I rise today to honor a proud servant of the people and commonwealth of Massachusetts, Maj. Gen. George W. Keefe, who passed away June 21.
He will be laid to rest Thursday, in Northampton, surrounded by his family, friends, fellow officers, and the men and women who served with him throughout his 49-year career in military service.
George was born in 1939 in Northampton. He attended public schools in Northampton, graduated from Northampton High School in 1956 and received his associate degree from Holyoke Community College in 1966.
George enlisted in the Massachusetts Air National Guard’s 104th Tactical Fighter Group in 1956 as a crash fire rescue specialist, attaining the rank of master sergeant before he was selected for a commission as an officer and first lieutenant. He served as a squadron, group and vice wing commander at the 104th Tactical Fighter Group before being selected to serve at the Massachusetts National Guard Joint Force Headquarters.
He was the last Massachusetts Air National Guard member to serve in uniform who was federally activated and deployed from October 1961 to September 1962 to Phalsbourg, France, for Operation Stair Step, the U.S. military response to the Berlin crisis.
George was also enshrined in the U.S. Air Forces Enlisted Heritage Hall at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, as one of the few general officers who rose from the rank of airman basic to major general.
George was selected and appointed as the 39th adjutant general of Massachusetts in 1999 by then-governor Paul Cellucci. With this appointment, George became the first U.S. Air Force officer to serve as Massachusetts adjutant general since 1778 — that’s a long time, even by Massachusetts’ reckoning.
He continued to serve under lieutenant governor and then acting governor Jane Swift. And then governor Mitt Romney reappointed George to his second term as adjutant general, a position he held until retiring in 2005 after 49 years of military service.
Among one of the bigger moments in his job as adjutant general was Sept. 11, 2001, when he had to activate the Massachusetts National Guard to respond to the terror attacks on New York City that involved two jetliners that had flown out of Logan Airport in Boston.
I first met Maj. Gen. Keefe at the start of my second term in office. I had just won my first re-election campaign and he had just been appointed adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard.
I respected the experience and long view that he brought to his position, and he was very helpful to me — then and over the next six years — in understanding the priorities of the Massachusetts National Guard and introducing me to the soldiers, airmen, and uniformed men and women who serve in the Massachusetts Guard and Reserve, as well as their families.
I appreciated his Irish sense of humor — something we have in common — and I admired and respected his dedication and service to our country, the commonwealth, and most importantly, to the many service members of the Massachusetts National Guard.
Like so many in Massachusetts, his little piece of heaven was his house on Cape Cod, where he watched his sons and his grandchildren enjoy the beach, the waves, fried seafood and countless Wiffle ball and miniature golf matches. The eldest of his four sons, Gary W. Keefe, currently serves as adjutant general of the Massachusetts Air National Guard.
Few lives are as filled with service, love of friends and family, and so firmly rooted in Massachusetts as that of former Maj. Gen. George W. Keefe. He made a big difference in the lives of so many people, and in the life and history of our nation.
Maj. Gen. Keefe was not only a great man, he was a very, very good man. He will be missed. And we salute him as we say farewell and Godspeed.
Congressman James McGovern, D-Worcester, delivered the above remarks Wednesday on the House floor in honor of Maj. Gen. George W. Keefe, former adjutant general of the Massachusetts National Guard.