Seth McKee, Cape native and 4-star general, dies at age 100

Gen. Seth McKee, a four-star general and former Cape Girardeau resident, died Monday in Scottsdale, Arizona, at the age of 100.

At the time of his death, he was the highest-ranking survivor of the D-Day invasion of France during World War II.

McKee died only 10 days after the Southeast Missouri State University Board of Regents approved a resolution honoring him. The resolution called McKee’s military career “exemplary” and offered “sincere congratulations and the grateful appreciation of the university community” to the distinguished general.

In November, France awarded him the rank of Chevalier (Knight) in the National Order of the Legion of Honor, that nation’s highest honor.

Born in Arkansas, McKee spent much of his youth in Southeast Missouri. He graduated from Cape Girardeau Central High School in 1934 and attended Southeast Missouri State University from 1934 to 1937.

He presented the commencement address at Southeast in 1971 and received the Alumni Merit Award from the university that same year. He returned to the campus often to speak with faculty, staff and students.

McKee had a storied military career, which earned him numerous military honors and awards. Even so, he did not embrace war.

“When man has to resort to war to resolve his affairs, he’s reached about his lowest level. We’re back to the cave-man days where you grab a club,” The Arizona Republic newspaper quoted him as saying.

As a military pilot, he led a group of fighter planes providing air cover for troops invading the beach at Normandy, France, in June 1944.

In a 2014 interview, Mc-Kee said he flew 69 missions during the war. He recalled nine consecutive missions in which the plane engine was shot out.

McKee said he didn’t think about the danger.

“It didn’t get me at the time,” he told The Arizona Republic. “I knew I was the best fighter pilot in the war, and I was pretty lucky.”

Over the course of his military career, he held every rank in the Air Force. He ended his career as commander of the North American Air Defense Command, headquartered in Colorado.

He retired in 1973. It was reported one of his retirement gifts was a replica of the red phone he would have used to notify the president had the country come under nuclear attack.

McKee’s brother, Pat, still lives in Cape Girardeau.

In an interview with the Southeast Missourian in 2012, Pat McKee said his brother was “one of the builders of the present day Air Force.”

Seth McKee joined the Army Air Corps to earn money for medical school but ended up making the Air Force his career.

Although his career took him to many countries and states, he never forgot his roots.

“I am always proud to tell everyone I am from Missouri,” Seth McKee told the Southeast Missourian in 2012.

McKee served under six presidents, beginning with Franklin Roosevelt and ending with Richard Nixon.

“I had good relationships with a lot of them,” he said in the 2012 interview.

Cape Girardeau musician Jerry Ford knew Seth McKee. Ford is good friends with McKee’s brother.

Seth McKee “had a neat sense of humor,” Ford recalled Thursday. “He had a mischievous twinkle in his eyes all the time.”

Ford said McKee had “a very quick mind. He was really, really bright.”

McKee had a down-to-earth style.

“He was just like a guy on the street,” said Ford, who, along with local historian Frank Nickell, plans to write a book about McKee.

McKee’s wife, Sally, is a former Florida beauty queen, Ford said.

“It was love at first sight on my part, but it took her a little longer,” Ford recalled McKee saying of his wife.

The Cape River Heritage Museum plans to unveil a display about McKee next year, Ford said.

Dewey Schade, who grew up in Cape Girardeau, met McKee after moving to Arizona, and the two men became friends.

“I have always known him as a four-star general,” Schade said.

He added McKee “looked the part” of a general. “He had a command presence.”

McKee once told The Arizona Republic leadership roles came naturally to him.

“I always liked to be in charge,” he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

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