Combat experience shaped Michigan governor

Photo By Senior Master Sgt. Daniel Heaton | Former Michigan Gov. William G. Milliken died on Friday, Oct. 18. The combat veteran of the US Army Air Forces during World War II was the longest serving commander in chief of the Michigan National Guard.  

MI, UNITED STATES

10.20.2019

Story by Tech. Sgt. Daniel Heaton 

127th Wing

Former Michigan Gov. William G. Milliken led the Michigan National Guard for longer than any other person. He also saw extensive aerial combat in World War II, an experience that no doubt helped shape his highly-successful political career. Milliken survived numerous close calls in combat and was award a Purple Heart after he was hit in the stomach by enemy anti-aircraft fire. He also survived two crash landings and an emergency parachute jump.

Milliken, who died on Friday, Oct. 18, served as governor for 14 years. Under the dual state and federal status of the National Guard, its Citizen-Soldiers and Citizen-Airmen are part of the formal state militia most of the time, of which the state's governor serves as commander in chief.

Milliken had been a student at Yale University for two years when he enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1943 during World War II. Shortly after enlisting, he volunteered for what was then known as the Army Air Corps. (The separate U.S. Air Force was not established until about two years after World War II ended, in 1947). Milliken was assigned as a waist gunner, part of a 10-man crew on the B-24 Liberator, a heavy bomber used extensively in both the European and Asian theaters of the war.

After receiving training in the States, Milliken and crew were sent to Italy, and immediately plunged in to action. The arithmetic of bomber crews in the European campaign was gruesome but simple: survive 50 missions and you get to go home. Survival was not guaranteed, as witnessed by the future governor’s survival of the various crashes and other challenges. Eventually, however, he, and all 9 of his fellow air crewmembers, survived the 50 missions. Milliken was rotated back to the U.S. and finished out the last few months of the war as a military firefighter in California. He was discharged at the war’s end, in 1945.

The combat experience in war helped shaped Milliken’s future.

“I developed a sense of wanting to give something back. I wanted to make some kind of meaning out of my life,” Milliken is quoted as saying about his wartime experience in the book “William G Milliken: Michigan’s Passionate Moderate” by Dave Dempsey.

Milliken served as Michigan governor, and commander in chief of the Michigan National Guard, 1969-1983.

It was during his time as governor that Selfridge Air Force Base was transferred from the Air Force to the Michigan Air National Guard, becoming the nation’s largest and, by far, most complex Air National Guard-led installation. With the change, the 127th Wing and 191st Group both transferred their operations from Detroit Metropolitan Airport to Selfridge. In 1996, the 127th and 191st consolidated into today’s 127th Wing.

Milliken appointed the first Air Force officer to serve as Michigan adjutant general, the uniformed officer who leads the Guard. Milliken maintained Major Gen. Clarence Schnipke as his first adjutant. Schnipke had been appointed to the position by Milliken’s predecessor, Gov. George Romney. In 1974, Milliken appointed Major Gen. John Johnston of the Michigan Air National Guard to serve as the adjutant general. Johnston remained in that role until 1983, when Milliken retired after 14 years as governor.

During his military service, Milliken was awarded a Purple Heart for his flak injury, three Air Medals and numerous campaign ribbons.

• Date Taken: 10.20.2019
• Date Posted: 10.21.2019 08:18
• Story ID: 348409
• Location: MI, US