After six years of enlisted service in Communications, Colonel Cecil M. Henry graduated from Officer Candidate School in November 1953. His first assignment was with the 164th Infantry Regiment at Fort Rucker as a Platoon Leader. Returning to Fort Benning, he was again a Platoon Leader, and then as Assistant S-3; he held these same two positions when he went to Hawaii. After returning to Fort Benning as a Student in the Infantry School, he went to the Army Support Center in Chicago as a Detachment Commander. | In 1962 he went to Vietnam for his first tour as a Staff Advisor. He returned once again to Fort Benning as a Brigade Assistant S-3 and as a Battalion S-3. He then went to the Command and General Staff College where he was a student, then later as an Author and Instructor. Then in 1969 he was sent to Vietnam again. This time to command a battalion in the 31st Infantry, and then to be a Regimental Advisor, and eventually to be a Division G-3 Advisor. In 1972, Colonel Henry returned to the United States as a Staff Officer in the Office of the Chief of Research and Development. From Washington he went to Turkey as the Chief of Maneuver and Exercise Section at Headquarters Allied Land Forces Southeastern Europe and as Infantry Readiness Coordinator, Headquarters Army Readiness Region I in Fort Devens, Massachusetts. | Colonel Henry’s awards and decorations include: the Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Purple Heart, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Good Conduct Medal and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge.