Army Bids Farewell to Maj. Gen. Yingling of Peachtree City

The Army bid an official farewell today to Maj. Gen. John A. Yingling in recognition of his 35 years of dedicated service.

His retirement ceremony was held here at the headquarters of the Army’s largest command, Army Forces Command, where he had been the deputy chief of staff G3/5/7 (equivalent to a large civilian corporation senior vice president for operations) since December 2007.

He and his wife, the former Ann Bradford of Wamego, Kan., plan to remain in Peachtree City.
A native of Alexandria, Va., Maj. Gen. Yingling began his Army career in 1974 when he was commissioned a second lieutenant of field artillery upon his graduation from the Reserve Officers Training Corps at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C.

Over the years he served in a variety of staff, field, joint and command assignments around the United States and in Germany and Korea.

His field and command assignments included deputy commanding general of First Army; assistant division commander (support) for the 2nd Infantry Division; commander of the 3rd Infantry Division (Mechanized) Artillery; commander of the 7th Battalion, 8th Field Artillery (Red Dragons), 25th Division; commander of C Battery, 1st Battalion, 76th Field Artillery, 3rd Infantry Division; commander of A Battery, 3rd Battalion, 6th Field Artillery,1st Division; and firing platoon commander of the 3rd Battalion, 81st Field Artillery.

Yingling served as an operations officer with units within the 3rd and 9th Infantry Divisions. His staff assignments included chief of staff of the U.S. Army Reserve Command; director of fire support and combined army operations and chief of staff at Fort Sill, Okla.; I Corps officer personnel manager; Personnel Command's field artillery assignments officer, and aide-de-camp to the 1st Infantry Division's commanding general.

His joint assignments included duty as a staff officer in the Pentagon's National Military Command Systems and as commanding general of Joint Task Force Six, which provides Department of Defense counterdrug support to federal, regional, state and local law enforcement agencies.

The general's military education included the Field Artillery basic and advanced courses, Command and General Staff College, Armed Forces Staff College, and U.S. Army War College.
Yingling's awards and decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters, Joint Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Achievement Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and the Air Assault and Joint Staff Badges.

Photo top: Gen. Charles C. Campbell (left), commander of Army Forces Command, presents Maj. Gen. John A. Yingling with an American flag as part of Yingling's retirement ceremony Sept. 18. In his speech during the ceremony, Campbell thanked Yingling for his 35 years of service and told him that he left the Army “respected, admired, and valued as a comrade who always shouldered more that his fair share of the load.” (U.S. Army photo by Jessica Maxwell, FORSCOM Public Affairs)

Photo middle: Standing before the Army Forces Command color guard during his Sept. 18 retirement ceremony, Maj. Gen. John A. Yingling acknowledges college friends in attendance as the Army Ground Forces Band plays the Wake Forest University fight song. (U.S. Army photo by Jessica Maxwell, FORSCOM Public Affairs)

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Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home will hold Veterans Day Ceremony

The Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home will hold its annual Veterans Day ceremony at 9 a.m. Tuesday, Nov. 11 in the courtyard. Col. John K. Dewey, the Training and Doctrine Command capability manager for tactical radios at Fort Gordon, will be the guest speaker and Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver will make opening remarks.

The ceremony, which is open to the public, will also feature Fort Gordon’s U.S. Army Signal Corps Band and Post Ceremonial Detachment Color Guard as well as the Butler High School Drill Team.

The Georgia War Veterans Nursing Home, operated through an interagency agreement between the Medical College of Georgia and the Georgia Department of Veterans Service, is located at 1101 15th St. For more information, call Karen Yonce at Georgia War at 706-721-2531.

By Jennifer Hilliard
Medical College of Georgia

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Andersonville National Historic Site, Rolling Thunder Chapters from 11 States, Georgia Southwestern State University to Honor Nation's POWs/MIAs, Sept

MMF Note: Sounds like a moving memorial to those who didn't come home, or who suffered at others' hands.

PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Rolling Thunder's 2008 Ride Home -- a multi-day annual activity held in conjunction with the National Park Service's Andersonville National Historic Site and Georgia Southwestern State University to recognize and honor the nation's Prisoners of War (POW) and those Missing in Action (MIA) -- will be held in Andersonville and Americus, Ga., Sept. 17-20, 2008.

"The 2008 Ride Home, which is supported this year by Rolling Thunder(R) chapters from 11 states, is part of a series of events conducted jointly with the National Park Service in Andersonville to honor those former POWs from all wars who have returned home and remember those who are still listed as MIA," said Jim Moyer, Ride Home board chairman.

According to Moyer, more than 1,000 Rolling Thunder members are expected to gather in Andersonville and Americus to honor an estimated 100 former POWs scheduled to attend this year's program of events as guests of Rolling Thunder.

While Friday, Sept. 19, is the official National POW/MIA Recognition Day, the four days of recognition activities begin at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Sept. 17, with a convocation sponsored by the National Park Service and hosted by Georgia Southwestern State University at the Student Success Center in Americus.

The guest speaker will be Joseph Hudson of Alamogordo, N.M. He was a 23-year-old U.S. Army specialist with the 507th Maintenance Group, Fort Bliss, Tex., who was shot three times, captured and held by Saddam Hussein's Iraqi Army from March 23, 2003 until April 13, 2003.

On Thursday, Sept. 18, through Saturday, Sept. 20, the Park Service will host Bataan Death March survivor Colonel Glenn Frazier at the National Prisoner of War Museum at the Andersonville National Historic Site. Frazier, who was an underage U.S. Army volunteer from Fort Deposit, Ala., in 1941, will be autographing his book, "Hell's Guest," which is his account of three harrowing years as a prisoner of war.

On Friday, Sept. 19, the official National POW/MIA Recognition Day, Rolling Thunder's formal activities will begin at 10 a.m. with a tribute service, "Keeping the Promise, We Will Not Forget" at the First Baptist Church in Americus.

Scheduled speakers include: U.S. Air Force Major General Albert G. (Jerry) Rodgers whose final active duty assignment was Deputy Chief of Staff for Logistics at Tactical Air Command Headquarters at Langley, AFB, Va.; U.S. Navy Captain Ronald Harrell, Commander of the FFG (Fast Frigate) Class Squadron 14 at Naval Station Mayport, Fla.; Stephen E. Thompson, Family and Veteran Liaison for the Joint POW/MIA Accounting Command in Honolulu, Hawaii; and, Dr./Rev. Chuck Gass, the staff chaplain at the VA Medical Center in Gainesville, Fla.

A Rolling Thunder escort to the tribute service for the former POWs is scheduled to depart for the Baptist church from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Americus at 9 a.m.

At 1 p.m. that afternoon the National Prisoner of War Museum in Andersonville will unveil a commemorative plaque honoring POWs from the U.S. Army's 42nd "Rainbow" Division.

Formed in August 1917, the "Rainbow" nickname was given to the division after Colonel Douglas MacArthur, the new division's Chief of Staff (and ultimately its commander), remarked that "the 42nd Division stretches like a Rainbow from one end of America to the other" because it was comprised of National Guard units from 26 states and the District of Columbia.

The division, which saw service in both World Wars, was deactivated in 1946; however it returned in 1947 as a National Guard Division for New York, the state of its birth. Currently headquartered at the Glenmore Armory in Troy, N.Y., the division includes Army National Guard units from 14 states: Connecticut, Main, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Mississippi, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Vermont and Wisconsin.

Activities on Friday will continue at 4:30 p.m. with Rolling Thunder's annual tribute dinner followed by a candlelight remembrance ceremony scheduled to start at 7 p.m. Both activities will be at the Windsor Hotel in Americus.

The Missing Man Table, which honors the nation's POW/MIAs, will be the focal point of the evening. The single round table with six empty place settings symbolize Americans from each of the five services -- Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Coast Guard -- and civilians who cannot attend and will be participating in the evening's activities in spirit only.

On Saturday, Sept. 20, Rolling Thunder's Annual POW Recognition will begin at 10 a.m. at the Rostrum at Andersonville National Cemetery. The ceremony honors POWs who have returned home from World War II, Korea, Vietnam and the Gulf wars.

A Rolling Thunder Heroes Escort Ride is scheduled to depart for the Andersonville National Historic Site from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Americus at 9 a.m.

The 1-14th Aviation Regiment from Fort Rucker, Ala., will open the 10 a.m. ceremony with a helicopter flyover of an AH-64D Apache Longbow and an OH-58D Kiowa Warrior.

A Roll Call of former POWs attending the ceremony will precede a special presentation to each.

Music will be provided by the U.S. Marine Band stationed at the Albany Marine Corps Logistics Base, SSgt Kristine Streng conducting.

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