Between 19, he was an engineer for the 7th Army Training Command in Germany. In total, Hickam served six years on active duty, being discharged from the Army honorably at the rank of Captain in 1971.įollowing his separation from the service, Hickam worked as an engineer for the United States Army Aviation and Missile Command from 1971 to 1978, assigned to Huntsville. He was awarded the Army Commendation Medal and a Bronze Star Medal. The second cannon was cast to carry on the tradition at Virginia Tech with original "Skipper" now kept at the Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Museum.Ī United States Army veteran, Hickam served as a First Lieutenant in the Fourth Infantry Division from 1967 to 1968 during the Vietnam War. The original cannon was retired after being replaced by a second cannon, "Skipper II". Kennedy, the cannon has become an icon for the Virginia Tech Hokies. Named "The Skipper", in honor of President John F. The cannon was cast out of brass that had been collected from cadet belt buckles and caps, and scrap he got from his father, the superintendent of the coal mine in Coalwood. During his time at Virginia Tech, he designed a cannon to be fired at games and during the school's cadet corps functions. After working on finding the best way to build rockets, they took their designs to the 1960 National Science Fair, where the BCMA won a gold and silver medal in the area of propulsion.įollowing high school, Hickam attended and graduated from Virginia Tech in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Industrial Engineering.
While there, he and a group of boys (Roy Lee Cook, Sherman O'Dell, and Quentin Wilson) started building rockets, calling themselves "The Big Creek Missile Agency" (BCMA). He was raised in the family home located in Coalwood, West Virginia and graduated from Big Creek High School in 1960. and Elsie Gardener Hickam (née Lavender).
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