HALL OF FAME

Single-handedly changed the face of Army newspapers."

Gary Beylickjian began his Army career during the Korean War, where he was wounded in action. Beylickjian began publishing one-page "Shoptalk," in which he addressed photography, writing tips, and layout and design.

He won National Press Photographer's Awards in 1963 and 1965. In Chicago, at Fifth Army Headquarters, Beylickjian developed the "Blue Pencil Award," which is the forerunner to the current journalism award. In 1965, Beylickjian went to Europe to serve as U.S. Army, Europe's enlisted chief of 105 newspapers. He critiqued more than 100 newspapers weekly.

At Beylickjian's retirement in September 1977, then Chief of Public Affairs Maj. Gen. Robert Solomon said that Beylickjian had "single-handedly changed the face of Army newspapers." Until his passing in 2018, he was a civilian volunteer at OCPA.

The man with the critiques.

BG Lewis “Lew“ Boone, served over 33 years of selfless and distinguished service to the United States Army, both in his basic branch of Infantry, but predominantly as a career Public Affairs Officer. His duty positions spanned the Functional Area 46 career field, from his initial days as a Public Affairs Detachment commander, to both Deputy Chief and Chief of Army Public Affairs. Boone set precedents throughout his career, not only relating to his specific duty positions, but relevant to his professional development and schooling opportunities, then generally allotted in residence to officers in the operational career tracks. His impact on the career field was felt in many positive ways, whether it was advice sought by senior Army leadership, on individuval’s, on events, or impacts on Army Public Affairs structure and doctrine.

At the end of an impressive career, Boone’s greatest accomplishment remained his pride in developing and mentoring PAO’s and “Telling the Army Story.“

Following promotion to flag/general officer and acting Chief of Public Affairs, Boone engaged and worked with senior Army leadership during a historic period in Army history. As media advisor to the Secretary of the Army and two Army Chiefs of Staff, Boone’s impact spanned numerous events and activities, including: Shaped the public narrative on the GWOT, including controversial combat operations in eastern Afghanistan Providing Army leadership’s perspective and talking points on the care and treatment of returning wounded warriors during the “Warehousing of Wounded Warriors“ controversy. Selection as the on-site SA/CSA representative during the tragic Ft. Hood shooting, in which Boone was tasked to remain behind and advise and assist the III Corps PAO, from post-tragedy, through the presidential visit and memorial. Selected, and individually trained the Ft. Hood spokesperson, General John Rossi who became the national face of the Ft. Hood tragedy. Boone’s impact to the Army narrative was paramount, and as such, contributed significantly to positively shaping public opinion.

Boone was instrumental in convincing two Army Chiefs of Staff of the value in their personal media engagement, thus setting an example and paving the way for many other PAO’s in the field to enjoy a greater role with commanders and develop proactive communicators. Examples include: Established and instructed a half-day course in the Army Senior Leader Development Course (SLDC), a program partnered with the Office of Congressional Liaison (OCLL) to train general officers in public and congressional engagement techniques, many of whom rarely engaged with media. Brought together the New Yorker magazine with the CSA over a period of several months and several interviews. This resulted in a strategic and seminal feature on “Army Transformation“. The New Yorker engagement, a strategic media platform with a prominent national audience, also served to bring the Army General Officer Corps into a period of wholistic development and awareness of the power of communications. On the heels of the New Yorker article, Boone once again convinced the CSA to participate in the hour-long FRONTLINE documentary on Transformation, which further underscored the strategic message of “the Army had to change to become more agile, deployable, and, arguably for some, relevant.“ Boone became pivotal in changing the mindset of our most senior leadership on the need to engage the media while serving two different Chiefs of Staff. General Eric Shinseki in particular, who had a most impressive style of personal communication, yet, rarely did media interviews, significantly changed his perspective which had a dramatic impact on the entire general officer corps. By the time Boone relinquished his role as Media Adviser to the CSA, Shinseki had conducted over 30 significant interviews.

Boone led a communications culture change in the Rules of Engagement (ROE) during his deployment with the International Security and Assistance Force (ISAF).

As both Director of Public Affairs, and acting ISAF Director in Kabul, Afghanistan, he led an aggressive campaign of truth and transparency to confront pernicious Taliban misinformation in the digital space. These efforts refocused coalition communications to more active, positive outcomes in the media narrative. Boone redirected the focus of Social Media operations in ISAF by instituting a more aggressive approach and responses to the Taliban official spokespersons’ disinformation efforts. Previously, Social Media responses barely existed. The change in tactics was immediately noted by commercial media. This had the effect of leveraging all communications in a more wholistic approach, to include internal and information operations. In addition to organizing and conducting routine press conferences, Boone increased senior official visibility with regular satellite uplinks to the U.S. and NATO contributing nations featuring General John Allen, Ambassador Crocker, and ISAF staff subject matter experts. Boone stepped in and served as the ISAF Director, with oversight of 5 coalition GO/Flag officers until the new Director arrived upon which he trained and assisted the new director in one-on-one interviews as well as critical background interview techniques.

This seamless transition allowed no gap in communications operations despite a simultaneous transition of American embassy communications personnel.

As a Colonel, Boone led U.S. Army Europe, Public Affairs, and changed the culture of communications and media operations in a heavily deployed theater during a difficult time of downsizing and tectonic transformation. This cultural shift was most evident when engaging and visiting former eastern bloc countries in training scenarios. Boone and his team were instrumental in changing how these armies viewed their role of interacting and engaging with a free media. Boone served during a time when operational deployments by European-based Brigade Combat Teams (BCT’s) to OIF and OEF were at an all-time high. Boone was instrumental in planning informative and transparent communications for rear detachment garrisons. This “just-in-time“ public affairs action was necessary but challenging, due to force availability in the Army Force Generation (ARFORGEN) process, which sometimes resulted in units experiencing short notice extensions in theater.

During 2006-2009, a significant re-organization and down-sizing of the European footprint began to hit its stride. Boone’s advice and counsel to the USAREUR commander, was instrumental in alleviating deployment stresses with Germany-based units and their families. With the Army’s component command responsibilities in the central region ongoing, Colonel Boone also built and maintained a solid working relationship with European Stars and Stripes, as well AFRTS communications resources. Boone, as part of the forward-based TF East initiative, planned, trained, and executed public affairs in both Bulgaria and Romania, often with nascent host-nation public affairs officers. Accustomed to the Soviet system, Bulgarian and Romanian PAO’s learned the fundamentals of public affairs from Boone and his team. This instilled in them a practical and working knowledge of a free press and its functions in society. Most importantly, these armies learned the importance of relying on a professional non-commissioned officer corps to ensure successful communications.

Boone served as the FORSCOM PAO during the latter command’s highest OPTEMPO in its “Force-Provider“ role to OIF and OEF. Boone established a system of assisting, and upon request, in some cases evaluating pre-deployment public affairs training and equipment assets.

Boone promoted, and gained approval for a change in how Public Affairs Detachments supported their host units and installations when not deployed. The initiative changed direct and/or organic support of PADS to divisions, to a more general-support model in which groups of similarly geographically located PADS could support the deployment mission, as well as conduct installation support. This model allowed priority to deploying units for personnel and equipment, and the ability for PA units to train at full strength with the units that they would support in theater.

Boone supported and oversaw the establishment and stand-up of the first active-duty Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, (MPAD) at Fort McPherson Georgia, and its subsequent movement to Fort Bragg, North Carolina. This became a template for future MPAD activations in the Army.

Boone was an ardent supporter in the early days of the Digital Video Imagery Distribution System, (DVIDS) (then located in nearby Atlanta) and strongly advocated for a consistent funding stream, and a permanent sponsor.

Through Boone’s initial persistent efforts, DVIDS eventually became an Army, and later DoD system of record.

Boone also strongly advocated the case for ensuring Public Affairs remained a separate and distinct functional mission during doctrinal discussions with the Information Operations functional area. The resulting dialogue in partnership with APAC, ensured the Public Affairs position and critical role was represented appropriately in Army force deliberations.

As a LTC, Boone served with distinction in a joint role, as a public affairs action officer in U.S. European Command. His reputation was such, that he was selected by the commander of Special Operations Command Europe, (SOCEUR) to not only provide training support to special operators, but to deploy in support of short notice theater missions. During his tenure, this included at least two actual Non-Combatant Evacuation Operations (NEO), both permissive and non-permissive (hostile actions expected) during which Boone implemented highly successful media pool operations to allow international media a first-hand look at embassy security and evacuation operations.

In July 1996 Boone deployed as an initial responder to the tragic crash involving Secretary Ron Brown’s aircraft in Croatia while on an economic outreach mission.

For several days during recovery operations, Boone served as the spokesperson for the incident, conducting national morning show interviews on the circumstances of the crash. This under normal PA circumstances would have been routine, however in this case, Boone’s experience, diligence and abidance by PA procedures, helped in mitigating a false “conspiracy“ narrative.

Boone’s assignments and actions as a deployed PA asset further enhanced the trust and confidence of Army leadership in the PA career field and played a significant role in building closer relationships. This led invariably to an understanding of the role of Public Affairs in Army operations, but more importantly with Army units, either not accustomed to PA, or in some cases those constrained by security requirements.

Created Soldiers Television Magazine Program

Col. James H. Breen was commissioned a second lieutenant in 1956, and served on active duty until his retirement in 1981. Breen, an artilleryman and aviator, served in a variety of command and staff assignments including two Pentagon tours. During the Vietnam War, Breen was assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, and from this post was selected as the executive officer on the Department of the Army’s investigation into the My Lai Massacre.

Breen went on to become the battalion commander, division artillery executive officer and secretary of the general staff for Sixth Army. After completion of the Army War College and his Master’s Degree in Mass Communications, Breen fully expected his next assignment would be with the artillery. Instead, Breen found himself in a new field at the Pentagon, serving as the first Chief of Army Community Relations. This was followed by an assignment as the Chief of Army Internal Information.

While serving at the Pentagon, Breen planned, engineered and developed the Soldiers Television Magazine Program. It was Breen’s idea to use the newly developed video technology to create a television program based on the popular Soldiers Magazine. This program was the forbearer of today’s Soldiers Radio and Television Service in Alexandria, Va. This program was launched to all Army installations worldwide and broadcast on the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service. This was the first timely video product unique to the Army generated from the states to the overseas networks.

Breen continued to pursue the new technology and incorporated it into all aspects of the Army’s Command Information Program, focusing on the use of timely radio and television products.

Breen retired in 1981 and continued to work in public affairs in the corporate world, serving as the Director of Public Affairs for Los Alamos National Laboratories and Director of Public Affairs and Director of Human Resources, EG&G Rocky Flats.

He lives in Westminster, Colo.

Richard H. Breen, Jr. retired from the United States Army in June 2007 as a Colonel after 30 years of distinguished service. A Distinguished Military Graduate from the University of Scranton, PA, he started his military career as a Signal Corps officer and held several positions of leadership and command. He culminated his career as the designer, founder and first Commander of the Soldiers Media Center, the Army’s Communications Arms Room blending for the first time all interval communications tools from the Army Broadcasting Service and its four major commands, Soldiers Radio and Television, the army.mil website, the Army Newspaper Program, the Broadcasting Detachment at the Armed Forces Radio and Television Service Broadcast Center, California and the Army – Air Force Hometown News Center in San Antonio, Texas.

During the attack on the Pentagon on 11 September 2001, COL Breen served as the primary spokesperson for the United States Army Military District of Washington on the grounds of the Pentagon for the first three weeks after the American Airlines Flight 77 struck the building. In addition, he conducted media training for Soldiers of the New York State National Guard in New York City. During this initial phase, he was responsible for more than 1500 stories in radio, television and print highlighting Soldiers roles and responsibilities in that critical stage.

Colonel Rich Bren is a creative, innovative leader with a strong record of developing integrated communications plans and programs and leading teams. He was the artilect of the Army’s annual birthday commemoration, he created the Community relations awards program for the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, he built and established the outreach offices in Chicago, Illinois and Tampa, Florida, and wrote and researched the State Funeral Plans to honor the passing of United States Presidents.

He is a graduate of the Fleishman Hillard International Public relations fellowship program, a graduate of Central Michigan University, the Army’s Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, KA and the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, PA. He is also accredited with the Public Relations Society of America.

Today, he serves as the senior communications and public affairs leader for the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, Pentagon and the Military Health System.

USAR PA doctrine guru

Wetzel "Scoop" Brumfield was a leader in establishing reserve-component MOS-qualification courses for enlisted journalists and developed the first operational Public Affairs doctrine for press camp headquarters operations. He was responsible for training development and force structure - including unit structure and equipment, overseas deployment training, and skill qualification for USAR officer and enlisted public affairs personnel for call-up and deployment.

He participated in the development of Army and DOD PA doctrine. As such, he was considered the USAR "guru" of Army public affairs warfighting doctrine.

Another significant PA assignment was the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, which emphasizes the "Total Force." He served the 89th Army Reserve Command in Wichita, Kan., and the 15th Support Brigade at (then) Fort Lewis, Wash., as Public Affairs Officer. He finished his career as chief of policy, plans and professional development, Public Affairs Office, U.S. Army Reserve Command.

Brumfield died in 1997.

Founded the Keith L. Ware Competition

Joseph E. Burlas entered the Army as Infantry Officer in 1956. After fulfilling his initial service obligation he was recalled in 1961 as a quartermaster officer during the Berlin Crisis.

In 1969, Burlas was assigned as the Chief, Army Newspaper Branch where he planned and implemented the Army Newspaper Modernization Program. This program established a modernization guide for more than 500 Army newspapers and helped bring them into the 21st Century.

From this foundation he developed the Keith L. Ware Journalism Competition. Burlas established the criteria and defined the categories in 1971. This program continues today to recognize outstanding Army journalism.

Because of his dedication to Army Public Affairs, Burlas was selected in 1972 as the DA Public Information Officer of the year.

While serving with the U.S. Army Japan, Burlas served as the Commander/Editor-in-Chief of Pacific Stars & Stripes and increased profitability and justified new computer equipment to handle all aspects of publishing and printing of 40,000 newspapers on a daily basis. He also opened more regional news bureaus and published more news from the United States.

Following his assignment in Japan, Burlas became the First Army Public Affairs Officer, Fort Meade, Md.

He retired in July 1987, and lives in Marietta, Ga.

Gave birth to the Public Affairs Proponent Activity and media pools.

Charles D. Bussey began his military career in 1955 as an infantry officer. His first impact on Pubic Affairs was as chief of OCPA's Policy and Plans Division, from December 1977 to May 1980.

Bussey redefined Public Affairs and spearheaded establishment and structure of the Public Affairs Proponent Activity. He assured the community benefited from critical media-on-the-battlefield lessons learned in Grenada and piloted the draft development and implementation of our current "media pool" concept, policies and procedures.

Bussey was deputy at OCPA from 1982 to 1984 and became its chief in August 1984. During this time, Public Affairs was heavily involved in advising the Army staff and dealing with the media during the 101st Airborne Division aircraft disaster in Gander, Newfoundland. Bussey restructured Soldiers Radio and Television to improve OCPA's broadcast mission. He created the Journalist of the Year award in memory of John T. Anderson, the only Army broadcaster to have been a prisoner of war.

Bussey retired in May 1989, and died of cancer, June 22, 2007, at his home in Springfield, Virginia. He was 73.

Bringing the Army to the Entertainment Industry

Kathy Canham-Ross began her illustrious 30 year Army Public Affairs career in 1977, as a DA intern at FORSCOM headquarters and later joined the Public Affairs Office staff for 6th Army, at the Presidio in California. During these early years, Kathy made it her goal to learn as much about the Army as possible -- information that later became a key factor in her keen ability to tell the Army story through movies, documentaries and television.

In 1987 Ross began to work in the Los Angeles Office, Chief of Army Public Affairs. The Army was accurately portrayed in countless motion pictures, documentaries, and television programs over a 20-year period while she worked at OCPA-LA. For her last 10 years in OCPA-LA, Kathy served as the Chief and personally reviewed hundreds of scripts every year to determine which ones warranted Army support, based not on if the project put the Army in a favorable light, but whether the project showed the Army accurately.

She advised the production company about everything from how uniforms are worn, the proper nomenclature for equipment, how Soldiers act and what it was like in an Army Family. During the production of the highly acclaimed HBO special, “The Band of Brothers,” for example, Kathy assigned an officer from her staff to be a technical advisor on the set for the entire two years the mini-series was shot. The results were astounding and showed to the world the closeness and team work Soldiers share in their unit.

In one year alone she received nearly 500 requests to obtain Army support for documentaries and over 200 support requests for entertainment projects (movies and television). Some of the projects Ross directly worked on over the years included “Black Hawk Down,” “We Were Soldiers Once and Young,” “Apollo 13,” “Courage Under Fire,” “Saving Jessica Lynch,” “War of the Worlds,” “The Great Raid,” “Apocalypse” and “Three Wishes.”

Kathy was also the entertainment industry subject matter expert for the senior Army leadership. She briefed and advised, for example, the Secretary of the Army on a sound course of action upon the release of the controversial HBO documentary, “Baghdad ER.”

Despite her hectic schedule getting the Army story told through films and television, she always made time to initiate and manage Army community relations events in the California region, from small town celebrations to Army units in the Rose Bowl Parade. Ross was the consummate Public Affairs Officer who demonstrated a staggering unique ability to bring the Army to the American people through film and television.

Donald N. Carr served the Army Public Affairs career field in uniform and as an Army Civilian for more than 42 years, retiring in 2014 as the Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Belvoir, Virginia. Carr was a renowned Army newspaperman, editing no less than 11 Army newspapers and magazines during his career. Carr - then a MSG - served as Chief of Army Newspapers and Director of Army News Operations at the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs. He taught workshops, reviewed and edited thousands of Army stories, and mentored and encouraged literally hundreds of young Army journalists.

Upon retiring from active duty, Carr continued his contribution to the Army Public Affairs community through Department of the Army Civil Service. Beginning his civilian career as Editor of the Belvoir Eagle and later Command Information Chief at the U.S Army Garrison, Fort Belvoir, Carr led and mentored the garrison's newspaper staff to strategic success when the Belvoir Eagle was selected as the best newspaper in DoD in tabloid layout format, and one Soldiers won DoD Journalist of the Year.

In February 2001, Carr was selected as the Director of Public Affairs for Fort Belvoir. His achievements in this position are unique and will endure many decades into the future. Perhaps first among them was that he was in place as PAO on September 11th, 2001. His complete dedication to the entire Fort Belvoir community, both inside and outside the gate, during this overwhelming and life-changing tragedy was without equal. Operations from the 12th Aviation Brigade at Fort Belvoir's Davison Army Airfield were 24/7 for months, as was unrelenting media attention, community fear and confusion as new force protection requirements we put in place, and survivor assistance support at one of two closest garrisons to the Pentagon crash site. Carr's leadership and calm, expert response were critical as the community endured those dark days, weeks and months. Not four years later, he expertly handled the public affairs mission during what was arguably the largest, most complicated and most impactful Base Realignment and Closure implementation of 2005 - that of the many incoming and outgoing moving parts involving Fort Belvoir. Once again, his instincts and expertise in the public affairs mission combined to create mission success.

Mr. Carr's achievements in advocating for and maturing the command information and Army journalism missions endure and will continue far into the future.

Catalyst for change in AFN Europe Radio and Television

From his early days as a private first class at the Armed Forces Radio Service Jungle Network, Hollandia, New Guinea, to his final assignment as Deputy Director of Programming for Armed Forces Radio and Television Service, Trent Christman brought talent, wisdom and common sense to his 40-year career in military broadcasting.

Christman's wisdom and common sense would assist him as he arrived at the Armed Forces Network Europe Headquarters, Frankfurt, Germany, in 1964. It quickly became his mission to change a radio philosophy that had not changed in years and was a carbon copy of pre-television radio. Times had changed, yet the programming had not, younger listener Soldiers had different listening habits in a new era.

Under his direction, outdated songs and outdated programs were removed from the schedule or moved from primetime. Locally produced shows were expanded, production techniques were updated, and command information announcements used more stateside production approaches. Christman knew AFN radio had to remain contemporary and consistent with the listening habits and needs of the younger listeners.

In the mid 1970's, Christman took his talents to AFN Europe Television. He led a remodeling effort, developing new policies, new equipment recommendations, and staffing appointments in anticipation of the move to Frankfurt, in 1976. Frankfurt would be on the air with a state-of-the art color studio, leaving behind outdated equipment, old studios and a black and white signal. Christman developed the station look and logos for the sets, for live local programming.

Located at the new studios, Christman oversaw the development of the command information program "Gasthaus," which remained a feature of AFN TV's local programming for more than 20 years. No, local command information broadcast, in the history of AFRTS, has received more recognition or awards.

Christman retired in 1988, and he lives in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Developed career program for civilians.

David L. Church was a Public Affairs professional whose 45-year career had a significant impact on the Public Affairs community. As a practitioner, Church was one of the few who earned PRSA's Award for Excellence -- a Silver Anvil. The award was the result of a 1970 program publicizing the Army's successes in providing helicopter evacuation services to accident and disaster victims.

Church's most enduring contribution, however, was the development of the Army PA Civilian Career Program. When he served as retired annunitant to the Assistant Chief of Pubic Affairs for Resource Management and to the Chief of Public Affairs in civilian personnel matters, Church redesigned the civilian evaluation system. He designed the prototype of a career program for DA civilians based on a military program model which defined specific skills, abilities and potentials. He chaired a task force to convert the PA Career Management program from SKAP to ACTEDS. Today's civilian PA career rating and referral program is a direct result of his vision, commitment and tenacity.

Church died in November 1991.

Sgt. Maj. Daniel L. Coberly was inducted to the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2014.

Command Sgt. Maj. Raymond Cordell was inducted into the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2017.

From a captain at Armed Forces Network Europe to Director, American Forces Information Services, Robert Cranston spent more than four decades in various Army information and public affairs assignments as an officer and civilian.

Beginning as an Executive Officer in 1945 with AFN, Paris, Cranston planned and organized the expansion of the network to Germany after VE day. From Germany to Washington, D.C., to Belgium, Cranston continued to coordinate and direct national radio, TV, photo and newsreel activities. As Chief, Radio-TV, Pictorial Section, Public Information Division, Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe, Cranston was a pioneer in Allied commands. He directed a campaign to sell the NATO concept through audio-visual media in member nations.

Commanding the American Forces Network Europe from 1960 to 1964, Cranston recognized how important radio was to both America's and the millions of Europeans who were judging America by what they heard. Under Cranston, AFN was listened to by a greater number of citizens than German radio networks. His primary audience was military, he never forgot this, and special emphasis was put on the News Operation. Newscasts were frequent, timely and accurate.

A working lifetime in public affairs/public information allowed Cranston upon his appointment to Director, American Forces Information Service to plan, implement and lead the AFRTS system into the satellite era. With a transmission system in place, he initiated and negotiated for “no cost broadcast rights” saving the government $150-million per year in programming costs. Cranston can truly be called the “Father of the AFRTS Satellite Network.”

Cranston retired in March 1973 and continued serving his nation as a civilian. He retired a second time as Director, American Forces Information Services, March 1983.

An experienced leader, manager, communicator and marketing strategist, Derik has more than 35 years of governmental and international experience in corporate counseling, marketing, media relations, public affairs, law enforcement, along with sports communication and education. He still actively serves the Department of Defense as a senior Communications Strategist for the Military Health System and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs. He also holds associate and adjunct professor positions at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, and Queens University of Charlotte.

He held numerous leadership and command positions during his military career, including Director, Strategic Communications, Marketing and Outreach for the U.S. Army, where he managed all U.S. Army marketing and advertising efforts and was the architect behind numerous recognitions for innovative and creative marketing, recruiting and community outreach programs. Included in these awards were the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Bronze Anvil Award of Excellence in 2000 and the Silver Anvil in 2011. Programs under his direction also received a Gold Jay Chiat and a Gold and Silver Effie award. As a senior military consultant to Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, Derik served as a media trainer, public relations, and crisis communications manager in support to Olympic Sponsors during the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Additionally, he served as the public affairs advisor to the Supreme Allied Commander Europe and NATO. In this role, he helped lead the establishment and coordinated support for NATO Public Affairs operations in Afghanistan. He has also served as commander, 40th Public Affairs Detachment, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault); Director of Public Affairs for the U.S. Army Maneuver Support Center, and commander of American Forces Network (AFN) Southern Europe and AFN Americas, with responsibility for development and distribution of public and command information, along with radio and television communication, to service members, government employees and their families.

During his service as an Army PAO, Colonel (Ret) Crotts created and executed several of the most successful community relations and outreach efforts in the Army. These programs served as a strategic combat multiplier for worldwide Army messaging. They were innovative and creative and set the standard for effective public affairs still employed today. Units under the leadership of Colonel Crotts were recognized with the US Army Community Relations Award a total of four consecutive years from 2000-2004. The templates he created were never more important than they are today as the Army loses resources and the American people begin to forget the sacrifices of American Soldiers.

Additionally, Colonel (Ret) Crotts was one of the major architects behind the creation and establishment of the United States Army's Soldiers Media Center as a communications center of excellence integrating all internal communications messaging under one command.

Initially enlisting and eventually commissioned into the U.S. Army Military Police Corps, he has served as a Patrolman; Platoon Leader; Military Police Operations Officer; Military Police, Physical Security and Counter-Terrorism Advisor and Trainer; Company Commander and installation Provost Marshal, throughout numerous garrison and tactical MP assignments around the world.

Derik holds a Master of Arts in Strategic Studies and International Affairs from the U.S. Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, and a Master of Public Administration from Murray State University, Murray, Kentucky.

Father of Public Relations Education

Scott M. Cutlip began his military career as a private in May 1942, at the end of 1945 Cutlip left military service as a major, having made a significant contribution to an Army Public Affairs program in its early stages of development.

Following the end of World War II, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Chief of Staff, and other senior officers were concerned about the status of Army Public Affairs. Specifically they were concerned about explaining military programs to the public and the lack of military expertise in public affairs. One of the steps to improve military public affairs was the establishment of what became the Defense Information School. The second step was the assignment of senior public affairs officers to graduate school to prepare them for assignment into public affairs.

In 1946, the first group of three officers was assigned to do graduate work in journalism at the University of Wisconsin. Included in this first group was Lt. Col. (later major general) Chester Clifton, later military aide to President John F. Kennedy and Army Chief of Information.

Cutlip's understanding of military public affairs made him the ideal coordinator for the program. Four colonels were usually assigned to the 18-month program. A total of approximately 100 officers completed the program, included were seven officers who would later become chiefs of Public Affairs.

In 1959, General Clifton asked Cutlip to establish a summer program at Wisconsin. Army officers and civilians would earn college credits while studying public relations and allied subjects. This program continued until 1974 with a total enrollment of about 375.

Cutlip spent 29 years at the University of Wisconsin and established the precursor of today's graduate degree programs. Cutlip is credited with helping establish public relations as a field of academic study. He was co-author of the1952 book “Effective Public Relations,” which has been published in seven editions and is one of the best selling texts in its field.

He was awarded the Department of the Army's Commander's award for Public Service in 1984 for “more than 25 years of outstanding service to the Department of the Army and its public affairs programs.”

Detachment 5, America Forces Vietnam Network, known as AFVN, had been broadcasting television in the Hue, South Vietnam area for a short period of time as 1967 came to an end. It had been decided that the station would become a full Class A operation in early 1968. The Army divisions wanted radio to go with the television signal that could only be received in the compound. Two Soldiers and two Marines would arrive in January 1968 to begin the radio mission.

It was January 1968, and the winds of war would soon blow through Hue and change the lives of these eight men and completely change the direction of the war, and the public's opinion of it. The North Vietnamese Army, along with the Viet Cong, took the war from the rice paddies and jungles and placed it into South Vietnams largest cities, including Hue.

On Feb. 5, 1968, after five days of battle, the men of AFVN Hue were out of ammunition, food and water. The Viet Cong and NVA set fire to house, forcing the men to flee. When the attack on AFVN Hue ended three men were dead, one escaped and five others were captured and held captive by the North Vietnamese Army.

Each of the five men captured was wounded and didn't know if they would survive the day. The five would come to survive and, five long years later, March 3, 1973, were released from captivity.

Their mission changed from broadcasting radio and television to protecting the right to broadcast radio and television. During the attack, the men of AFVN Hue were protecting the very essence of command information.

The events of that day will forever be in the history of public affairs. The men of AFVN Hue may not have won the battle but they did win a far greater war. Their heroic call duty has forever left a lasting legacy to all public affairs troops in the past and in the future.

Voice of the Pacific

Sgt. L. Steward Diamond devoted more than half a century of active duty and civilian public affairs service, including combat, to telling the story of our nation's Armed Forces and its service members.

A native of Greenville, Ala., Diamond entered military service in the Alabama Army National Guard in 1955. He enlisted in the U.S. Air Force in 1957, where he served for 23 years before retiring as a senior master sergeant in 1980. His tours of duty included positions in Japan, Vietnam, Thailand, Hawaii and U.S. mainland.

From 1984 to 2002, he was assigned to the Headquarters, U.S. Army Pacific, Fort Shafter, Hawaii, where he revolutionized Army public affairs in the Pacific, bringing cutting-edge technology to thousands of Army commanders, Soldiers and civilians. Diamond designed and implemented the first website for an Army Major Command and brought state-of-the-art computer and digital broadcast technology to Soldiers across the Pacific region.

But his greatest and most enduring impact on public affairs was Diamond's tireless commitment to mentoring countless Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and civilian public affairs professionals, serving as role model, inspiration, coach and guide. As one of the Army's most senior public affairs practitioners, Diamond's career culminated as the first chief of public affairs for the U.S. Army Installation Management Command Pacific at Fort Shafter, where he served from 2002 until January 2006.

Diamond tirelessly mentored public affairs personnel, military and civilian, throughout the IMCOM Pacific's area of responsibility. Despite immense demands for assistance during the standup and first years of operation of the organization, Diamond never tired of providing sage advice and counsel to all who sought his expertise.

Diagnosed with inoperable cancer, he passed away peacefully at his home on January 19, 2007 and was buried with full military honors at the Hawaii State Veterans Cemetery in Kaneohe, Hawaii.

Famous as the “Voice of the Pacific,” an accomplished military journalist, broadcaster and public affairs professional, Diamond diligently supported public affairs missions in units small and large in locations ranging from the jungles of Southeast Asia to military headquarters around the world. Whenever and wherever duty called, Diamond was there doing his best to ensure the American public would know what its armed forces and its service members were accomplishing.

John Donovan served as advisor to the Army Chief of Public Affairs at the Pentagon for 22 years. As the chief of the civilian public affairs career field, that at the time included all information and editorial Army civilians and numbered more than 3,000, he built a career program that was effective, equitable and credible. Without that strong foundation, the civilian force that emerged following an Army informational mission change in the late 1980s - a change that broke off two thirds of the force - would have been decimated.

The early 1990s brought a much desired “peace dividend” that had potential for backfiring. It caused a huge hiccup in Army POMs and its affect trickled into PA circles. Then Chief of Public Affairs, MG Bill McClain wisely observed: "Even though we're losing uniformed billets, we still have civilians." Donovan rebuilt the PA civilian force so that it could make up for the loss of uniformed force structure. With the CPA's encouragement, he centralized the intern program to enrich the intern experience.

Beginning in 1993, he initiated annual, nationwide talent recruitment under an EEO Outstanding Scholar hiring authority that allowed direct conversion after graduation. Instead of the field hiring 50 interns each year for a three-year program, OCPA was able to hire about 15 per year for a program half as long but one that, in addition to DINFOS, included three months rotating through OCPA divisions and about a year of OJT at a carefully selected field site.

Beyond recruitment, Donovan personally developed one of the finest professional development programs in the Army, thereby ensuring the training and advancement of quality career Public Affairs Officers. He led the complete overhaul of an obsolete and cumbersome Skills, Knowledge's and Professional Development (SKAP) in the late 80's, to launch a more efficient evaluation and education process that ensured Army Civilian PAOs were properly prepared for assignments with greater challenges.

Donovan improved mid-level training by helping build and maintain an Army Management Staff College (AMSC) and its Sustaining Base Management course enjoyed by scores of PA civilians. This gave PA civilians an advantage lacked in the past - a strong understanding of the Army's force development, installation management, planning and funding procedures - and added greatly to their credibility when advising commanders and telling the Army story. Further, he initiated a capstone 6-month civilian training with industry (TWI) program with Fleishman-Hillard and Merck, Inc., with stupendous results. The advent of TWI and AMSC raised the pedigree and professionalism of participating PA civilians to the highest levels, and the quality of today's civilian workforce is, to a great degree, his legacy.

Mr. Donovan's entire career was devoted to raising the profile of the Army public affairs professional. He is the co-author of Raising Our Voice (the history of U.S. Army Public Affairs, Vol. I), and has spent 45 years in mass communication.

Maj. Gen. Mari Eder was inducted into the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2017.

Helped start Yank and Stars and Stripes

Franklin Forsberg was a publisher who joined the Army in 1942, and used his industry experience to change the face of military news.

As the executive officer for the Information and Education Division of the U.S. Army Morale Branch, Forsberg oversaw most of the Army's internal newspapers. He saw that camp-based newspapers were having trouble getting the information they needed, so he began developing the first Army-based newswire service.

His informal news service became the forerunner to today's famous Army News Service. His service distributed stories from the major news services so that camp editors could include wire stories in their publications. Stories were provided from the Associated Press, United Press, International News Service and Reuters, via cable and short-wave radio. Broadcasting at slow-dictation speed, the service allowed the most fledgling camp editors to include wire stories in their publications.

However, Forsberg also knew that Soldiers needed a break from the war so he invented “The Army Weekly,” which later became Yank. It was laid out in magazine format, catered to its readers interests by including not only editorials and sports, but included entertainment-type strategies like the “pin-up girl” and the first Army cartoons.

Funding for the magazine was a problem so Forsberg used $25,000 of his own money in start up costs. When Yank published its last issue in December of 1945 it had given the War Department a $1,000,000 profit.

Forsberg also saw the need for a military-wide daily newspaper, and became one of the architects of Stars and Stripes newspaper. He was the administrative center of this worldwide publication. He selected every editor and was responsible for the Army news feed to each of the newspaper's 25 overseas offices.

Forsberg left the Army with the rank of colonel, in 1946. He went on to a distinguished career in publishing and later served as the U.S. Ambassador to Sweden, from 1981 to 1985.

Forsberg will be remembered for developing the early publications during World War II that lead to the global military news services that we have today.

Initially an enlisted Army broadcaster, Joe Garvey served 30-years in Army Public Affairs and retired as the Deputy Director of Public Affairs at U.S. Army Europe. Garvey's professional skills and expertise promulgated US Army strategic interests throughout Europe, directly impacting relations with host nation leaders in Germany and Italy, as well as U.S. Army Europe's (USAREUR) response efforts to the Russian annexation of Ukraine. Throughout, Garvey epitomized the Army values in all that he did, both professionally and personally.

The communications mission in Europe was extremely complex and required constant foreign and inter- agency coordination. Although the environment constantly changed, from the Cold War with a huge US Army presence in Germany, to the Balkan Wars, to the European draw down, his communications expertise ensured audiences around the world knew and understood the mission of the United States Army in Europe. Garvey understood the strategic implications of America's military presence in Europe and had a firm grasp of the delicate political and cultural sensitivities that come with his position. He ensured the command stayed synchronized on the most sensitive communication efforts across the theater from the European Command to the Garrisons, and he handled the most challenging of situations from the fall of the Berlin Wall, Desert Storm, Kosovo, Bosnia, refugees, terrorist attacks, senior leader indiscretions, fatal helicopter accidents, removal of chemical and nuclear weapons, and public crimes including soldier-on-soldier first degree murders. In every case he not only ensured USAREUR followed DoD Principles of Information, but also protected the command and maintained the Army's image.

A mentor to thousands of Public Affairs professionals and multiple General Officers, Garvey's influence was evidenced through the more than 200 Keith L. Ware awards received by USAREUR personnel and the professional development of the civilian public affairs corps in Europe. As the career program manager for all Department of the Army Public Affairs civilian employees attached to tactical commands in USAREUR, his trailblazing messaging on professional education and the Civilian Education System literally created in Europe the most professional civilian PA corps in DoD. Further influencing the public affairs community, many of the junior Soldiers and officers who began their PA career under Garvey's tutelage and mentorship rose to the ranks of colonel and sergeant major.

Crisis communications expert

Brig. Gen. Bob Gaylord revolutionized the role and nature of Public Affairs in the Army, and Department of Defense. In his last position on active duty as the Chief of Army Public Affairs, he not only provided leadership at the Department of the Army level during ground operations in support of overseas contingency operations, but also major post-hostilities issues such as the detainee abuse investigations, equipment shortages, and personnel issues impacting on public perception and the Army's reputation.

As the Deputy Chief of Public Affairs from 1996-1999, he was the public affairs subject matter expert adeptly navigating the Army through the largest, sustained communication crises since My Lai -- the Aberdeen sexual misconduct scandal. At his urging, the Chief of Public Affairs convinced the Army leadership to proactively develop a Crisis Action Team and release the story.

Gaylord took the lead in developing the strategy and guiding the tactical execution from the initial release strategy, to cross-functional and multi-echelon integration and synchronization with other engaged staff elements, such as legal and legislative affairs, throughout the command chain, to extensive media training of principals, to the internal and external media and stakeholder engagement strategy. The exemplary public affairs execution set the standard for Department of Defense crisis communications, became a textbook case study on how to do it right, and was credited with saving the Army from debilitating negative impact on its public image and morale. The communications strategy, planning and execution were recognized by a PRSA Silver Anvil Award for Crisis Communications. This was the first Silver Anvil awarded to the Army in 10 years.

When he was a colonel, he was personally selected by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs and the Army Chief of Public Affairs, to deploy to Bosnia as a result of the Dayton Peace Accords to develop the Joint Information Bureau and serve as the senior United States spokesperson during the largest deployment in Europe since World War II.

Earlier in his career as a lieutenant colonel, while serving as Commander of Southern Command Network from 1988-1990, Gaylord was responsible for ensuring broadcast of critical, life-saving news and command information throughout the arduous, increasingly dangerous events culminating in Operation Just Cause. He was asked in November 1990 to deploy to Saudi Arabia and what was to be called Desert Shield/Desert Storm, to develop and command the Desert Shield Network, providing national and international news and information to deployed U.S. forces.

Throughout Gaylord's exemplary career he mentored and developed the public affairs leaders who successfully navigated the Army through a variety of combat operations and untold challenges to the Army's reputation.

Following two years as an AFN Solider, from 1960 to 1962, Herbert G. Glover joined the (then) Southern European Network, in Italy, as a broadcast producer. There he earned the Freedom Foundation George Washington Honor Medal and the DOD Thomas Jefferson Award for the production of The Voices of Wenceslas, a documentary focusing on the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. With HQ American Forces Network Europe, he originated the nightly interview show Nightside, which became a fan favorite and a vital tool of the Public Affairs community.

In the early 1970s he established the annual AFN/EUCOM Command Information Calendar in conjunction with other branches of the military, which allowed public affairs offices to plan out their communications objectives, and begin their public affairs planning as much as a year in advance. This allowed for a more efficient distribution of production resources and resulted in a savings of time, money in the allocation of limited Public Affairs resources and manpower.

Later in his career, he brought his prime-time viewers not only top military leaders in a informal setting, but also interesting personalities such as Elton John, Henry Kissinger, Werner von Braun, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Alvin Toffler, Willy Brandt, Neil Armstrong, Colin Powell and many others.

Glover also established the concept of expeditionary broadcasting. Because of the hostile environment, establishing traditional “transmitters on the hilltop” was impossible, he established a system that used land-line communication that saved time and money, and allowed deployed troops to enjoy AFN programming.

Expanded Public relations in the Army

Stanley Grogan began his military career in 1917 serving with artillery and infantry units in France and was commissioned in 1918. After the War he served in a variety of capacities before he was assigned as a public information officer. He came to Washington, D.C., in 1939 to organize the public relations bureau.

In the years before Pearl Harbor, Grogan shared national press relations' responsibility with staff fewer than a dozen officers. He helped expand public relations in the Army with an enlarged bureau that numbered about 750 military and civilian personnel under his direction during World War II. While serving as Chief, Public Relations Bureau, he was responsible for announcing many of the major stories of the war. He is also credited with transforming the Army's information service into an aggressive public relations effort.

In 1944, Grogan was assigned to Italy as the public relations officer for 5th Army, commanded by Gen. Mark W. Clark. Grogan arranged much of the coverage of 5th Army combat units in the Italian campaign from the crossings of the Arno and Po rivers to the Allied drive through the Gothic Line, pursuit of German units in the Alps, and finally their surrender.

Grogan did not stay behind the desk, on one occasion in 1944 while escorting media in Italy he was ambushed. Taking command of three armored vehicles, he engaged the patrol and succeeded in driving the Germans into the hills after several hours of battle.

Following retirement from the U.S. Army in 1951, Grogan served as Deputy Director of Public Relations for the Central Intelligence Agency. He retired a second time in 1966.

Grogan died April 1978.

AC/RC integrator at FORSCOM

Klaus Halm was born in Germany, fled in the 1930s and was drafted in 1954 while doing doctoral studies at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania. He was assigned to Fort McPherson, Ga., as an enlisted journalist for two years. Then, as a DA civilian, he was the speechwriter for the commanding general of Third Army. In 1965 he became chief of the Press Section of Third Army PAO. He was responsible for managing media coverage of the My Lai Massacre and subsequent Capt. Medina trial at Fort McPherson. His insistence on the trial being open to the media helped deflect negative opinions of the Army into a contemporary standard of military/media relations.

In 1972 Halm reorganized Third Army PAO, forming one of the first PA plans and operations branches. During his tenure, Halm set the standard for the integration of active- and reserve-component Public Affairs units and personnel. His work eventually led to the creation of more than 80 Public Affairs units in all components. He ultimately became Deputy Public Affairs Officer of FORSCOM Public Affairs, and retired from civil service in June 1991.

Halm lives in Peachtree City, Ga.

Served as AFN, Europe, PD for 18 years

Robert J. Harlan began his 38-year association with the Army as an aviation cadet in 1943. He attended the fourth class of the new Army Information School at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., and was assigned to Armed Forces Network, Europe, in 1949.

After a four year military tour at AFN, during which he climbed to studio supervisor, Harlan converted to civilian status and was promoted to chief of network production. Under his management AFN expanded from a seven- to a 10-station network in Germany, Holland, Belgium and England. After assignments in Kaiserslautern and Munich, Harlan returned to Frankfurt in 1961 as chief of production, serving there until his 1964 appointment as program director of AFN France. He returned to Germany as deputy PD of the network from 1964-1968.

In 1968, Harlan began an 18-year assignment as the network's PD and ranking civilian, a position he held until his retirement in 1986. That same year he received the first award of the Armed Forces Broadcasters Association Award for Broadcasting Excellence -- an award that has been renamed "The Harlan Award."

Harlan lives in Cape Coral, Fla.

“Mr. Redstone Arsenal”

As the public affairs chief, David G. Harris was the voice of Redstone Arsenal -- both the Army and NASA -- during an era of growth, including inevitable growing pains.

In the 1970s, the Olin Corporation and the Army were accused of creating DDT pollution in the local community, particularly Triana. Harris got the Army through that turbulent period and convinced the local community that the government was indeed concerned about the health of its citizens.

In later years, Harris served on several community committees that helped convince the Army and Congress to move work, people and new investment to Redstone Arsenal. He proved to be an effective community salesman on frequent trips to Rock Island, Ill, St. Louis and other cities to speak to Army organizations moved to Redstone Arsenal under the Base Realignment and Closure Act.

Harris was known as an effective spokesman for programs that were often difficult to discuss because of the classification and technicality. He could take highly technical information from literal “Rocket scientists” and translate it to the media in such a way that they could understand. He was the lead spokesperson for missile programs such as the Pershing during the Cold War and the Redstone-developed Patriot during the Gulf War.

His greatest contribution to his country was his effort to ensure the successful fielding of the Pershing II. Harris in the face of incredible scrutiny, kept the media, Congress and the public apprised of its status essentially giving Pershing II the time and chance to succeed. Harris also performed superbly in handling the delicate Soviet inspection visits as a part of the implementation of the Intermediate Nuclear Force Treaty.

Harris described Operation Desert Storm as the biggest news event in his career because missiles developed by Redstone in the early 1980s like Hellfire, TOW, MLRS, ATACMS and especially the Patriot got their trials by fire during this conflict. During this time he was credited with the response to an unprecedented number of media requests.

In 1970, when the Missile Command was forced to announce a substantial reduction in force, Harris arranged for Redstone's use of a large venue in the city. He invited city leaders, media and concerned citizens to attend a briefing about the reduction at Redstone. He also initiated a weekly detailed report in the post newspaper on job openings at other DoD installations helping place 279 employees at those jobs.

Lt. Col. Bill Highlander was inducted into the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2016.

First Chief of Public Affairs

Maj. Gen. L. Gordon Hill Jr. left the University of South Carolina to enlist in the Army in 1942. Following his graduation from Officer Candidate School, Hill began his military career as an artilleryman, serving with coast artillery units in the United States.

Hill had broad experience in three branches of the artillery, coast, field and anti-aircraft artillery, with wartime command experience in Korea and Vietnam.

After several assignments in artillery and serving as an instructor after graduation from the Command and General Staff College, Hill was assigned to the University of Wisconsin for completion of his Journalism degree and graduate study in public relations. Hill's first public affairs assignment in the Pentagon was as chief of the Magazine and Book Branch.

In 1963, Hill became the Chief of Public Information, and in 1964 went back to the field as commander of the 2nd Battalion, 92nd Artillery, in Europe. For 10 years, Hill went from field assignments to public affairs assignments and returned to the Pentagon in 1971, as the Director of Defense Information.

In 1973, Hill became the Chief of Information and began working to convert the Office, Chief of Information, to Office, Chief of Public Affairs, and obtained an Army General Order establishing the Office, Chief of Public Affairs. The change not only made Hill the first Chief of Public Affairs, it also formalized the relationship built between OCPA and Office, Chief of Legislative Liaison. The two offices worked closely to ensure accuracy and consistency in the way Army decisions, policies and programs were communicated to the media and to Congress. This close coordination at all levels led to the daily Public Affairs meeting with the Secretary of the Army, a first for OCPA.

During Hill's 30 plus years in the service he worked more than one third of his Army career in public affairs assignments at the highest level. Hill left the Army as the First Chief of Public Affairs.

Hill died in 1990.

Thomas W. Hope first served as an enlisted movie cameraman assigned to First Special Service Force (FSSF) at Ft. William Henry Harrison, just outside of Helena, Montana. Early into Hope's assignment, the lieutenant in command of the photo detachment broke his arm and the Army, recognizing Hope's film background and demonstrated leadership, promoted him from “buck private” to Technician Fourth Grade (T-4) and placed him in charge of the photo detachment.

Having acquired photography and filmmaking skills while in high school and college, Hope used his expertise to change Army parachute operations. Using a Bell & Howell 16mm-magazine camera and shooting high-speed footage at 64 frames per second (fps) and then projecting that video at the standard 24 fps, he was able to show that one foot typically hit the ground before the other, thus absorbing the parachutist's entire body weight and routinely leading to injury. Based on this revelation, instructors proposed landing with “feet and knees together”, thus developing the parachute-landing fall (PLF), adopted as the standard parachute-landing technique in 1943.

After completing OCS, Hope reported to the Army Motion Picture School in Queens, New York, to begin his assignment as film instructor, teaching and mentoring thousands of military photographers. When the head of the Motion Picture School fell ill, 2nd Lt. Hope took on the duties of presiding director. He improved the curriculum by adding more hands-on exercises with several types of cameras and contributed countless hours to the classroom, laying the foundation for combat camera training. Hope served in that capacity until early 1944 when rumors of an overseas build-up against Germany prompted him to seek reassignment to Europe.

Hope arrived in France at D+3, assigned as the photo officer to VIII Corps of the Third Army. As a staff officer, he managed five photo detachments that included the VIII Corps and its subordinate divisions: the 2d Infantry Division, the 4th Infantry Division, the 8th Infantry Division, the 82d Airborne Division, and the 101st Airborne Division. Hope and his men documented the siege of Brest in September 1944, entering the underground fortress and documenting the damage allied penetration bombing had done to the concrete roof infrastructure. He and his detachments also photographed the formal surrender of German Maj. Gen. Hermann Ramcke, with photographs landing on the front page of American dailies and serving as a morale boost for troops and the American public.

Hope was transferred to the XIX Corps to replace a photo officer who had just been killed in action. Always at the forward edge of the battle area and well aware of the German army's increasing desperation, he continued to photograph, film, and manage photo assignments through the harsh winter of '44-'45 when the Battle of the Bulge raged in the Ardennes forests. As the Allies advanced east, the Germans parachuted saboteurs and agents behind Allied lines as part of their counteroffensive. Hope photographed the impostors and documented the detail to which they were equipped - right down to American identification papers.

By late March 1945, Ninth Army units had crossed the Rhine River, with combat photographers shooting over 500 photographs and 15,000 feet of motion picture film. One of Hope's photographers, Sergeant D. W. Miller, even photographed Prime Minister Winston Churchill crossing the Rhine River in a landing craft. These photographs were transmitted directly from Ninth Army headquarters by radio facsimile to New York in less than five hours, making the photos available for the evening editions of American newspapers.

The Ninth Army encircled the Ruhr Valley from the north and linked up with First Army, thereby trapping 300,000 German soldiers. The city of Essen, the heart of the German armament industry, was captured on April 10, 1945, and Hope and his men took photos of underground aircraft factories operating imperviously to the aerial and artillery bombardment above.

As the Ninth Army troops held their line at the Elbe River, the salient question of the day was when and where the Army would meet the Russians, heading west to Berlin. By nightfall of April 11, units of Ninth Army's 2d Armored Division were only 50 miles from the capital city. More Ninth Army units arrived at the Elbe on the following day, but Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Force, squelched any American initiative by sending Gen. Bradley, Commanding General of the 12th Army Group, strict orders that Ninth Army stay in place with no mission to take Berlin.

However, before receiving Eisenhower's order, Hope had sent one of his photographers to accompany a patrol, probing beyond the east bank of the Mulde River. The photographer became separated from the patrol and stumbled upon a Russian unit on its way to Berlin. He took dozens of photos of victorious Soviet troops at the landmark Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. It was a historic moment captured by the only American photographer to reach Berlin.

Hope also witnessed and photographed the brutal genocide of 1,100 political and ethnic prisoners just outside of Gardelegen, a medieval, walled city in eastern Germany. Anticipating the approaching Allied forces, SS and Luftwaffe soldiers and boys from the Hitler Jugend herded the prisoners into a large barn, its floor covered with gasoline-soaked straw. After locking the prisoners inside the barn, they set it ablaze. Anticipating escape, the German soldiers emplaced machine guns at the entrances and shot several prisoners who tried to break free from the inferno. Incredibly, about 100 of the prisoners survived, including Russian Prisoners of War. Soldiers from the 102d Infantry Division came upon the barn and discovered the charred, smoldering corpses on the morning of April 15. Hope and his photographers were early at the scene and documented one of the most heinous war crimes of World War II.

By the time of the German surrender, Hope had advanced in rank to captain, with hundreds of historic photos and film to his credit. His next assignment was to join General Simpson in preparation for the Pacific Theater before the U.S. decided to drop atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Hope then received an offer to remain on active duty and write the official history of the Ninth Army; an offer he declined. At the age of 25, he found himself ready to rejoin civilian life, to launch into a career dedicated to media, journalism, and communications.

On Feb. 3, 2015, Mr. Hope joined surviving members of the First Special Service Force in Washington, D.C., to receive the Congressional Gold Medal in recognition for their dedicated service during WW II.

Col. Dick Horvath was inducted to the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2015.

Author of USAREC Public Affairs Manual

Melvin R. Jones career as an Army Public Affairs Officer was unique and varied, he served in special assignments and at every level of Army organization: battalion, group, brigade, division, numbered army, major command and with the Secretary of the Army.

In Vietnam, Jones served two tours as a Public Affairs Officer, each time making a significant contribution to public affairs. During his first tour he created the first internal publication for U.S. forces stationed there. The MACV/MAGG Observer allowed the command to communicate with advisory teams and was the first official publication in Southeast Asia. During his second tour, Jones served as PAO for all recruiters, giving them direction on how to deal with media during the startup of the all-volunteer Army.

After Jones retired from the Army in November 1977 he worked as a public relations director at various firms before establishing his own firm M. R. Jones and Associates, Inc.

Jones continues to write as a professional, he has authored several books and is a frequent contributor to several publications. He lives in Dousman, Wis.

Helped revive Stars and Stripes and establish Army Radio Service

John D. Kenderdine was a product of the World War I officer- training program at Platsburg, N.Y., and was a company officer in the 7th Infantry Division throughout its actions in France. His first contribution to Public Affairs was the establishment of a monthly magazine, Army Information Digest, of which Soldiers magazine is a direct offspring.

Kenderdine was one of a handful who developed the concept of a series of films tracing the events leading to World War II and stressing the importance of allied victory -- resulting in a series coordinated closely by the War Department, and produced in Hollywood, titled "Why We Fight." The series won an academy award.

Kenderdine was intimately involved in the revival of Stars and Stripes, which had ceased publication in 1919, and in the establishment of the Army Radio Service, which is now AFRTS. He was also one of the early planners of what came to be called YANK, the Army Weekly, which in its five-year span entertained and enlightened troops in all theaters and stateside.

Kenderdine, who died in 1980, is buried in Arlington National Cemetery, Va.

Public Affairs Advisor to the Secretary of the Army

Sgt. Maj. Dawn Kilpatrick began her career in 1979 and served on active duty for 20 years serving in a variety of challenging assignments and always leading the way.

Kilpatrick's variety of assignments included newspaper editor of three of the Army's most prestigious newspapers: The Hawaii Army Weekly at Fort Shafter, Hawaii; The Bayonet at Fort Benning, Ga.; and The Paraglide at Fort Bragg, N.C.

She served as first sergeant of the Army's (then) only active duty mobile public affairs detachment, and later as sergeant major of public affairs at XVIII Airborne Corps, both at Fort Bragg, N.C. Kilpatrick was the first noncommissioned officer to serve as media spokesperson at the Department of the Army level. Other assignments in the Pentagon included assistant chief of Army newspapers and special assignments as public affairs NCO for the sergeant major of the Army and operations NCO. She was spokesperson for the UNOSOM II United Nations Operations in Somalia, where she represented the United Nations Command, U.S. Forces, Somalia, and Task Force Ranger to the international press corps during the critical battle of Oct. 3, 1993, recently memorialized in the highly acclaimed nonfiction book, Black Hawk Down.

As a special assistant to the secretary of the Army, Kilpatrick was the personal public affairs officer of Togo D. West Jr. She was the first enlisted service member ever to serve in that role. Kilpatrick was a master parachutist with more than 650 jumps to her credit. For two years, she was a member of the prestigious Golden Knights, the U.S. Army's parachute demonstration team.

In 1999, the Army, the University of Maryland School of Journalism and Association of the United States Army formed a partnership as a tribute to Sergeant Major Dawn Kilpatrick and her 20 years of service to this nation. The Office, Chief of Public Affairs established an ongoing scholarship in her name -- the Sgt. Maj. Dawn Kilpatrick Memorial AUSA Scholarship. The scholarship is designed to allow a mid-level NCO the opportunity to complete a bachelor's degree program at the University of Maryland School of Journalism while on active duty.

She died at her home in Herndon, Va., May 23, 1999, after a two-year battle with cervical cancer and eight days after she retired. Kilpatrick was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery, Va., May 27, 1999.

Military & DA civilian public affairs officer

Donald P. Kirchoffner entered the Army as an MP in 1966. After a tour as Provost Marshal and Public Affairs Office at Fort McPherson, Ga., Kirchoffner was the first Public Affairs Officer selected for Training with Industry with Ketchum in Pittsburgh. He then took a tired Civilian Aides to the Secretary of the Army program and turned it around. Kirchoffner was chairman of the Military Science Department at the University of Pittsburgh, from 1984 to 1988.

During the fall of the Berlin Wall, Kirchoffner was very visible as European Command's deputy Public Affairs Officer. For Operation Desert Shield, he was the senior DOD officer sent to establish a Joint Information Bureau in Saudi Arabia, just five days after Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Following Desert Storm, he led the efforts of 70 international Public Affairs professionals during Kurdish relief operations in Northern Iraq. As the Office, Chief of Public Affairs' Media Relations chief, he managed press relations during the Los Angeles riots.

Following his 1992 retirement, Kirchoffner became the first civilian Public Affairs Officer for the Army Materiel Command, and was personally selected to handle Public Affairs during relief efforts in the wake of Hurricane Andrew.

Kirchoffner lives in Naperville, Ill.

Father of American Military Broadcasting

Col. Thomas H. Lewis was commissioned a Major in the Army, May 26, 1942, and on the same day the Armed Forces Radio Service was chartered. Lewis had been an advertising executive before World War II. Lewis was familiar with the broadcasting and motion picture industry and its leaders. His work in radio audience research had earned him a name.

“You've got your man, fellows -- a man who asks for God's help and gets it,” said legendary film director Frank Capra, of Lewis.

The War Department officially established AFRS with the mission of providing programming, shortwave service and broadcast equipment for U.S. military locations overseas. AFRS was to give service members a "touch of home and combat Axis Sally and Tokyo Rose." Los Angeles was selected as the first headquarters for AFRS. The organization was located at the Fox Movie Studio at Sunset and Western Avenues.

Lewis drew up plans for a global communication operation, which were acceptable to the joint Army and Navy committee. He returned to Los Angeles to put them into action. Having established his headquarters in the old Twentieth Century building, he hired a group of talented men to carry out his plans. Next he determined the listening preferences of his audience through a survey. Lewis also made a trip to Alaska to find out firsthand what the Soldiers in the field needed.

With the overwhelming support of the entertainment industry and dedicated military members, Lewis quickly turned AFRS into a professional broadcast unit. Many young radio entertainers got their start with AFRS during World War II.

In early 1945, at the height of World War II, there were about 300 AFRS radio stations worldwide. The end of the war brought considerable reductions to the AFRS system. By 1949, only 60 AFRS stations remained in operation. Today Armed Forces Radio and Television Service broadcasts in 177 countries, reaching an estimated audience of 800,000.

Lewis died in 1988.

Army's First Public Affairs Officer

Maj. Douglas MacArthur was the Army's first formally assigned Public Affairs Officer, in 1916, and he was charged to set up the Army's first bureau of information.

MacArthur did more than simply research, clear and release information, he also undertook two very successful and important information campaigns that educated people and led to popular support that was crucial to victory. First, he created command messages outlining the need for a draft into his discourse with the public and its media. An Army historian, Col. R. Ernest Dupuy, says MacArthur's actions “went far to condition the nation and the Congress for the seemingly impossible: a draft act. Make no mistake; it was the then Major Douglas MacArthur., who sold to the American people the selective service act that was passed on May 18, 1917.”

Second, when the War Department was concerned about public protest on the use of National Guard units, MacArthur recommended taking portions from many states and forming a single division stretching across the nation like a “Rainbow.” Thus was born and coined the Army's Rainbow Division.

MacArthur never forgot his public affairs lessons as a commander. He knew reporters had to have access to him and to the battlefield. Although he was known for barring those who broke ground rules, he was loyal and generous in making access available to reporters he trusted.

The Japanese surrender aboard the Missouri was a masterpiece of public affairs. MacArthur avoided the embarrassment surrounding the German surrender in Europe by arranging a ceremony that was dignified, orderly and without blemish. It was broadcast around the world and became a much needed symbol of closure around the world.

The one action that stands above the rest was the acquisition and designation of the ship, Apache in 1944. It was a mobile media site for the Pacific Theater. Reporters used the ship as a haven where they could create newsrooms and write and transmit their stories back home. The ship gave reporters what they needed -- complete editorial facilities and equipment for print, still, broadcast and film editors.

Commander, Southern European Broadcasting and AFRTS Engineer

Lt. Col. Stephen E. Mason was a combat veteran of Vietnam, where he received the Silver Star, two Bronze Stars with the V device, and two Purple Heart medals.

He initially joined the Army as an enlisted artilleryman, but later received his commission and served two tours in Vietnam as an artillery officer. He subsequently transferred to the Signal Corps because of combat injuries he suffered in Vietnam. Mason culminated his decorated career as the Commander of the Southern European Broadcast Headquarters, Vicenza, Italy, where he retired in 1987, with more than 20 years of active duty service.

After transitioning from military to civilian life, Mason served from 1988 to 1990 as the Chief Engineer for the Army Broadcasting Service in Washington, D.C. He then served as Chief Engineer at AFRTS Headquarters in Virginia, and ultimately as the Deputy Director of AFRTS until his retirement in 2001 after more than 34 years of government service.

In 2002, Mason was honored with AFRTS' highest honor -- the Col. Tom Lewis Leadership Award -- for his hands-on design and management of the year-long move of the AFRTS-Broadcast Center from Sun Valley, Calif., to its high-tech and industry leading facility at March Air Force Base, Calif.

His revolutionary concept and design of the AFRTS Broadcast Center digital broadcast automation system enabled AFRTS to provide more programming services with fewer resources using state-of-the-art technology.

Mason's visionary championing and implementation of digital compression enabled AFRTS to expand its worldwide satellite distribution, from one to nine television services, and from one to 12 radio services.

Additionally, he devised and implemented a revolutionary delivery system of AFRTS TV services to Sailors and Marines onboard U.S. Navy ships at sea providing them with real-time television programming.

He will be remembered for his outstanding contributions and unwavering loyalty that made AFRTS what it is today.

The AFN South headquarters building in Vicenza, Italy, was dedicated the “Stephen E. Mason Media Center,” April 29, 2005.

Mason lost his long battle with cancer, July 9, 2004, at his home in Fredericksburg, Va.

Voice of the American Foxhole Soldier of World War II

Mauldin enlisted in the National Guard's 120th Quartermaster Regiment, 45th Division, in 1940. Shortly thereafter he requested a transfer to the infantry. He served in a rifle company and worked on the division's newspaper until the unit deployed overseas in 1943, for the invasion of Sicily. Later, while in Italy, following a light wound from a mortar round, Mauldin developed his characters “Willie and Joe.” The Army's Stars and Stripes newspaper began reprinting his cartoons in 1943, and shortly thereafter Mauldin was transferred to the newspaper's staff as a cartoonist.

His cartoons took the human story of the war to the home front. Mauldin won the respect of foot soldiers that thought his drawings and captions captured the daily drudgery and shared the brotherhood-under-fire they experienced.

“I drew pictures for and about the Soldiers because I knew what their life was like and I understood their gripes,” Mauldin once said.

He fought censorship of his Willie and Joe cartoon characters in the most intimidating and direct situation imaginable. Lt. Gen. George S. Patton Jr. tried to ban Stars and Stripes from the 3rd Army area of operations. The Supreme Commander, Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, recognized the importance of Willie and Joe to the American Soldier and brought Mauldin and Patton face-to-face. Mauldin argued his cartoons depicted legitimate grievances that needed to be addressed; he rendered a proper salute and about face when his statement was concluded.

Mauldin received a Pulitzer Prize in May 1945 for his cartoon series featuring the war-weary infantrymen “Willie and Joe.” In response to the Pulitzer, the Army awarded Mauldin the Legion of Merit. His book Up Front, a collection of cartoons and commentary on life in the Army and the experiences of the infantryman, became a best seller later in the year.

After his discharge from the Army in June 1945, Mauldin worked as a syndicated cartoonist. His editorial cartoons tackled such issues as racial segregation, the Cold War, and he gained a reputation for his cutting attacks on the pretentious, pompous, and hypocritical. In 1958 Mauldin found his place in the postwar world when the St. Louis Post Dispatch hired him as its editorial cartoonist, and he received his second Pulitzer Prize in 1959 for a trenchant cartoon of Boris Pasternak, the Russian author. In 1962 he moved to the Chicago Sun Times, where he remained until he retired from editorial cartooning.

Mauldin now resides at a nursing home in California.

Gail McCabe was inducted to the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2015.

Positioned Army Public Affairs for Success in the 21st Century

For more than 30 years, Maj. Gen. Charles W. McClain Jr. served the U.S. Army in Public Affairs and Air Defense Artillery assignments. McClain's public affairs career began as an Assistant Public Information Officer, United States Army Air Defense Center, and ended as the Chief of Public Affairs, U.S. Army. Whether he was in front of a Battalion Commanders Course or with the Pentagon Press Corps he championed the importance of public affairs during his assignments.

During his tenure as Deputy Chief of Public Affairs and Chief of Public Affairs relationships with national, international and regional media were at an all time high. McClain's demand for open and prompt reporting and responsiveness earned the Army the reputation as being credible and truthful. McClain's determination to deal openly and honestly with the media filtered down to MACOMs and their subordinate units.

McClain's approach was not limited to external communications. He increased the Army's emphasis on command information initiatives across the board including the Army's Hometown News Center Teams, the activation of Newswatch, and the activation of Soldiers Radio Satellite Network with 27 radio stations.

As the Army's longest-serving Chief of Public Affairs, McClain instituted wide-ranging initiatives to position the public affairs community for continued contributions into the next century. During his tenure he instituted an extensive reorganization to facilitate the training of Soldiers regarding media on the battlefield. He was also instrumental in leading the Army Public Affairs Community into the 21st Century. During his tenure there were quantum advances in electronic transmittal to commercial media outlets.

In 1989, McClain was selected to Brigadier General becoming the first Public Affairs Officer in modern era to have done it solely on the merits of his outstanding accomplishments in the public affairs field.

In all matters regarding public affairs policy his sound advice and guidance were sought and heeded by the most senior of Army and DOD military and civilian leaders. The respect he garnered for the Army Public Affairs community still lives today.

McClain resides in San Antonio.

Her newspaper selected as the prototype for Army Newspaper Modernization Program

Mary McClure worked in Army Public Affairs for 25 years, 18 of those years she was the editor of the Cannoneer, the Fort Sill, Okla., weekly paper. McClure transformed the Cannoneer into a leader for the Army' Newspaper Modernization Program.

Beginning her federal career in 1955 in plans and operations, Fort Sill G-3, she transferred to the Information Office and began writing articles for the newspaper. She became the Editor in 1970 and used the community connections she developed as a writer to shape the content of the newspaper. Simply put, she gave the readers what they wanted. Her editorial philosophy led to an immediate show of excellence and was reflected in the awards the Cannoneer earned. Her newspaper was selected in 1971 as a pilot newspaper for the Army's Newspaper Modernization Program.

She assumed the duties as Managing Editor in 1979; the Cannoneer continued to garner attention and awards. The Cannoneer was used as a model in Department of the Army and DOD newspaper seminars and at the Defense Information School.

More important than the awards McClure has won, is the mentoring and guidance she has given young journalists over her career. She taught her staff members to meet strategic objectives by taking issues head on in the public communications arena via an Army newspaper. McClure pushed for balanced storytelling, and that controversial issues can and should be covered while maintaining your professionalism and your credibility.

When she retired April 1988, Fort Sill's Commanding General Maj. Gen. Raphael Hallada called her “the winningest editor in the Army.”

McClure lives in Lawton, Okla.

"One heck of a PAO" -- Washington Post"

August T. McColgan is a World War II veteran and former infantry officer, who began his military career in 1954. He served as Public Information Officer for the MD Regional District, a staff officer in the Japan-Far East Public Information Office, Public Information Officer for Ninth Corps, a plans officer for CINFO and a Public Information Officer for Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., before retiring from active duty as Public Information Officer at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.

As a civilian, McColgan became Public Information Officer for AMC's Test and Evaluation Command. A 1968 incident at Dugway Proving Ground, Utah, proved quite challenging for McColgan. In light of conflicting information about chemical testing there, he went to Dugway to clarify the Army's position to the media. He later touted big five (Abrams, Bradley, Black Hawk, Apache, Patriot) weapon developments in the 1970 and 1980s. They were all tested at sites under McColgan's PA responsibility.

Upon his retirement, The Washington Post said of McColgan: "We trust it won't unduly embarrass [him] to have it known that the press, as well as the brass, thought him one heck of a PAO."

McColgan retired in March 1985, and lives in Towson, Md.

Strategic Communicator

John G. Meyer Jr. retired from the United States Army in 2001, as a major general, after 33 years of distinguished service. He started his military career as a military police officer and held several high-level leadership and human resource positions, culminating his career as the Army's most senior Public Affairs Officer. In that capacity, he effectively led and managed the strategic communications for worldwide external and internal audiences for the U.S. Army. He conceptualized, designed, and implemented an award-winning crisis communications strategy for the Army during a period of intense media and congressional scrutiny.

Prior to this position, he was the Chief Executive Officer of the Army's $1.3 billion international morale and recreation business, encompassing the Army's quality of life programs. He managed this large organization providing direction, personnel management, professional development, and training. In this position, he was fully accountable to an internal executive Board of Directors on the strategy, budget, and results of all policies and programs.

He is a graduate of Florida State University and obtained a Masters of Arts degree from Sam Houston State University. He is also a graduate of Duke University's Advanced Management Program. He authored “Company Command: The Bottom Line,” an authoritative leadership book widely used throughout the Army and other services.

Currently he is the Chief Executive Officer and President of the Allied Defense Group, Inc. Allied Defense is a strategic international portfolio of defense and commercial security firms. It is a publicly traded company with revenues of $170 million, with six subsidiary companies: two in Belgium, two in California and two in Texas. Allied's vision is to grow to $400- $500 million with nine -- twelve subsidiary holdings in four to five years.

Gil Meyer, a versatile senior executive, has a strong record in developing and implementing strategic programs, team building, managing large budgets, and optimizing fiscal efficiency. He brings 36 years of experience in the fields of law enforcement, human resource management, business and business communication.

Transformed Military Media Relations

From his position as Chief of Media Relations Division in the Office, Chief of Public Affairs, Col. William L. “Bill” Mulvey was selected by the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs to plan for, coordinate and implement the Joint Information Bureau in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for operation Desert Storm. The pool system he developed and implemented was the forerunner to the embedded media concept and his Ground Rules and Guideline for wartime media coverage showed the new era of cooperation between the military and the news media.

Upon arrival in Saudi Arabia, Mulvey took the Sidle Commission Report on Grenada, the Fred Hoffman report on the pool system used in Panama during Just Cause and the published command guidance from Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, Gen. Colin Powell, and met for days at a time over several weeks with all the U.S. journalists covering the Desert Shield buildup. Mulvey created a pool system that was fair to the 1,095 journalists in Saudi Arabia covering the war, prevented release of classified or sensitive information and ensured the maximum, balanced coverage of the conflict without overwhelming or interfering with the field commanders or unnecessarily endangering either the journalists or members of the U.S. military.

The widespread and positive coverage of Desert Storm can be attributed in a large part to the foresight, planning and implementation of Mulvey and the 52 Soldiers, Sailors, Airmen, Marines and members of the Coast Guard he was in charge of in the Joint Information Bureau in Dhahran.

In 1995, Mulvey was handpicked to be responsible for media operations in Sarajevo for NATO during the five-month transition from IFOR to SFOR in Bosnia. He established daily press briefings in Sarajevo for the international news media that brought together all the government and nongovernmental agencies for one coordinated briefing. Because Serbian reporters did not feel they could safely come into Sarajevo, Mulvey took the press briefings on the road to Serbian towns to promote balanced coverage of NATO forces. The public affairs policies and procedures he established in Bosnia stayed in effect for many years and served as a model for multinational media and information bureau operations.

Having served as a Public Affairs Officer at all levels of command, Mulvey was able to share his knowledge and experience with other Public Affairs Officers during his distinguished 30-year career and after his retirement. As a mentor and coach he influenced untold members of the Public Affairs community either directly or indirectly and will for years to come.

Father of Command Information

Maj. Gen. Frederick H. Osborn, from Garrison, New York, gave up business at age 40 and volunteered for the war effort even before America was at war. Osborn was selected by Franklin Roosevelt to chair the Civilian Advisory Committee on Selective Service. Five months later he took over as Chair of the Army Committee on Welfare and Recreation, responsible for information and education of military personnel.

In 1941, Osborn was commissioned a brigadier general and appointed Chief of the Morale Branch of the War Department. Two years later Osborn was promoted to major general and became director of the Information and Education Division.

Osborn was a proponent of the "Whole Man Concept." He understood you had to survey your audience and develop internal information programs to pinpoint problem areas. There was resistance to his ideas and he convinced Gen. George C. Marshall Jr., Army chief of staff, that the surveys would be done with dignity and he promised Soldier anonymity. Gradually Osborn began to acquire the products to carry the themes and messages the surveys showed were necessary. Under Osborn, the Information and Education Office published magazines and newspapers for the troops, including "Stars and Stripes" and "Yank." He ran the Armed Forces Radio Service, made films, and supervised post exchanges and USO clubs.

In addition to the internal information products the Information and Education Office was producing, Osborn began to convince commanders that morale and internal information was a command responsibility. One by one, Osborn was able to convince commanders of the need for morale and internal information. Gradually commands allowed Soldiers to run newspapers and radio, during a time when only the private sector was relied upon to perform this function.

Osborn shaped the Army's Morale Branch into the Army Information and Education Division and brought internal information to the foxholes. Osborn had set the groundwork for the merging of his division with the War Department Bureau of Public Relations (media and community relations), which merged into the Office, Chief of Information in 1946. Many years later this became the Office, Chief of Public Affairs.

Osborn died in 1981.

The father of modern Army public affairs.

Floyd L. Parks is widely recognized as the "Father of modern Army public affairs." His career began in 1918 as a private during World War I, and he received his commission in 1920. His career evolved through peace and war, and he eventually was assigned as chief of Public Information. Parks served as CINFO for almost five years in two tours, creating the mold from which today's Army PA professionals have emerged.

Parks said: "It is the responsibility of each individual to build his character and reputation in his community." Under Parks, the Public Information office hired more personnel and fought for increased appropriations. In 1951 he established the Hometown News Center in Kansas City, Mo. He stayed as CINFO until 1953 with a simple philosophy: Study a situation carefully, but using minimum delay, move on it quickly. Today, as you enter the hallways at OCPA you'll see a plaque dedicated to Parks, "who spent his life in the service of his country, its armed forces and its free press."

Retiring in 1956, Parks worked for the National Rifle Association until his death in 1959.

Supported Civilian PA Development

Following his Vietnam-era military service as a signal officer, Clinton R. Parks Jr. dedicated his professional career to developing the Public Affairs career field for Army civilians.

He wrote the career program's first Army regulation, AR 690-950-22, which served as the standard for the professional development of all Army PA civilians, from 1984 to 1993. As a founding father of the Department of the Army's Public Affairs and Communication Media civilian career program, Parks expanded the training and professional development opportunities for writer-editors, visual information, audiovisual information, photography and technical writing specialists.

His unparalleled leadership inspired a generation of PA civilians to extend themselves by acquiring training, accept mobile PA positions and compete for senior positions.

Sgt. Maj. Phil Prater was inducted to the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2014.

Early champion of maximum disclosure and minimum delay

Col. Edward C. Raleigh began his career as an enlisted soldier in the Washington State National Guard in 1940. He was selected for Officer Candidate School in 1942.

Raleigh deployed overseas with the 1st Infantry Division in 1943 and served in anti-aircraft artillery units in Italy and France. Following World War II, Raleigh served in the Army Reserve and was later recalled to active duty and served in Japan until 1955. Raleigh completed the Army Information School and was ordered the Pentagon to serve as the deputy chief for the Army's Community Relations Section.

After an Adjutant General Corps tour with the 8th Army in Korea, Raleigh was promoted to colonel and sent to NATO's LANDSOUTHEAST Command in Izmir, Turkey. As the Chief of Public Information there, he executed a program which successfully fostered Turkey-Greece relations and helped cement favorable public relations between a major NATO command and the Turkish public.

In 1969 Raleigh pushed an Army-wide policy of maximum disclosure and minimum delay in providing Army information to the news media.

In 1970, while assigned to Army Materiel Command, Raleigh found himself in the middle of a public relations crisis, which made invaluable his earlier push for maximum disclosure and minimum delay. The crisis revolved around the deaths of several hundred sheep near Dugway Proving Ground, Utah. Poison gas from the proving ground was alleged to have caused the deaths. This high profile incident became the subject of national controversy over how the Army stored and secured toxic materials. Raleigh's immediate reaction was to provide full disclosure to the news media and the public. Thus, what could have been a disastrous incident critical of the Army actually resulted in the media and public's understanding of what actually occurred. This event later became a “case study” on how to successfully handle high profile incidents.

Raleigh retired in 1971, and spent 14 years as Publication Director of an international trade association. He lives on Fort Belvoir, Va.

Began editorial independence of Stars and Stripes

Harold Wallace “Boss” Ross began his career as a private in the Railway Engineer Corps during the First World War. In 1918, while in Bordeaux, he heard the Army was about to launch a newspaper, Stars & Stripes. Even though he was a candidate for 2nd lieutenant, Ross resigned from officer training becoming a private once again to become part of the enlisted editorial staff. At the time, enlisted men edited Stars & Stripes.

Ross became the editor of Stars & Stripes after the commanding officer left for medical reasons leaving the editorial department without any direction. Ross became the editor after the six remaining staff members held a meeting to decide what to do. Ross was elected as editor and held the position until the end of the war. As the first enlisted editor of a major military publication, he set a standard for the paper that continues today, its fierce independence and brassy personality.

After the War, Ross sponsored an unsuccessful attempt to continue the Stars & Stripes as the Home Sector Magazine. He worked at couple of magazines never finding happiness as part of an organization with as “many editors as members.” Ross began a search to find the money for a weekly paper of his own devising.

With the assistance of Raoul Fleischmann, one of the heirs of the yeast king the first issue of the New Yorker appeared Feb. 19, 1925.

At first the new magazine struggled. Over time Ross found the right mix of writers to make the publication he had visualized. Gradually the magazine became a unique advertising medium as well as America's foremost humor magazine.

Ross died December 1951.

Col. Guy Shields was inducted into the Public Affairs Hall of Fame in 2016.

In the hotseat when TV brought Vietnam into the living room.

Winant "Si" Sidle began his military career in 1941. He was an artilleryman during World War II and saw combat in Northern Africa, Italy, France, Germany and Austria. At the end of the war he commanded the battalion in which he had enlisted less than five years earlier.

However, it was in Vietnam that Sidle, by then a Public Affairs professional, encountered a host of Public Affairs challenges. This period offered difficulty during a time when public support for Vietnam was deteriorating, U.S. casualties were mounting and the news media was bringing the war into the living room. When the widespread attacks of Tet 1968 nearly destroyed the Viet Cong but were touted by the news media as a great communist victory, Sidle patiently explained the fact that it was a victory for the United States and South Vietnam.

As CINFO from 1969 to 1973, Sidle was instrumental in changing public perception to favor the Army by mustering total support for the successful Joint Civilian Orientation Conference in their visits to Army posts and stressing ComRel responsibilities.

Sidle retired in 1975.

Reshaped Army Media Relations

Col. Bill Smullen became the Chief of the Army Public Affairs Media Relations Division when interaction with the civilian press was frayed and trust was nearly nonexistent. Nearly five years later Smullen had turned the climate 180 degrees. Reporters genuinely strived for balanced news stories and came out to the field instead of reporting from inside the beltway.

Smullen wanted the Pentagon Press Corps to see Soldiers in the field so he took a seven-member pool of reporters to Fort Hood, Texas, to see the Bradley Fighting Vehicle in action. The resulting positive coverage did much to diminish criticism of the Bradley program. This and many other trips were the beginning of the Army's practice of embedding reporters in units.

Smullen constantly sought opportunities to place the Army's leadership in front of the press. He arranged a number of successful editorial board sessions for our senior leaders. This included the first recorded appearance by the Army Chief of Staff before the editorial board of the Washington Post. The practice continues today as Army leaders regularly appear before publishers of major newspapers like the New York Times, the LA Times and USA Today.

Smullen also handled tragedy with complete professionalism. When a chartered airliner carrying more than 200 Soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division, crashed in Gander, Newfoundland, Smullen organized and supervised the Army's response. He got an 800 number established to field the heavy volume of phone calls and sent a media relations staff officer to Gander to assist the Army Task Force on the ground. He also handled media activities during the arrival of the first remains to Dover Air Force Base, Del., which helped lead to balanced and responsible media coverage of event.

Smullen served as the Special Assistant for Public Affairs to two chairmans of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Colin Powell and Adm. Bill Crowe. He was the first public affairs officer to hold this position. Powell respected him so highly that he made Smullen his chief of staff when he became the secretary of state.

Smullen is now the director of the National Security Studies program at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University.

He adopted the change from PI to PA

Robert K. Solomon enlisted during the Korean War in 1951. His distinguished career included a tour as an instructor at the Army Information School at Fort Slocum, N.Y., and as the 3rd Armored Division information officer. He served as VII Corps information officer in Stuttgart, Germany, and was then assigned to CINFO as chief of Army newspapers and later as chief of the Policy and Plans Division. He returned to the Department of the Army as Deputy Chief of Public Affairs in 1976 and became the Chief of Public Affairs in 1977.

Solomon spearheaded the alignment of the Army's terminology with other federal agencies by adopting the change from public information to public affairs. As the Chief of Public Affairs, he was responsible for the successful merger and consolidation of the Army and Air Force Hometown News Center at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas. This merger was a superb example of interservice cooperation between the Public Affairs communities while saving tax dollars.

Establishment of the center was the keynote initiative in winning public acceptance and support of the all-volunteer force.
Solomon died in 1998.

Survived five combat compaigns with 1st Cav.

Hal D. Steward began his PA career in 1942 as the PR officer of the Branch Immaterial Replacement Training Center at Fort McClellan, Ala. From there he became Public Information Officer of the 93rd Inf. Div. at Fort Huachuca and Public Relations officer at Camp Wolters, Texas.

Steward was a member of the first Combat Correspondence Team organized by Army Ground Forces. He was then assigned to establish the first PR section of the 1st Cavalry Division. After five combat campaigns with the 1st Cav., he became the associate editor of the Armored Cavalry Journal.

In 1948, Steward returned to the 1st Cav. as Public Information Officer, remaining there through the first year of the Korean War. He then became chief of the Public Information section at the Infantry Center at Fort Benning, Ga., and was then assigned Public Information Officer for the Army Northern Command, in Germany and commander of the Schweinfurt sub-area. From Germany, Steward came to the Pentagon to establish the ComRel Branch in the Public Information Office. He then went to NATO Allied Land Forces in Izmir, Turkey, as Public Information Officer, followed by duty at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo.

Retired in 1961, Steward lives in San Diego.

Role model as a Public Affairs planner

Dave Stewart's 38-year combined military and civilian career is marked by significant, lasting contributions to U.S. military Public Affairs and Broadcasting.

One of the most respected public affairs planners in the U.S. Army, Stewart was directly involved in the public affairs planning for most significant events, operations and deployments over four decades, including Operation Desert Shield/Storm, Rwanda, World War II Commemoration events in Normandy, Belgium and Holland, the Balkans Peacekeeping Operations, and Operation Iraqi Freedom, as well as the associated pre-deployment media training for all of these operations. Stewart continues to be a respected source of knowledge for conducting media operations to support nationally and internationally important events in remote locations throughout Europe.

He planned, and executed media operations supporting the 50th and 55th and served as an advisor for 60th and 65th annual D-Day celebrations (events with Presidential participation), becoming the DOD, DA and EUCOM PA planner of choice for supporting White House operations in France.

Stewart also served as a consultant to HBO on the "Band of Brothers" Premiere at Utah Beach, in 2002. He headed up the Public Affairs Planning Team for the major U.S. Army deployments to Bosnia, and later to Kosovo, and the associated sustained peacekeeping operations in the Balkans that integrated reserve public affairs units for long-term deployments.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, he was part of the lead team guiding the transition of television operations in Europe from the U.S. Air Force to the American Forces Radio and Television Service, an initiative that eventually led to broad terrestrial television service that enabled the transmission of AFN television to an audience that previously had only radio service. This service was in place for over 20 years, before the development of the current satellite and decoder systems that permit multi-channel reception of AFRTS service anytime, anywhere.

As a member of the Defense Information School staff in the '70s, he developed the first broadcast instructional extension courses, which laid the ground work for the development of future extension courses that provided essential professional training, previously unavailable, to Reserve and National Guard broadcast journalists. Stewart's long career in uniform and as a civilian, the majority of which was served in Europe, made him a recognized and respected figure to the U.S. Army Europe leadership and the public affairs family he mentored and supported. His countless awards attest to lasting string of accomplishments. The public affairs staff at HQ USAREUR still maintains a library of Stewart's plans and other products as quality "how-to manuals" for deployments, exercises and events.

The Public Affairs Officer for World War II

Alexander Day Surles began his public affairs career with the 1st Cavalry Division as the G-2. Public Relations duties at that time were under the G-2. Later in his career he would campaign to have separate agency to handle external inquires.

Surles first came to the Public Relations Branch of the War Department in 1935 and would return in 1941, leaving the 6th Armored Division which he had been slated to command. He took over the war-time Bureau of Public Relations. The Bureau expanded to include relations with Congress and information and education of the public of matters pertaining to the Army. In this position he had the title of War Department Director of Information.

As Director, Surles led a successful movement to make the Bureau of Public Relations an independent organization reporting directly to the Army leadership. Near the end of the war it was combined with internal information offices to become an overall Army information office reporting to the Chief of Staff.

Under Surles guidance, every general command would assign a full-time Public Relations Officer to its staff with sufficient support to conduct public relations outreach. This would include an ability to answer the public’s questions as well as handle media and build public support and appreciation of the Army’s capability.

The Washington Post said editorially, Surles’ “ belief, which he managed to carry into practice to a remarkable degree, was that the public should know whatever it desired about the Army except those facts which aid the enemy.”

Surles died in December 1947.

Revolutionizing Broadcast Command Information

T. Clark Taylor was a combat infantryman during the Vietnam War. His outstanding leadership and abilities as a broadcaster helped him to be accepted into the fold by the 3rd Infantry Division headquarters that the new AFN Wurzburg affiliate supported. Because of the credibility he brought to the job, he was allowed to serve as the first enlisted station manager in the American Forces Network Europe. His success in the position led to the modern model of AFN affiliates being led by NCOs.

Taylor revolutionized the Army’s command information dissemination model. From establishing the Army’s flagship television newscast Army Newswatch to being the first DOD organization to offer podcasts and other programming through iTunes, Taylor was on the cutting edge of technology to bring the Army’s message to new audiences. He relied on old-fashioned good storytelling to bring them back for more.

In 1983, Taylor saw a need to recognize excellence in Army broadcasting. Following the model of the Journalist of the Year program, he developed the Master Sgt. John T. Anderson Broadcast Journalist of the Year Award. This award came to represent the pinnacle of success as an Army Broadcaster, and directly impacted the quality of products as Soldiers strove to win this award.

In 1984, he initiated and developed a television news bureau for the Department of the Army from the Pentagon, which later became known as “Soldiers Radio and Television.” Four years later, he began daily radio news reports for Army audiences world-wide.

In 1989, he created the Soldiers Radio Satellite Network to serve the information requirements of Continental U.S.-based Soldiers and commanders. In 2002, he established the first government 24/7 internet radio station, SoldiersRadio.com, which also linked to downloadable content from iTunes. More than ever before, Army themes and messages were delivered to a wide and diverse audience, from “Joe” in the barracks, to mom and pop back home.

Taylor persuaded then-Secretary of the Army Louis Caldera to order the distribution of Army Newswatch to any television station interested in the product. Taylor began with a phone book and an idea -- and ended with a nationwide distribution network of nearly 900 stations and a marketing apparatus that reached hundreds more. Survey data in 2004 indicated a dedicated audience of four million Americans, with a potential audience in the tens of millions.

First DA civilian to hold MACOM Public Affairs Officer status

E. Wrenne Timberlake began his civil service career in 1964 as the Strategic Communications Command PAO -- the first DA civilian to hold MACOM Public Affairs Officer status.

Timberlake was among the first in DA to initiate automation technology in the dissemination of news and command information. During the Vietnam War years, he introduced a media liaison program by personally visiting major daily newspapers, television and radio stations.

Timberlake was president of PRSA chapters in New York, New Mexico and Arizona. "Mr. T" established new ISC PA offices in the United States, Germany, Okinawa, Korea and Hawaii, and sponsored dozens of uniformed careerists in PRSA. Timberlake's honors include a PRSA Silver Anvil, Keith L. Ware (Army newspaper) and Thomas Jefferson (Department of Defense newspaper) awards, selection to Who's Who in American Public Relations and three Orchid awards from the Tucson Press Club.

Timberlake retired in March 1993 and lives in Tucson, Ariz.

"Winning a Ware Award is a success story."

Keith L. Ware continues to move new generations of PA soldiers and civilians to follow a tradition of excellence. In the late 1970s, his name was adopted to enhance the Army's newspaper awards program. Thirty years later, to win a "Keith L. Ware" means reaching the pinnacle of your profession as an Army journalist.

Ware was drafted five months before World War II began and was commissioned in July 1942. Eventually the war took Ware to the beaches at Anzio and the liberation of Rome before he landed with 3rd Infantry Division units in Southern France, where he earned the Medal of Honor.

His citation read (in part), "Five of his men fell and the colonel was wounded. Ware refused medical attention until the hill was clear of enemy." In 1964 he was assigned as deputy chief of information, and was promoted to chief of information less than 18 months later. Ware went on to command the 1st Infantry Division in Vietnam, where he was killed Sept. 13, 1968, when his helicopter was hit by heavy fire during operations against an estimated 1,500 North Vietnamese troops.

Col. James D. Weiskopf served in Army Public Affairs for more than half of his 26-years on active duty, retiring as the Director of Public Affairs of the U.S. Military District of Washington. During his time as a Public Affairs Officer, Weiskopf established practices and programs that are still in place today - some, more than 45-years after he put them in place. His innovation and drive elevated Army outreach efforts to never before seen levels during multiple assignments, and as the Professional Development Branch Chief for the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs, Weiskopf established the first Training with Industry internship for Public Affairs and directly influenced the establishment of the Sergeant Major of Public Affairs position. Early in his public affairs career, Weiskopf was the Tour Director/Public Affairs officer for the US Army Field Band & Soldiers Chorus, establishing procedures that advanced the outreach potential of this community engagement and communication asset, procedures that are still used more than 45-years after he put them in place. Following this success, he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Public Affairs as the Professional Development Branch Chief. As the PD Branch Chief, he was responsible for the first automated professional development database and for moving the Advanced Public Affairs Officer Course from the University of Wisconsin to the University of South Carolina. Additionally, Weiskopf's foresight and drive resulted in the first Public Affairs Training with Industry internship opportunity, a professional development and broadening assignment that continues more than 40-years later. Upon moving to the OCPA Media Division, Weiskopf was placed on the team that coordinated the repatriation of the 52 Americans that had been held hostage in Iran.

Weiskopf was the Public Affairs Director for the U.S. Army Military District of Washington from 1989 through 1992. While there, he led Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) processes and prepared communication initiatives that resulted in upgraded facilities at two installations in the DC area. Further, as the Army is the senior service in the District, Weiskopf had the public affairs lead for all joint service ceremonies, including more than 60 Arlington National Cemetery wreath laying ceremonies conducted by foreign heads of state, as well as high-visibility funerals that included those of service members who had died during Operation Desert Storm. To culminate his Army service, Weiskopf was named the Public Affairs Director of the joint service public affairs team for the two largest parades in our nation's history - the Operation Desert Storm Welcome Home Parade in Washington, DC, followed just days later by the Ticker Tape Parade in New York City.

Exercising strong leadership and taking every opportunity provide mentorship throughout his career, Weiskopf left a legacy of senior Public Affairs Officers, both military and civilian.

A “Founding Father” of the Army’s “troop” information program

Samuel J. Ziskind began his journalism career in the Army in 1942. After editing camp papers in the states he was assigned to the Special Information Services in England, where he found himself involved in all phases of information programs. Ziskind was eventually ordered to France, where he worked with Yank and Stars and Stripes. In 1945 he opened the Nice bureau of Stars and Stripes. While in Nice, Ziskind also directed orientation-information programs for some 900,000 troops for the Army’s recreation area there.

Ziskind left the Army after the war and joined the news staff of Army Information Digest, a book sized, letterpress, black-and-white monthly with limited distribution. As the managing editor of Army Digest, as it was later named, Ziskind instituted changes in its editorial content to ensure its coverage, text style and graphics were relevant, readable and attractive to its readers. At Army Digest, Ziskind researched and led several special issues including 1961’s, “The Lesson and the Legacy.” This commemoration of the centennial of the Army in Civil War was heralded by renowned historical Carl Sandburg as “one of the best short histories of the Civil War.”

In the late 1960s and early ‘70s, Ziskind though the magazine needed an overhaul to reflect the changing educational backgrounds and interests of its Soldier and civilian readers. And, drawing on his understanding of what motivates the modern Soldier, he put his managing editor talents to work. In 1966, Army Digest transitioned to an enlarged four-color format. The emphasis of the magazine also shifted to the younger Soldier.

In 1972, the Army unveiled a more contemporary, more visually pleasing, four-color monthly magazine with worldwide distribution. Soldiers, as the magazine was named, became an instant hit. By his continued efforts to adapt to social and technical changes, Ziskind ensured Soldiers magazine remained the premier publication for the Army. Ziskind always believed the publication’s popularity was due to one simple reason -- because it featured the heart of the Army, its Soldiers.

Ziskind retired in 1980, and lives in Alexandria, Va.