[073] MTSU veterans leader to be Dickson WWI centennial keynote speaker Sept. 17

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — MTSU’s Keith M. Huber will be the keynote speaker for the Dickson County Historical and Genealogical Society commemoration of the World War I centennial.

The free event, which will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, will take place at the War Memorial Building, 2000 Center Ave., in Dickson, Tennessee.

Weather permitting, the ceremony will take place on the east lawn. In the event of inclement weather, it will be moved indoors.

Huber is the senior adviser for veterans and leadership initiatives at MTSU. Huber, who joined MTSU in January 2015, spent nearly 40 years in the military, retiring as a U.S. Army lieutenant general. His efforts led to the implementation of what became the Charlie and Hazel Daniels Veterans and Military Family Center on campus.

Huber’s duty assignments included platoon leader in the 7th Infantry Division; and company commander, battalion operations officer, brigade and division operations officer, battalion commander and director of civil- military affairs, all with the 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) at Fort Campbell, Kentucky.

He served as assistant division commander of the 10th Mountain Division, deputy commanding general of 1st Army and commanding general of U.S. Army South.

Huber was the leader of a U.S. Army Special Forces operational detachment in Panama with the 7^th Special Forces Group and Special Forces field adviser in Nicaragua and El Salvador. His assignments also have included Haiti, Honduras, Kosovo and Afghanistan.

A Springfield, Ohio, native, Huber graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1975 with a bachelor’s degree and was commissioned in the infantry. He has earned numerous military recognitions.

Other speakers include Tennessee Tech University history professor and researcher Michael Birdwell; Nashville-based interior decorator Amelie de Gaulle, a great niece of the late Charles de Gaulle, a former French president and decorated French officer; Dickson attorney Jerry Smith, whose grandfather fought in France with the 82^nd All-American Division, now known as the 82^nd Airborne based at Fort Bragg, North Carolina; and Congressman Jim Cooper of Nashville.

World War I was known as “The Great War” and “The War to End All Wars.” The global conflict changed countries’ borders and resulted in 18 million deaths. When American forces joined allied armies, it shifted the balance of power and led to the defeat of Germany and the Central Powers.

For more information on the event, contact Larry Hillis at 615-446-1619 or email lwhillis53@aol.com. Hillis is a retired lieutenant colonel with the U.S. Army Reserve.