• This was a real point of contention between USFK and the embassy. USFK
wanted to retain the golf course as a recreation facility for its soldiers, but
the embassy wanted to turn it over as soon as possible to the Korean gov-
ernment. This also became a personal issue between Ambassador Lilley and
Gen. Louis Menetrey, especially after Lilley, without Menetrey’s knowledge,
sent a personal message to both the secretary of state and secretary of de-
fense arguing that the golf course should be returned as soon as possible.
After the arrival of Ambassador Gregg, the relationship between USFK and
the embassy improved, but for a while the atmosphere was somewhat tense.
Just as things seemed to be moving smoothly toward resolution of this
issue with the ROK, my wife, Jody, an avid golfer, unexpectedly seized the
initiative. In February, , Secretary of Defense Cheney visited Seoul.^10
As was normal in such high-level visits, the most senior defense officials on
both sides, along with senior diplomatic representatives and a host of gen-
erals and other bigwigs, were involved.
Most of the formal meetings went smoothly, for the staffs had worked out
the details much earlier. The golf course issue, it had been previously agreed,
would not be raised because of its controversial nature. The plan, at least
from the embassy’s point of view, was to present the handover of the golf
course as a fait accompli at the end of the next year’s security consultative
meeting.
Unfortunately no one had consulted my wife on the matter. She had been
elected president of the Yongsan Ladies Golf Association the previous year
and was so popular with the golfing ladies that she was elected to an un-
precedented second term. By a quirk of fate, and by virtue of being the wife
of the senior military officer in the embassy, she was also chosen as Secre-
tary of Defense Cheney’s dinner partner for the formal banquet hosted in
his honor. I sat next to the secretary’s wife, Lynn, a most distinguished per-
son in her own right and an engaging and lively dinner partner.
What government officials had vigorously worked for weeks to keep off
the secretary’s agenda was soon raised at dinner by Jody. She explained to
Secretary Cheney the lack of normal recreational options afforded U.S. mili-
tary families in South Korea and the importance of the golf course as an
outlet in a strange and unfamiliar country. She made an impassioned plea
that the secretary consider the morale and welfare of military families serv-
ing in Korea as well as the strategic issues that were the normal fare of such
high-level meetings. Cheney listened attentively and made some notes on
his speech text, which he had been reviewing under the table during dinner.
During his formal speech after dinner, he inserted remarks emphasizing the