Ben R. McKee (1942-2020)

Benny R. McKee, CW4, USA (RA-Ret) was born in Macomb, Oklahoma, on May 29th, 1942. Having a father and four brothers who had served in combat in WWI, WWII, and/or Korea, Ben enlisted in the Army on 13 Dec 60. He attended BCT with the 2d Armored Division, Ft Hood, Texas, and Intermediate Speed Radio Operators AIT at Ft Jackson, SC. Within five years, he rose to the grade of SFC E7, Personnel Management NCO. His accomplishments in the enlisted ranks were: Serving as Personnel Sergeant of the 2d Bn, 2d Arty, Ft Sill, OK, he sent the deployable personnel from Ft Sill to form the contingent for the staging area in Florida for the Cuban Crisis. He was later assigned to the Office of the Chief of Personnel Operations, the Pentagon, where he served as the NCOIC of the Officer Records and was appointed to WO1 in September 1968.

First, he was deployed to the 9th Inf Div, RVN, where he automated the first Combat Army Division Finance Payroll. Even though enemy mortars destroyed his ADP bunkered vans, he and his soldiers saved the automated records from the fire. They ran the monthly division payroll by flying the payroll records to Long Binh using their computer each month. He returned to Fort Sill, where he designed and implemented a new Personnel In-processing Quality Assurance System. This caused his Battalion, the 4th Bn, 31st Inf, to be rated # 1 of 156 military personnel offices by the 4th Army Command Personnel Management Team Inspection.

He volunteered for a 2d tour in RVN, CWO McKee was tasked with deploying the 1st Sig Bde to CONUS at the end of his tour. Returning to Ft Sill, OK, Ben was assigned as the Chief of the CPMI Team, which inspected all Personnel Offices at Fort Sill. Following retirement from the Army, he became a poultry and cattle farmer, an athletic official, and an Alabama GOP representative. He was a pastor for over 19 years at First United Methodist Church of New Brockton and taught at the Warrant Office Career College at Fort Rucker while pastoring. Ben served over 27 years in the U.S. Army, receiving a Bronze Star with two oak leaf clusters, among numerous other military awards. He received the Eagle Rising Award for continued service to his country after retirement.