FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan.-- On Sept. 11 at 11 a.m., the Chief of Staff of the Army, Gen. Ray Odierno, will host a public ceremony, along with members of Ike Skelton's family and other dignitaries to rename the library, here, in honor of deceased former Chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, Missouri Representative Ike Skelton in the Library's main lobby.
The library will be named the Ike Skelton Combined Arms Research Library. The renaming ceremony will also include honors for those lost in the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001; an address by Gen. Odierno; and unveiling of a portrait of Rep. Skelton with displays honoring his devotion to military education. Following the ceremony, guests are invited to tour the library and the surrounding campus.
The library supports officers and civilians attending the Command and General Staff College and the Army Management Staff College. It boasts more than 320,000 volumes, professional journals, historical documents, and video materials that are used extensively by U.S. and international officer-students, faculty, and research scholars at Ft Leavenworth. It was recognized by the Library of Congress in 2007 as the best large library in the federal system.
Congressman Skelton represented Missouri's Fourth Congressional District from 1977 to 2011. A leader in the House on defense issues, Skelton was appointed to the House Armed Services Committee in 1981. He served as chairman of the Subcommittee on Military Forces and Personnel from 1993 to 1994, and as the subcommittee's ranking member from 1998 to 2006, Skelton held the gavel as chairman of the Armed Services Committee from 2007 to 2011.
During his more than 34-year career, Chairman Skelton was the champion of professional military education throughout the Armed Forces. He personally invested significant time and energy developing Army leaders and was well known as Congress' chief advocate for better strategic thinking and improvements in the military's intermediate and senior level educational programs and joint capability
Skelton chaired a House Panel on Military Education in 1987 and 1988. He developed his own National Security Book List that he recommended as reading to all officers in the Armed Forces, Members of Congress, and to those interested in national security. He is the author of Whispers of Warriors: Essays on the New Joint Era, a compilation of 12 articles written by Skelton.
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