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Colonel James Leroy McCleskey, 85, of College Station, passed away peacefully on the morning of December 27, 2024. A Celebration of Life service will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, January 3, 2025, at Parkway Baptist Church, 1501 Southwest Pkwy, College Station, TX 77840, with Pastor Chris Snidow officiating, assisted by Pastors Scot Stolz and Gary Samford.

Leroy (Lee) was born in Marietta, Georgia, on September 18, 1939, to Walter Earle and Shannon Emily McCleskey. He spent his entire childhood in Marietta, graduating from Sprayberry High School in 1957. In 1961, he graduated with the third class from the then-new United States Air Force Academy located in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It was during his time at the Academy that Lee met the love of his life, Joan "Joanie" Mills, of Clarksville, Arkansas. They were married shortly after his graduation in 1961 and shared 63 years of amazing adventures together.

Lee was a highly-decorated officer who served our nation for 30 years in a wide range of roles, including pilot, instructor pilot, airborne command post operations officer, base commander, Air Attache, Inspector General, and Intelligence Director. As an Air Commando during the Vietnam War, he was deployed in 1966 for a year to Nakhon Phanom, Thailand. In 1967, his A-26 Counter Invader aircraft was shot down during a classified mission over Laos. He and his navigator were forced to bail out with one wing engulfed in flames and only 700 feet of altitude remaining before impact. He was wounded as he hit the horizontal stabilizer on the way out and broke both ankles as he landed in a dry rice paddy. The two were rescued and flown to Clark Air Base in the Philippines to recover. After healing, Lee returned to Thailand to finish out the remainder of his tour. A true American hero and the definition of a servant leader, the positive impact Lee had on the thousands he served with during 16 assignments in 7 states, Washington D.C., and 3 nations, is immeasurable.

In 1991, Lee retired from the Air Force in Tucson, AZ, and in 1992 he and Joanie moved to College Station, where he served for 8 years as the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets' Deputy Commandant for Discipline and Training, followed by another 5 years as the Director of Safety and Training for the university's physical plant before fully retiring in 2005.

Lee found great joy in retirement traveling with Joanie, visiting family, spending time with their dogs Duke, Bella, and Zeus, working home projects, and serving as a deacon at Parkway Baptist Church. He especially loved spending time with his 16 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren, most of whom he gave their first "driving lessons" on a 6-wheel Gator.

Lee is lovingly remembered by sons Matt McCleskey, Derek McCleskey, Jarrett McCleskey, daughter Kristin McCleskey Moratzka, son-in-law Erik, 3 daughters-in-law Virginia, Cammy, and Katy, his 16 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren, sister Nancy McCleskey Uhran, and sister-in-law Carol Early McCleskey (Walter). Lee was preceded in death by his daughter Amber Laurel McCleskey, his parents, his brother Walter McCleskey, and his sister Sharon McCleskey Shedd.
Lee will be interred at Oakland Cemetery in Clarksville, Arkansas, where an Air Force Honor Guard will provide military honors.

In lieu of flowers, your consideration of donations to the Wounded Warriors Project (https://www.woundedwarriorproject.org/) or the Tunnels to Towers Foundation (https://t2t.org/) would be appreciated.

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I had to visit with him a couple of times as a cadet. He was always enforces the standard, but was always upfront, impartial, and fair.

Here.

Wow had no idea about his background. I remember him well. For all the wrong reasons...once, he did ram me for walking tours, but I went to explain what happened and he reduced the sentence significantly. I was still wrong, but a lot of things were out of my control...to that point about being fair but holding a standard.