William Charles Louisell, Jr.

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William Louisell, Jr. Obituary

Published by Legacy Remembers from Jan. 29 to Feb. 4, 2024.

Irvington - Brig. General William Charles Louisell, Jr., USA died on January 20, 2024 at Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury in Irvington, VA. He is survived by his wife, Brandon Rohr Louisell.

Gen. Louisell is also survived by his three children; Colonel William Louisell III, USAF retired (Lisa), Elizabeth Louisell, and Susanne Louisell Jackson (Brett), and three step-children; John Munce, William Munce and Virginia Bertholet, and one grand-daughter, Chandler Louisell.

Preceding him in death were Ann North Gaines, mother of his three children and Virginia Warner Munce, mother of his three step-children.

In 35 years of active service, Gen. Louisell served 42 months in infantry combat in Korea and multiple tours in Vietnam, where he flew over 1,000 combat hours, and four years in Germany on the long watch opposite the Soviet Army. He was wounded twice and decorated for valor thirteen times. His last posting was as an Assistant Secretary of Defense.

A Celebration of his Life will be held at Grace Church, Kilmarnock, VA. on February 10, 2024 at 11:00am. Internment with full military honors will be at Historic Christ Church Burying Ground and will be private.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Rappahannock Westminster-Canterbury Foundation or Hospice of Virginia.

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Recent Activity

October 26, 2024

Charles C Luke posted to the memorial.

January 30, 2024

Patrick Cole posted to the memorial.

January 29, 2024

Legacy Remembers posted an obituary.

2 Entries

Charles C Luke

October 26, 2024

BG Louisell flew me around Ft. Campbell for almost two years. I was his Standardization instructor pilot. Requirement Flying generals, I started it, he flew me around. We became close, I even did some stints as his aid. I was a CW3 (P). Aid sometimes had to be gone to support his Captain wife. He was a pretty good pilot. One day i convinced him that the 101st Airborne Div should hear Eagle 12 out there doing autorotations, hydraulics off, tail rotor failures and Instrument approaches. That lit up the airwaves. I have pictures of us together with our helicopter. When he departed the 101st. I gave him a helmet highly polished black, polished brass screws. with "The Right Stuff" on it. It was his favorite saying. I saw a tear in his eyes, he loved that. I kept up each year, give him a call. Tried this year and the phone was cut off. So I said, dang. Went looking, it's with great sadness he's gone, but what a hell of a life. He didn't really care for some pilots that much, but we got to be friends and shared a lot of time together. Legend now flying very high.
CW4 Ret. Charles Luke

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Patrick Cole

January 30, 2024

My lasting memory of General Louisell was his answer to why we didn´t just cross the DMZ and take the war to the enemy. He explained to me the war was in the hands of congress who we all worked for and his job was " to bring as many of you home alive as possible." Pat Cole, crew chief on Fang, the Uh-1h he flew out of Bien Hoa, Vietnam,1971-2. He was an elegant man. So many of us are still alive due to his tactical combat genius. As long as he was in command, odds were with us. He scoffed at the price of twenty thousand dollars the enemy put on his head. He turned to us with a giant grin and asked, "Don´t you think I´m worth at least a million?"

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