Dee Ann McWilliams
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Dee Ann McWilliams is a retired United States Army major general. McWilliams is past President of the Women in Service for America Memorial Foundation. She took her commission in 1974 in the Women's Army Corps and was assigned to the Adjutant General Corps. In over 29 years with the army, she held a variety of Human Relations positions, commanding four companies, a training battalion, and a personnel brigade. She also taught national strategic studies and leadership, and served as an Equal Opportunity Officer.


Early life

McWilliams was born in
Shreveport, Louisiana Shreveport ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Louisiana. It is the third most populous city in Louisiana after New Orleans and Baton Rouge, respectively. The Shreveport–Bossier City metropolitan area, with a population of 393,406 in 2020, is t ...
to Lorenzo Dow McWilliams, Jr. and Rachel Ramsey McWilliams. She attended public schools in
Timpson, Texas Timpson is a city in Shelby County, Texas, United States. The population was 989 at the 2020 census. The community is named after T.B Timpson, a railroad engineer. History Timpson was founded in 1885 upon the arrival of the Houston, East an ...
. She was the middle child of three children.


Military career

McWilliams commanded four companies in her early military years, HQ Company, Military Community, Augsburg, Germany; Personnel Assistance Point, JFK Airport, New York; I Corps Personnel Service Company and 9th Infantry Division Personnel Service Company, Fort Lewis, WA; 42d Adjutant General Battalion, Fort Dix, NJ; and 3d Personnel Group, Fort Hood, TX. She served on staff as Chief, Department of Army Secretariat for Selection Boards; at the National War College; as Director, Enlisted Personnel Management, Army Personnel Command; and as Director, Military Personnel Management, HQ Department of the Army; Washington, DC. McWilliams was promoted below the zone to lieutenant colonel and below the zone to colonel. As commander of the 42d Adjutant General Battalion, McWilliams worked to mobilize 5,700 Reserve soldiers to the Southwest Asia Sustainment Force while simultaneously demobilizing 8,000 Reservists from the first Gulf War and performing normal reception duties for new soldiers. She has served as III Corps AG and commander of the 3rd Personnel Group at Fort Hood, Texas, and director of enlisted personnel management at the Army HRC. As Director of Military Personnel Management for the
Department of the Army The United States Department of the Army (DA) is one of the three military departments within the Department of Defense of the U.S. The Department of the Army is the federal government agency within which the United States Army (U.S.) is org ...
, McWilliams developed policy and strategy for staffing, salary compensation, and training for over one million soldiers, to include recruitment of more than one hundred thousand annually. She also served as Deputy
Chief of Staff The title chief of staff (or head of staff) identifies the leader of a complex organization such as the armed forces, institution, or body of persons and it also may identify a principal staff officer (PSO), who is the coordinator of the supporti ...
for Personnel and Installation Management in Europe, where she provided human resource and quality of life support to soldiers in Germany, Italy, Hungary, Kosovo, Croatia, Bosnia, Greece, and Egypt. In 2003, McWilliams was nominated to become the Assistant Secretary for Public and Intergovernmental Affairs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. This nomination was later withdrawn at her request. Her military awards include the
Army Distinguished Service Medal The Distinguished Service Medal (DSM) is a military decoration of the United States Army that is presented to soldiers who have distinguished themselves by exceptionally meritorious service to the government in a duty of great responsibility. Th ...
,
Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...
, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Army Commendation Medal,
Joint Service Achievement Medal The Achievement Medal is a military decoration of the United States Armed Forces. The Achievement Medal was first proposed as a means to recognize outstanding achievement or meritorious service of military personnel who were not eligible to rece ...
, and Army Achievement Medal.


Education

McWilliams holds degrees from
Lon Morris College Lon Morris College (LMC) was a private junior college located in Jacksonville, Texas, United States, and was the only school affiliated with the United Methodist Church that was owned by an individual conference and not the denomination ...
, Texas Womans University, the National War College, and Stephen F. Austin University, where she was named a distinguished
alumnus Alumni (singular: alumnus (masculine) or alumna (feminine)) are former students of a school, college, or university who have either attended or graduated in some fashion from the institution. The feminine plural alumnae is sometimes used for grou ...
in 1998.


Later career and recognition

After retiring in 2003, she established the Lessons Learned Center for the director of national intelligence and served as center director. In 2007, McWilliams joined the board of directors for the Women In Military Service For America Memorial Foundation, assuming the position of Vice Chair in 2014. She formerly served as President of the Army Women's Foundation, a Director on the Army Historical Foundation Board, and on the Lon Morris College Board of Trustees. 2013 – recipient of the American Veterans Center Lillian K. Keil Award for outstanding contribution to women’s service in the United States military and was named a Trailblazer by Women Veterans Interactive. 2015 – McWilliams was inducted into the Adjutant General Corps' Hall of Fame. 2020 – McWilliams was inducted into the U.S. Army Women's Foundation Hall of Fame.


References


External links


Foundation launches programs for Army women
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www.army.mil
{{DEFAULTSORT:McWilliams, Dee Ann Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Shreveport, Louisiana People from Timpson, Texas Lon Morris College alumni Texas Woman's University alumni Stephen F. Austin State University alumni Human resource management people National War College alumni Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army generals Female generals of the United States Army Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) 21st-century American women Military personnel from Texas