected to stay in the Army and was transferred to
Ft. George Meade in Maryland as the Chief of Urology,
Chairman of Surgery and Chief Professional Services. “I
had three jobs at once!” he recalled. In 1971 he attended Respectfully submitted by
the U.S. Army War College for one year, then was again Larry A. Williams,
assigned to Walter Reed Medical Center. This time he Texas South Plains Honor Flight
served as Chief of Urology, later Chief of Department of Veterans Liaison Co-Chair
Surgery and consultant in urology to the Army Surgeon
General. In July, 1977 the experienced doctor was assigned
to be Commander of the U.S. Army Medical Command/
Korea Surgeon, eighth U.S. Army and Commander of the Lt. GeneraL Dr.
121st hospital in Seoul, Korea. Nine months later (April
1978), he was promoted to Brigadier General and assigned BernHarD MitteMeYer
as Chief Medical Corps Affairs to the Army Surgeon passed on January 25, 2023, at the age
General. He was then promoted to Major General and
served as Commander of Walter Reed Medical Center. In of 92.
October of 1981 he was promoted to Lt. General and Army
Surgeon General retiring in March 1985 at which time he
was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal.
After his military service, the general was part of a
group that started Health Services in California which
eventually opened up 20 HMOs, and was later sold to
Traveler’s Insurance. Not long afterward, Bernie was
contacted by Dr. Lauro Cavazos and asked if he would
like to “come to Lubbock, Texas and go to work at the
Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center as Executive
Vice President.” The esteemed doctor began his career
at TTUHSC in November 1986. During a 10 year period,
he helped establish a division of Urology and later the
Department of Urology. He also served as Interim Medical
School Dean and Interim President of the Health Sciences
Center. In 2009 he returned the Urology Department which
is now named in his honor, and continues to work there
part-time.

While in medical school Bernie married Patricia Kuhn
(1954). They raised four children: Jan, Tom, Robert and
Sarah. In 1996, he married Mary Beth Smith who has
two sons Brandt and Adam. Together they have eight
grandchildren.

Dr. Mittemeyer remains humble and has a servant’s heart,
even though he holds numerous military decorations and
a long list of professional rewards and honors. He remains
passionate about “taking care of our veterans.” He has
especially enjoyed his work at the VA Clinic in Lubbock to
“help care for the men and women that have served our

Lubbock Senior Link 51