STEWART L. McKENNEY

McKENNEY STEWART LAWRENCE McKENNEY Stewart Lawrence McKenney, BG US Army Retired, passed away peacefully at the age of 96 at his home, the London House, in Arlington, VA on April 15, 2012. Patricia Carroll, his beloved wife of 56 years, predeceased him in 2001. Survivors include daughters, Patricia and Ann McKenney of Arlington, VA; daughter and son-in-law, Kathleen and Chuck Harper of Winnetka, IL; and three grandchildren, Michael McKenney, and Matthew and Emily Harper. General McKenney graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1940. When World War II broke out, he was recruited by the Office of Strategic Services (the fore-runner of the CIA) and was sent to London, and later to Algiers, where he was responsible for the operational use of the 2671 Operational Group dropped behind enemy lines to coordinate the French underground resistance against the Nazis. These were the first Special Forces used in France. It was during this time that he met Patricia Carroll who was head of the Office of Clandestine Funding for the Mediterranean Theatre of Operations in Caserta, Italy. They were married in Vienna, Austria in 1945. When the war ended in Japan, General "Wild Bill Donovan" and the governments of France and Italy honored Mrs. McKenney for her commendable work. General and Mrs. McKenney, in the next 25 years, served in 19 duty stations in the Army including London, Frankfurt, Paris, Carlisle Barracks, PA; West Point, NY; Fort Bragg, NC; Ft. Campbell, KY; New Delhi, and Washington, DC. General McKenney retired from the Army in 1970. For the next ten years, he worked for Northrop Corporation as a Regional Director in the Electronics Division. Interment services with full military honors will take place at Arlington National Cemetery, August 17, 2012, 1 p.m., with family and friends gathering at the Administration Building at 12:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to charities of one's choice. Tears of love for a leader of character committed to the values of "Duty, Honor and Country", loving husband, father, grandfather and very best friend, "Be Thou at Peace".