Happily he paired this “right stuff” with a warm empathy for others, a winning smile, and a twinkling eye. He was cheerful, optimistic, and unpretentious . . . always a gentleman.

Milton A. Behn, always known as “Ike,” was born in Eagle River, Wisconsin, on 31 October 1920, the son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Behn. In 1936, the family moved to Algoma, Wisconsin, where Ike graduated from high school. He then entered the University of Wisconsin, where he earned freshman honors in chemical engineering. In 1939, this self-styled “farm boy” entered West Point from Wisconsin’s eighth district. He consistently excelled in his studies and graduated in the top sixteen percent of our class. Typically he favored solitary athletic activity and frequently ran through the Highlands of the Hudson, quietly punishing himself in accordance with his own Spartan standards. This trait helped when he joined 176 other classmates who fanned out across the country in June 1942 to undertake pilot training.

After graduation, Ike and his first wife Nancy (Wells), a schoolmate of Dawn Thompson, headed south to Craig Field, Alabama, to master the AT-6 fighter trainer and to learn the inner workings and hidden mechanisms of teaching student pilots. Among the scores of young eaglets he tutored during the following year were several groups of young Frenchmen, who pinned on him the pilot’s wings of their own Air Force.

In April 1944, Ike moved to Harding Field, Louisiana, where he learned to fly his first combat fighter, the P-47, known affectionately to World War II fighter jocks as “The Jug.” In short order he once again became an instructor pilot and assistant operations officer. In November of that year, he finally joined a combat unit — the 464th Fighter Squadron of the 507th Fighter Group — that was headed for Okinawa. It was equipped with the new, long-range version of the Jug, the P47N, which had recently jumped off the drawing boards into production. Ike was one of the first to fly it across the Pacific. As commander of the 464th, he was able to squeeze in ten long-range combat missions and pick up two Air Medals before the end of the war in the Pacific.

Stateside, he became operations officer of the 301st Fighter Wing and moved to Andrews Air Force Base outside DC. During this tour he attended the USAF Squadron Officers School. Some two years later, in September 1949, Ike pursued graduate studies in international relations and political science at Georgetown University. Ike was next tapped for duty as political/military advisor to the Secretary of the Air Force.

The Secretary’s personal secretary, Sally, most certainly knew a good man when she saw one. Ike, in turn, was not immune to her beauty and charm. In the fall of 1954, Ike was selected for the Air Force Command and Staff College in Montgomery, Alabama, where he graduated in the top five percent of his class. In the following year, Ike and Sally married, turned eastward from the Pentagon, and headed for Europe where, for four years, he continued policy/planning duties, reporting directly to the NATO commander of Allied Air Forces Central Europe.

In the fall of 1959, Ike and Sally found themselves far from Europe and in a distinctly different part of the USAF, at expanding Columbus Air Force Base, Mississippi, in SAC. As deputy base commander, Ike found his versatility quickly tested when charged with planning and supervising 300 men in a multi-million dollar construction project. This completed, he qualified as a B-51 aircraft commander — a challenging task for an old Jug jockey. At the end of this tour he was selected for the Industrial College of the Armed Forces and continued his studies at George Washington University, where he earned his M.B.A. in 1965.

His appetite temporarily satisfied for things academic, Ike turned once again to the Air Staff. There he found a unique niche in the Directorate of Operations and became immersed in the air war over Vietnam. He was selected to evaluate several elite Air Force units that had attracted the attention of the President. They were equipped with revolutionary high-tech sensors and sophisticated weapons that promised to turn the tide of battle. After thoroughly assessing these forces, Ike briefed the Secretary of Defense, who authorized their immediate deployment to Vietnam. Ike then was charged with Air Staff responsibility for controlling their operations in coordination with the USAF Scientific Advisory Board and the Institute for Defense Analysis, the military’s links with the nation’s scientific wizards. His Legion of Merit typifies Ike’s pursuit of excellence:

“Completely dedicated . . . an exceptional writer . . . outstanding briefer . . . precise thinker . . . a truly superior officer.”

In August 1969, after 26 years of commissioned service, Ike voluntarily retired, unpinned the eagles from his shoulders, and took on his second career as a stockbroker. As usual, he was well prepared, having studied with the New York Institute of Finance. Happily, Sally shared his interest in this field. They both entered Ferris & Company, a prominent Washington firm, and followed separate but parallel paths in the firm. Sally became the president and Ike a vice-president. Together they made significant contributions to its business success.

It was a crying shame that emphysema took Ike in October 1985. Our world has not sparkled the same since then — particularly for Sally, Jacqueline, David, Cynthia, Michael, and four grandchildren. Nevertheless, his spirit is still with us — the cheerful, unpretentious gentleman of unshakable integrity who was true to himself and to Duty, Honor, Country.

— From the 4th floor Tower Room of the old First Division