[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 22 (Tuesday, February 6, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Pages S1596-S1597]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           REMEMBERING LIEUTENANT GENERAL CHARLES M. KIEFNER

  Mr. BOND. Now, Mr. President, let me turn to another matter, a matter 
of sorrow. I tell this body that at a wonderful military ceremony last 
Saturday, we laid to rest LTG Charles M. Kiefner, formerly Adjutant 
General of the Missouri National Guard--a man who I considered a friend 
for almost 40 years, a man whose career was an amazing one.
  I called on him to serve as my Adjutant General for the 8 years I 
served as Governor. Having come from the Guard, he was the youngest 
Adjutant General at the time, still by far the youngest Adjutant 
General in Missouri. But he knew the citizen soldiers who made up the 
Guard. He knew those citizen soldiers and respected them, and they 
respected him.
  When I left office and Governor Ashcroft took over, he made him his 
Adjutant General for the next 8 years. He served 16 years. In that 
time, he not only built the Missouri National Guard to be one of the 
finest units--Air and Army National Guard--in America, but he was very 
strong in establishing a Guard presence on Capitol Hill.
  It was at his urging that I went to my colleague, Wendell Ford of 
Kentucky, and we set up the National Guard Caucus, on which today 
Senator Pat Leahy and I proudly serve as cochairmen. That caucus has 
brought together 75 to 80 Members of this body to stand up for the 
necessary resources, the necessary personnel, and the necessary support 
of the Guard when active forces in the Pentagon tend to overlook them.
  The Guard is a better place today because of the leadership that 
General Kiefner showed as he headed the National Guard, the Adjutants 
General Association, as he worked with his colleagues throughout the 
country, and as he and those generals worked to make sure the Guard was 
strengthened.
  The Guard remembers him with great fondness. Lieutenant General 
Vaughn of Missouri, who had served in the Guard under General Kiefner, 
presented the flag to his wonderful wife Marilyn, his sons John and 
Keith.
  Charles M. Kiefner was born June 28, 1930, in Cape Girardeau, MO. He 
graduated from high school in 1948 and attended Westminster College in 
Fulton. He earned his bachelor of arts degree from Columbia College in 
1975.
  General M. Keifner, or Charlie to his friends--and I am lucky to have 
counted myself as one of his many--was a great man and a great American 
patriot. Under his strong leadership, including as the youngest 
Adjutant General, the men and women in the Missouri National Guard came 
to exemplify the best this country has to offer.
  Having begun his military career by enlisting as a private in Company 
F, 140th Infantry Regiment of the Missouri Army National Guard on 
September 24, 1947, General Keifner entered active duty on September 
11, 1950, with the 175th Military Police Battalion of Missouri Army 
National Guard and served in Germany with that unit. He was 
commissioned a second lieutenant, Infantry on December 21, 1951. He 
served as platoon leader, company commander, battalion motor officer, 
Battalion S-2, brigade adjutant and S-3, executive officer and 
logistics officer on the staff of the Adjutant General. As a member of 
the U.S. Army Reserve, from September 11, 1978, to November 5, 1980, he 
served as liaison officer to the U.S. Military Academy, West Point.
  General Kiefner was first appointed Adjutant General by me on May 8, 
1973, when I served as Missouri's Governor, and held the Adjutant 
General's position until March 1977, when I left the Governor's office. 
Upon my reelection in 1981, I once again called on this great leader 
and appointed General Kiefner to lead the Missouri National Guard. 
General Kiefner served as Adjutant General throughout my two terms as 
Missouri Governor. As a testament to his skill and great leadership, he 
was later called upon by Governor John Ashcroft to serve 8 more years 
in the Ashcroft administration.
  General Kiefner not only served Missouri admirably, he also served 
his nation with honor. A friend who knew him for 35 years during his 
service in the Guard recalls:

       He was a professional soldier who made a point to know what 
     was going on at every level of the Guard, from the enlisted 
     soldiers to the three star Generals. He knew precisely what 
     the threat to our homeland was and made great efforts to 
     ensure the Guard was prepared to protect us from those 
     threats.

  Members of the Army National Guard knew and respected General Kiefner 
and called upon him to serve as president of the National Guard 
Association of the United States, a position he held proudly and worked 
diligently to enhance our Nation's modern-day minutemen's and women's 
ability to meet their dual-mission at home and abroad.
  Upon his retirement from the National Guard in 1993, Major General 
Kiefner was promoted to the grade of lieutenant general, Missouri 
National Guard Retired List by Governor Mel Carnahan. ``At his own 
retirement he could not speak because he knew the overwhelming emotion 
he would feel at leaving the service he loved so dearly would overcome 
him,'' said one friend and colleague. ``He was an emotional man that 
was totally committed to his country, Missourians, and the men under 
his command.''
  His many decorations and awards include: the Distinguished Service 
Medal, Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Meritorious Service 
Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Good 
Conduct Medal, Army Reserve Components Achievement Medal, Humanitarian 
Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, Department of Defense 
Identification Badge, Ranger Tab, NGB Distinguished Service Medal, 
NGAUS Distinguished Service Medal, Missouri Meritorious Service Medal, 
Missouri Conspicuous Service Medal, Indiana Distinguished Service 
Medal, Minnesota Distinguished Service Medal, Tennessee Distinguished 
Service Medal, Minnesota Medal for Merit, 1992 Distinguished Alumni 
Award--Westminster College, Field Artillery Association Order of Saint 
Barbara, Army Engineers Association Silver Order of the de Fleury 
Medal, and the Sons of the American Revolution Silver Good Citizenship 
Award.
  Charlie understood the great citizen soldiers who signed up for the 
Guard. When he gave them an order they knew he understood them and they 
were willing to follow.
  I have lost a great friend, not just a former Adjutant General. There 
have been many fine individuals who have worn the uniform of our 
Nation's Army National Guard, but none more proudly than LTG Charles M. 
Kiefner.
  Mr. President, I yield the floor and suggest the absence of a quorum.

[[Page S1597]]

  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The assistant legislative clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  Mr. BOND. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for 
the quorum call be rescinded.
  The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so ordered.

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