PERSONALITY: Civilian Westmoreland

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As leader of U.S. forces in South Viet Nam from 1964 to 1968, General William Chi Ids Westmoreland directed the American military machine here at the height of war, with some 500,000 men under his command by the time of his departure. Like many other principals in the drama of the nation's longest war, Westmoreland is now far removed from the agony and ambiguity of Indochina. Leaving the Army two years ago after a final four-year hitch as Chief of Staff, "Westy"retired to his native South Carolina, where Westmoreland has been a proud and prominent name for generations. TIME Atlanta Bureau Chief James Bell, who met the general in 1965 while he was on one of his frequent chopper and Jeep tours of the Vietnamese countryside, recently visited Westmoreland in his new surroundings. Bell's report:

Westmoreland's working uniform used to be fatigues that were faded with wear but always had perfect, knife-edge creases. Thus it is something of a shock to notice, as he waves a guest into his small carriage house on Prices Alley in the historic old section of Charleston, that he is wearing a pair of rumpled slacks, sport shirt with tail out, and a pair of soft black moccasins that have not lately seen much spit and polish. Yet the short gray hair is still carefully combed straight back, the lean jaw still juts. Taut and fit as ever at 59, Westmoreland swims eight laps a day in good weather and is able to play golf and tennis for most of the year.

These days he is deep in the writing of his memoirs, due to be published this fall. Strewn about his living-room office are piles of books bearing on Viet Nam: Frances FitzGerald's Fire in the Lake, David Halberstam's The Best and the Brightest, Walt Rostow's The Diffusion of Power, Daniel Ellsberg's Papers on the War. They provide context, checkpoints and sometimes hostile fire for Westmoreland as he works through his own recollections. Does he think that he can add to the work of the earlier analysts? "No one else had the vantage point I had," says Westmoreland. "Therefore I feel I can cast light on some of the situations we faced in a way that will contribute to understanding the history of the period." One of those situations, he says evenly, is that he was the first commander since the Spanish-American War who "had to look over his shoulder and to reflect on the support of the home front as anything other than an asset." In other accounts of the war, says Westmoreland, "I do not believe that the men who served in uniform in Viet Nam have been given the credit they deserve."

No Tarnish. Westmoreland's other chief enterprise is running a five-man operation known as the Governor's Task Force for Economic Growth, a $25,000-a-year post to which he was named in 1972 by Governor John West. It calls for Westmoreland to handle a wide variety of projects aimed at expanding the state's business and industry, from promoting its tourist attractions to Canadians, to seeking investment capital from visiting Japanese businessmen, to spreading the word to farmers about new agricultural methods. As usual, the general is double-timing on his new job. Driving alone in his Ford Capri or accompanied by a retired Army colonel who serves as an aide, Westmoreland spends an average of two days a week on the road, and has already visited all of South Carolina's 46 counties at least once.