Mike O’Farrell, Class of 1956

Three Purple Hearts 

Fearing the impending revolution in Cuba, Mike’s parents sent him to San Antonio Academy in 1954. Mike O’Farrell made friends quickly, won the “Best Athlete” Award and was grateful for the sense of belonging that SAA gave him – the “sense of coming from somewhere,” he calls it. Today he proudly says, “I was not a global gypsy, I was from San Antonio, Texas.”

Mike was a member of Colonel Liddy’s “Lightning Brigade.” A science teacher at SAA and a veteran of WWII, Colonel Liddy formed a team of small infantrymen to teach basic infantry tactics. Using wooden replicas of rifles, they practiced war by crawling around in ‘skirmishes’ in San Pedro Park and on campus. Mike says that the group is to be commended for giving him his first combat training and bringing a new page into the history of “Academy Achievements.”

On May 18, 1966, ten years to-the-day since his graduation at SAA, 2nd Lieutenant O’Farrell arrived in Vietnam to begin his first tour of duty as a platoon leader. Later, he returned to Vietnam and was badly wounded during his second tour of duty. Mike had to learn how to walk again. He received three Purple Hearts for his service in the United States Army.