$1,000 Scholarship for a deserving AFJROTC cadet who has demonstrated exceptional leadership, responsibility, and initiative for success.
General Seth J. McKee graduated from the Cape Girardeau High School in 1934 before marking on an impressive and heroic military career in the United States Air Force.
After joining the Missouri National Guard in 1935, he went on to become an Aviation Cadet in the United States Army Air Corps, completing flight school in 1939 and leading him to a successful full career in military aviation.
During World War II, he flew 69 combat missions with two aerial combat victories in his P-38 Lightning fighter aircraft in the skies over Europe. On D-Day, he led a group of over 40 aircraft in suppressing enemy defenses and supporting the ground invasion. At the time of his death in 2016, he was the highest-ranking survivor of D-Day.
After World War II, General McKee continued his military career in several critical leadership positions around the world. In 1966, General McKee took command of the United States Forces in Japan and Fifth Air Force. Two years later, he was appointed as the Assistant Vice Chief of Staff for the United States Air Force at the Pentagon.
In 1969, General McKee received his fourth star, the highest peacetime military rank, and became the Commander in Chief of the North American Air Defense Command (NORAD).
General McKee retired from the United States Air Force in 1973. His military career spanned over 40 years of exemplary service and exceptional leadership. General McKee's keen vision of air power helped shape the United States Air Force into what it is today.
General McKee passed away at the age of 100 in 2016, but his lessons in leadership, service, and honor, will serve as a model for successive generations of leaders to come.