Creston High School - Crest Yearbook (Creston, IA)

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Deputy commander at Gordon retlres By KLN BOSWELL played smartly as the trro re 'McKee wrll strll be close to rr 1 A th ee an 010, naxdlvrewed the battalrons of troops ln nys area n d Ve r m c g mar ched smartly off the greenldecked out in Army faugues A never seen a soldrer more dedr d d tm G d ,halfdozen photographers ar I I Sams gloun 5 a th cirfonlbehrnd the Jeep Jockeyrng for a Ca ed more In Ove with his atur ay carryrng wr 1 or! the last trme the brrllrant red flag wrth a srngle wlrrte star rn the mrddle lhree mrlrtary arrcraft flew overhead two of them leavrng twrn trarls of red smoke behrnd A helrcopter hovered over the grounds bearrng the message Farewell Gen and Mrs 'Vl Kee And a 33 year mrlrtarx career ended for Brrg Gen Wrllram A McKee Ft Gordon deprrtv commandrng general The general whose mrlrtary career b an when he commr roned a second lreuterr I l 19.15 was awarded the Drstrn gurshed Servrce Medal by Maj Gen Walter B Rrchardson dur rng retrrement ceremonres at the fort The medal rs the hrgh est award the Army can grxe for merrtorrous servrce He also was presented a per sonal letter from Army Chref of Staff Gen Harold K Johnson Later the general was presen ted hrs flag rn a unrque mrlrtary gesture More than V000 hoops repre sentrng 10 battalron from Ft l Gordon s four trarnrng brrgades took part rn the parade honor rng Gen McKee The general was accompanredl durrng the ceremonres by tcn Rrchardson and 10th Drstrrct Congressman Robert G Ste phens Jr The three men faced the troops wrth the brrgadrer general s flag behurd them The blue clad Army band posrtron for prctures The Jeep whrch carrred the general past the troops returned to the revrewrng stand whrch was framed by an array of flags representrng everv state rn the unron After the Star Spangled Ban ner a sharp drstrngurshed vorce broke a momentary sr lence to read a crtatron accom panyrng Gen McKees Drstrn gurshed Servrce Medal Brrg G n Wrllram A Mc Kee drsturgurshed hrmself by emrnently merrtorrous servrce rn posrtrons of great reponsrbrlr ty as assrstant drvrsron com sron U S Army Europe and as deputy commandrng general US Army School and Trarnrng Center and Ft Gordon rt be 'Em Over the years Gen McKee provrded the mrpetus drrve and grudance that were fundamental to achrevrng Army objectrves rn varred staff and command asl srgnrnent Through hrs rnrtra tue foresrght and leadershrp he made rgnrfrcant contrrbu tro s t per onnel trarnrng plans and program operatrng wrthrn hrs command The crtatron awarded on be half of Presrdent Johnson and authorrzed bv an act of Con gres pornted to the generals work rn drrectrng the trarnrng of thousands of soldrers basrc combat and advanced rn drvrdual trarnrng at Ft Gordon Gen Rrchardson spoke brrefly durrng the ceremony We can rejorce rn knowrng that Gen profes ron 'lhe McKees have purchased a home on Overton Road McKee followed wrth a short message to the troops a h bade farewell He sard tbeyl repre ent the true profe sron rsm that thrs Army s proud of I am confrdent that thrs professronalrsm wrll re y marn and that thr Army wrll contrnue to be the greatet LU the world Gen and Mrs Mclxee were guests at a receptron at the Of frcers Club followrng the retrre Im lost rrght now sard the general obvrously moved by the pr oceedrngs He sard he ha made no plans for he rmmexirate future Gen McKee sard he probably' wrll take rt easy for a couple of weeks but not too long Im not used to takrng rt easy The general sard he and hrs wrfe chose Augusta for retrre ment because we lrke rt We had rntended to retrre some place rn the eastern states and after lookrng over Augusta we decrded rt was the best place to retrre Mrs McKee agreed wrth her husband about a brref perrod of takrng rt easy before takrng on new tasks Asked how rt feels not to be an Army wrfe for the frrst trme rn years she replred I dont tfeel anythrng at the moment I Bt Gordon had lost one of rts most drstrngurshed offrcers but Augusta had garned a crtrzen 4 I ' I l 1 , , . . . 1 ' A ' ' ' ' nr ' l I v , ' . - 4 I 1 rt , he sr. I 1 . . - ' r' r . . Q . . - ' F' YJ I I I I ' ' I a ' 1 , A l H . ' - n ' ' I ' I . r ' ' I' I - Y ' s el A Q l ' - - t , N .' I ' I I I I D D 'f ' ' , . 1' . - 1 I 1 C- , I I 3 r ' 1 SO: ll - - ' u Q ' , ' ' ' 1 ' , 's ' ' ' A -e U ' . c . ' ' ' , - S ' I 5 .I. . . I ., Eg WHS A ' ' ' , ' - .III I . , . . I . I , . . I ant rn the Army Reserves rn njanden Third Infantry Djyi. ment ceremony. fu - - nr r ' ' . ' . I . r ' ' rII y ' I 'H . A I' v . ' I 4 ' I. ' I v - A -5 A I U I l , I In ' I S . . 'I ' V,-r g ' J f Q .r I I I . . - I I I . ,I , II ,I I . - A v 1 ' , I I I I I ' ' as - 1 I 7 ' . - L . . . . I - - ' , S. V I' ' I ' . D . ' . H I l ' n o s ' ' , r , S . W I I I . . . S I I 9 . . . ' . ' rv ' ' . . ' I 3 I ' I , - H . . ,, . . -. .' 3, ' ' ' 1 tr. I n ' rr I ' I I v ' . I , . . . -' - ' U ' 1 ' . .l l ' ' I I ' 11 it , . . . . II I I I

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