William J. A. Hussey

Bill Hussey graduated from the Benedictine Military School In Savannah, Georgia. He attended The Citadel, "The Military College of South Carolina", where he was the starting center for the football team and received a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering on June 4, 1938.

He entered the U.S. Army and received a Regular Army Commission as "Second Lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corp" on 1 July 1939. He rose rapidly in the Officer Corp to First Lieutenant and then Captain. In 1943 he became one of the youngest Majors in the Army at age 25. During World War II he served in the U.S. , North Africa and the European Theater to include the invasion at Anzio where he received the Bronze Star. After the war he put his engineering skills to work as part of the Operations Crossroads team that built the nuclear test site at Eniwetok in the Pacific. He had many accomplishments during his career including several stints with the Joint Chiefs of Staff and graduation from the Army War College.

Bill's father, A.T. Hussey, was a First Lieutenant during World War I when Bill was born. LT. A.T. Hussey was the Adjutant for Fort Scriven located near Savannah, Georgia and the WWI home of the 61st (Coast) Artillery. In 1918 on Bill's first birthday, Captain Rob Riley of the 61st filled out complete enlistment papers on what was described in the local paper as the "diaper clad warrior". While the enlistment papers never got to Washington, he none the less became an enlisted man in the 61st (Coast) Artillery at 1 year of age. By the late 1940's, Coast Artillery was a thing of the past. By the 1950's the 61st Artillery had been redesignated as the Air Defense Artillery and was located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It consisted of three battalions manning Nike/Hercules missile installations that guarded ICBM silos and other strategic areas. In August 1959, now Colonel Bill Hussey assumed Command of the 61st Artillery. He rejoined the same unit that 41 years earlier he had enlisted in at age one.

Military Career Chronology

• Graduated – Benedictine Military School (BC), 1934
• Graduate - The Citadel, Charlestown, SC, BS in Civil Engineering, 1938
• Commissioned – 2nd LT, Coast Artillery, July 1939
• Assigned- 51st Coast Artillery, Ft Monroe, September 1939
• Deployed to Puerto Rico as a member of Battery B, 1st Battalion, 51st Coast Artillery, October 1939
• Promoted – 1st LT, May 1941
• Assigned – Camp Davis, NC, Barrage Balloon Training Center, October 1941
• Promoted- Captain, 1942
• Transferred with the Barrage Balloon Training Center to Camp Tyson, TN, April 1942
• Assignment - Commanding Officer, 102nd AA Barrage Balloon Battery (VLA)
• Participated in the invasion of North Africa (Operation Torch), November 1942
• Assignment - Commanding Officer, 102nd AA Barrage Balloon Battery (VLA) (Amphibious), Fifth Army
• Promoted – Major, February 1943
• Participated in the invasion of Sicily (Operation Husky), July 1943
• Participated in the invasion of Italy (Operation Avalanche), September 1943
• Participated in the Anzio landing (Operation Shingle), January 1944
• Rotated to USA due to injury, June 1944
• Assignment- Asst. S3 Army Anti-Aircraft Training Command, Camp Stewart, GA, December 1944
• Assignment – Command and General Staff school, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, January 1945
• Assignment – Joint Task Force 7 (Operation Sandstone),
• Commanding Officer, 1220th Provisional Engineer Battalion and Island Commander, Eniwetok, Marshall Islands (Code name – Flatcar), October 1947
• Asst. J4, JTF-7, Fort Shafter, HI, January 1948
• Assignment – Plans and Operations Division, General Staff, Washington, DC, June 1948
• Assignment- Hq 5th AAA Group, Ft Lewis, Washington, Jan 1950
• Promoted – Lieutenant Colonel, 5 December 1950
• Assignment – Command and General Staff College, 1952
• Assignment – Asst. G-4, Plans Branch, HQ US Army Europe, 1952
• Assignment – Commanding Officer, 94th AAA Bn (AW) (SP), 2nd Armored Division, Wackernheim, Germany, 1954
• Assignment – Student, Army War College, Carlisle, PA, Aug 1955
• Assignment – Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, DC, July 1956
• Promoted –Colonel, September 1956
• Assignment – Commanding Officer, 61st Air Defense Group, July 1959
• Assignment – Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff (an arm of the JCS), Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, August 1960
• Assignment – US Army I Corp HQ, Camp Red Cloud, Korea. May 1963
• Assignment – Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, DC, June 1964
• Retired, 1967

After retiring from the Army in 1966, he worked for IBM in New York. In 1971 he returned to his home town of Savannah, Georgia where he worked for the City of Savannah as a Civil Engineer.