Community Corner

Oakville Soldier Still Active After 50 Years

Bill Leeper is still helping fellow soldiers in the Missouri National Guard.

Retirement has not stopped Oakville resident Bill Leeper from staying active in the Missouri National Guard.

Despite retiring 23 years ago, Leeper, 71, can still be seen around the National Guard base at Jefferson Barracks, serving on the Missouri National Guard Retiree Council. He started his military career with a three-year enlistment with the 128th Infantry Regiment in St. Louis and ended with the rank of command sergeant major.

“I began to enjoy the Guard more and more as time went on so I just stayed in,” he said in a Guard release. “After so many years, it wasn’t worth it to leave.”

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In his 54 years around the National Guard, Leeper said it’s changed dramatically since he joined at age 17.

“Back then the Guard was really just a reserve force,” he said. “Our weekend drills consisted of a lot of ceremonies. We did a lot of parades. We didn’t do any night training. When it got dark, we stopped. If you look at today’s Guard, with all the training they do and fighting in both Iraq and Afghanistan, you could put the National Guard up against any regular Army unit and they would compare quite well.”

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Leeper said today’s soldiers were more militaristic and disciplined, but the principles of serving close to home on a part-time basis were the same.

“We did have some good training in the late 50s and early 60s, but nothing like the training and equipment they have now,” he said. “The Guard is a much better fighting force now. There’s a whole new mindset in the Guard with all the deployments.”

Leeper’s unit was scheduled to deploy to Vietnam on the day Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. Fearing riots, the government canceled the deployment orders so the soldiers could serve locally.

Now, Leeper provides counsel for the Guard’s veterans.

“In the old days, there was no one to help you when you left the Guard and we didn’t have the benefits they have today,” Leeper said. “So it’s gratifying to be able to help these people with benefits they might not even know they have coming to them. Besides, after so many years in the National Guard, it gets in your blood.”


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