Brigadier General John P. Willey (presented with Silver Service upon retirement), 1954

1 image. Brigadier General John P. Willey (presented with Silver Service upon retirement), 30 August 1954. Mrs. John P. Willey; Charles A. Sheldon (Colonel) presenting Silver Service by officers of Camp Irwin upon retiring; (hand out).; Supplementary material reads: "Brigadier General John P. Willey, and Mrs. Willey, left, receive from Col. Charles A. Sheldon, a silver service presented by the officers of Camp Irwin upon the eve of Gen. Willey's retirement from the army after 30 years of service. The presentation followed a full scale review by thousands of Camp Irwin soldiers and a fly over of F86 jets from nearby George Air Force Base at the nation's largest tank firing center on the desert near Barstow. General Willey, veteran of World War II and Korea has commanded the camp for the past 20 months during which time thousands of tankers from all over the country have engaged in desert maneuvers and practice firing. A pioneer in the field of Army armor General Willey was honored by his troops and the Air Force and by dozens of civilian friends from nearby Barstow and San Bernardino. In a parting message to his troops General Willey said, 'As a nation we built our industrial magnificence into an epic of progress, a colossus of wealth. We ascended new born, young a [sic] free, our credo liberty, our conviction strength. All of you represent a young future, the temperment [sic] of imagination and power, the spirit of freedom that is collectively America.'".