Warbird Information Exchange

Col. Lawrence B. McNary, U.S.A.F. (Ret.) of Ormond Beach, passed away peacefully on 15 Oct. 2017 at the age of 97. Born on 28 Aug. 1920 in the small town of Ormond, Volusia County, FL, he was the fourth child of Norman L. and Marie Louise (Maye) McNary and was descended from several families who founded the New Britain Colony, now Ormond Beach, in the 1870s to grow oranges. He attended Ormond Public School, now Ormond Beach Elementary School, from the first grade to the eighth and remained there during the ninth and tenth grades, those years being called Ormond Junior High School. During his Junior and Senior years, he attended Seabreeze Senior High School in Daytona Beach and played on the combined men's basketball team made up of students from both Mainland Senior High School and Seabreeze. While at Seabreeze he also participated in track and Diamond Ball and was one of only ten students who were members of the "D" Club, an athletic club made up of those who earned letters in one or more sports. After graduation in 1939, he worked at the A&P Grocery Store on Granada Blvd., now Granada Blvd., in Ormond but in 1942, by which time he had become Assistant Manager and America had entered World War II, he volunteered to be a U.S. Army Pilot. There were no openings at flight school until 1943 so he served part-time as a member of Ground Support with the Civil Air Patrol unit in Daytona Beach whose pilots flew patrols in civilian aircraft over the Atlantic looking for enemy submarines and survivors of ship sinkings. After graduation from flight training he was commissioned as an Officer and then trained to fly four-engine B-24 Liberator Bombers. His first overseas assignment was with the Eighth Air Force, flying missions over Europe from a base in England. He flew strategic missions to Germany, France and other countries and tactical missions in support of the D-Day Invasion, the Battle Of The Bulge and in support of ground troops as they advanced towards Germany. In Rumania he took part in a raid on the Ploesti Oil Complex, flying so low aircraft had wings sheared off by steel cables used to tether balloons. By the time his Tour of Duty ended he had been promoted to Captain and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, one of three versions of the second highest medal a member of the military can receive in time of war or armed conflict. After the war ended, he chose to make the military a career that lasted 30 years, during which he took part in many historic events. A few of them are: In 1946 he was an original member of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) when it was part of the U.S. Army. In 1947 he and SAC were transferred to the newly created United States Air Force, making him an original member of that organization too. In 1948 and 1949, during the Berlin Air Lift, he flew sacks of coal into the beleagured city in C-54 Cargo Aircraft, often under whiteout conditions which forced pilots to fly a narrow air corridor using instruments only. (To stray outside of that corridor risked being shot down by the Soviets). Within days of the start of the Korean War in 1950 he and his bomb wing had flown their B-29 Bombers from their base near Tampa, FL to Okinawa and were attacking targets in North Korea. He flew 56 combat missions during that war. Later, during the worst days of the Cold War, he flew B-36, B-47 and B-52 Bombers with nuclear weapons on board. He also flew KC-97 and KC-135 aircraft which were used for midair refueling as well as other types of aircraft but then he was assigned to staff positions, all involving the highest levels of national security and secrecy for the rest of his career. In one assignment he was the officer with the famous "Red Phone". If the decision was made by higher command it would have been his duty to transmit the order for all SAC Bombers stationed in the United States to attack targets in the Soviet Union with nuclear weapons. It was during this chapter of his career he began to focus on weaknesses in existing technology and procedures that had potentially catastrophic ramifications for the survival of the United States if nuclear war occurred. In notes he left about that period, he tells us "Since Intelligence estimated that in the event of a preemptive (nuclear) strike by the Soviet Union it would be approximately 15 minutes from the time Soviet missiles were identified until they impacted targets, consequently few, if any, SAC aircraft would have gotten off the ground." He goes on to write "A few of us developed a SAC Ground Alert Force..." which insured enough aircraft would be in the air within 15 minutes so that "In the event our missiles and ground forces were destroyed before they could be launched we would still be capable of destroying a considerable amount of the Soviet Union's war making capacity."
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That "few of us" also developed a SAC Air borne Command Post with a General on board to assume command in case SAC Headquarters was destroyed and an Airborne Alert Force. Problem solving, innovation and the ability to think outside of the box were hallmarks of the second chapter of his career and upon completion of that assignment he was requested by name to be assigned to the Air Force Headquarters Command Post at the Pentagon, which was just beginning to develop Command and Control capabilities based on new technologies. While Col. McNary was there they developed an emergency action capability that allowed the President, the Secretary of Defense, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS), all Air Force commands and unified and specified commands under JCS to be briefed within seconds after an emergency occurred. As a result H.Q., U.S. Air Force became the executive agency for the JCS until they developed their own system. He was responsible for many other innovations during that time of rapid technological advancement in the fields of command and control, communications, computerization and others. A reflection of how important an asset he was considered to be during that assignment can be seen in the fact that it was a three-year tour but instead he stayed for six years. It can also be seen in the fact that by then his abilities and accomplishments had become so well known that other commands sought to have him assigned there. His next assignment was as much diplomatic as military and had problems dealing with language, culture and the politics of foreign nations in addition to the usual and expected ones. He was assigned to Supreme Headquarters Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) where he worked with American and foreign military officers involved in the defense of Europe against Soviet aggression. (Headquarters was in France when he was assigned but was moved to Belgium before he left because the French threw us out). It had been while at his previous assignment that the military began to earnestly attempt to change over from automatic data processors, with their "I.B.M. cards", paper tape and systems and devices now long obsolete, to the use of computers for making command and control more efficient and faster while carrying out its many worldwide missions but few comprehended the true potential of them we take for granted today. In the beginning the task seemed hopeless to many because of the severe limitations of the old technology, the primitive state of the new and the seeming incompatibility of the two. During the last four years at the Pentagon he had taken on the challenge and become a pioneer, finding solutions, setting up new systems that worked and establishing training programs. By 1965 he had mastered all the pertinent programming languages, systems and computers that were state-of-the-art at the time and he applied all his acquired skill and knowledge while at SHAPE, where the added difficulty was that a way had to be found to quickly notify the Headquarters of the militaries of all member nations in case of attack or other emergency and coordinate responses by all nations. Differences in language, levels of technology and command structure had to be overcome but he was the man for the job and at the end of his Tour of Duty at SHAPE he was awarded the Legion of Merit, whose accompanying citation reads in part that he "...consistently exercised wise leadership, foresight and great technical skill in resolving complex problems of international command and control. Through his strivings to improve command and control procedures, the Headquarters was awakened to the military potentials of automatic data processing and was guided to a position where it could realize those potentials." His last assignment was the culmination of a long and distinguished military career. He was assigned to the Defense Communication Agency (DCA) but his duties were once again at the Pentagon. First he was Deputy Commander and then Commander of the National Military Command System Support Center (NMCSSC) where he provided "...direct automatic data processing support for the operation of the command centers of the National Command Authorities (NCA)." He disseminated "...appraisals and analyses of attack hazzards and vulnerabilities of forces and resources world-wide." He maintained "...active liaison for the exchange of technical information with HQ DCA elements, the Military Department Services, DOD agencies and industry." As part of his duties he recommended to the Director of the DCA "...priorities for the application of NMCSSC resources." Another source tells us at that assignment he "provided technical and management direction and control to 600 government/military personnel and over 200 contractor personnel. Responsibilities involved providing, by use of the most advanced analytical, ADP and display techniques, information relating to peacetime and wartime operational capabilities of the U.S. This information served as a basis for decisions and plans by elements of the National Command Authority, DOD, JCS, Military Departments, and Unified and Specified Commands. Duties included design of command and control systems, computer programming systems, query/display systems, internal center communications, and their interface with worldwide systems. This required planning, design, engineering, implementation and operation of three major computer sites using the most sophisticated hardware and software available." He was there for over four years but then, on 1 Dec. 1973, he retired from active duty and was awarded the Legion of Merit for his work at NMCSSC. During his career he received the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Legion of Merit twice, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Medal with 9 oak leaf clusters and other medals and unit citations. He flew a total of 91 combat missions, accumulating a total of 805 combat hours and had been entrusted with some of the most destructive weapons the U.S. ever had and at the end of the first chapter of his career he was entrusted with the means, if necessary, to implement the nuclear annihilation of the Soviet Union and a large portion of humanity to save his country. During the second chapter of his career he was entrusted with some of the most jealously guarded secrets the United States Intelligence Community had. At his last assignment, in addition to his other duties, he was responsible to see that a briefing book of classified reports of all important events that occurred during the night was on the desk of the President when he came to the Oval Office each morning. After retirement he worked for Computer Sciences Corporation, a business with government contracts, founded by fellow retired officers he worked with during his career. While at CSC his title was Senior Member Of Executive Staff and he worked in the Applied Technology Division where he continued to show that knack for problem solving and innovation. In 1983, after ten years at CSC, he retired and he and his wife began their golden years but sadly, on 3 Jan. 2005, he lost his beloved wife of 58 years. Beverly Jeanne Jenkins was born in Topoca, NC on 31 Oct. 1922 to Cecil V. and Myrtle Eller Jenkins. She was an executive secretary with the Dept. of Agriculture of the State of Virginia when they met and were married on 8 Aug. 1947 in Williamsburg, VA. From that time until he retired from the Air Force, they were, for the most part, a typical military family. They lived in many places, patiently endured periodic separations, never knew when he might be called away to war and persevered through other hardships that are an integral part of that life but it can also be very rewarding. They made friendships they maintained for many years and experienced a world few will ever know. While in Europe she acquired paintings, antiques and other objets d'art which graced their homes and made them special places for all who were entertained there. They took part in military balls in France and Belgium, some in the Palace of Versailles, with officers and their ladies from many nations in dress uniforms and elegant designer gowns. In the last few years of her life on earth he was her constant and ever-attentive caregiver as a chronic condition made her bedridden but afterward he was very active again. He attended reunions with his former comrades from WWII and the dedication of the Air Force Memorial in Washington, DC celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the U.S. Air Force in 1947. At home he took a far more active part in the social life of his community, especially golf, and at 94 he hit a hole in one. He was healthy and independent almost to the end but on 15 Oct. 2017, at the age of 97, he rejoined his beloved Jeanne and they will never again be separated. He was predeceased by his four siblings and their spouses: Charles C. McNary (Virginia), Norman R. McNary, Clement J. McNary (Josie) and his sister, Marie Alice McNary Jordan (Paul). He was also predeceased by two nephews: Richard S. Wilson and Dr. C. Fred McNary. He is survived by his sister-in-law, Peggy A. Wilson of Ormond Beach and three nephews and three nieces: Rob McNary (Sandy) and Lawrence R. Jordan of Ormond Beach, Paul C. Jordan (Carrol) of MI, Mary Jean Kirwin (John) of AL, Leslie Diehm (Bill) and Lisa Jenkins of TN, three great nieces, three great nephews and two great great nieces. It was Col. McNary's wish that there be no funeral. Instead it was his wish that his ashes be spread in the Atlantic in front of where his childhood home once stood and was the source of so many wonderful memories, which he always cherished.

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Published in Daytona Beach News-Journal on Jan. 7, 2018