William J. McCaffrey

COL(R) William J. McCaffrey, age 87, of Temple died Saturday, January 20, 2007 in a Fort Worth health care center. Services will be held at 11:00 AM Friday, January 26, at Christ Episcopal Church in Temple with The Rev. David Alwine officiating. Burial with full military honors will follow at 2:00 PM at Central Texas State Veterans Cemetery in Killeen. Visitation will be 5 – 7 PM Thursday at Scanio-Harper Funeral Home. Colonel McCaffrey was born August 14, 1919 in Arlington, Massachusetts. He enlisted in the United States Army from Revere, Massachusetts in March 1941 and graduated from Officer Candidate School at Fort Knox, Kentucky in January, 1943, receiving his commission as a cavalry officer. He served as a tank platoon leader in Europe during World War II, commanded light tank companies of armored cavalry reconnaissance squadrons in Puerto Rico and Panama. His final command was as the battalion commander of the 1st Battalion, 67th Armor at Fort Hood, Texas. During ten years of his military career, Col. McCaffrey was stationed at Fort Hood. While at Fort Hood, Col. McCaffrey served with the 2nd Armored Division as an S-3 Air, Aide de Camp for the commander of Combat Command "A", Commander of 1-67 Armor, Executive Officer of the 1st and 3rd Brigades, and later as the Division Operations Officer. Col. McCaffrey also served as the intelligence Officer of III Corps and Fort Hood. Other principle assignments served by Col. McCaffrey included tours with the Department of the Army General Staff, Washington, DC; United States Army Military Assistant Group, Indo-China; Pacific Command Joint Staff, Hawaii; United States Delegation, Southeast Asia Treaty Delegation, Bangkok, Thailand; Combat Developments Command, Armor Agency, Fort Knox, Kentucky, and Joint Staff, Military Assistance Command-Vietnam. Upon his return from Vietnam in 1968, he became the first Executive Officer of the United States Army Project Mobile Army Sensor Systems Text and Evaluation and Review Activity (MASTER) located at West Fort Hood. Colonel McCaffrey has been awarded the Legion of Merit with three oak-leaf clusters, the Joint Services Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, the Vietnamese Medal of Honor, the French Croix de Guerre, the Army General Staff Insignia and numerous service medals. Col. McCaffrey's military and civilian schooling include the Armored Basic and Advanced courses, the Command and General Staff College, a Bachelor's Degree from the University of Nebraska and a Master's Degree from Baylor University. He was preceded in death by his wife, Billie Helen Utsey McCaffrey on January 12, 2006. He is survived by two daughters, Helen Ann Morrison, PhD of Fort Worth and Amy Jean McCaffrey, MD of Austin. Colonel and Mrs. McCaffrey lived in Temple after his retirement from the Army in December, 1970. After retirement, he was employed for twenty years as Director of Programs for the Central Texas Council of Governments and also had served as Deputy Speaker and Central Texas Representative to the Texas Silver-Haired Legislature. He was Advocate for Aged and was Ombudsman for Area Agency on Aging. He founded the Temple Chapter of the Alzheimer's Association and was a member of Christ Episcopal Church. Memorials may be made to Alzheimer's Association, 225 N. Michigan Ave., Fl.17, Chicago, IL 60601-7633 (www.alz.org), Disabled American Veterans, Memorial Program, P.O. Box 14301, Cincinnati, OH 45250-0301 (www.dav.org) or Christ Church, 300 North Main Street, Temple, TX 76501 (www.christchurchtemple.org).