Posted by William Thomas Liddicoet on March 27, 2015:

William Battelle Liddicoet, eldest son of Adrienne Battelle and William Norman Liddicoet, was born December 30, 1925 in Diamond Springs, California. Bill's roots in California Gold Country ran deep: his ancestors were tin miners who emigrated from Cornwall, England during the California Gold Rush of the 1850s. His mother's people -- the Battelles and Hortons -- were among the first settlers in the Sierra Mountains valley near Loyalton in the 1840s, before California statehood. Growing up in Placerville, CA, Bill learned to love two things: fishing and model airplanes. He became an Eagle Scout, and graduated high school six months after Pearl Harbor, at age 16. In January 1943, as soon after his 17th birthday as possible, Bill enlisted in the U.S. Navy and was selected for its V-12 officer training program. This took him to the University of Oklahoma in September 1943, where Bill studied engineering, played football and became a Loyal Knight of Old Trusty -- a secret society of engineering students which, among other traditions, celebrates OU scores at home football games by firing Old Trusty, the school's cannon. Following V-12, Bill received an appointment to Annapolis, but learned during Basic Training that his eyesight would prevent him from making a career as a naval officer. Undaunted, Bill secured an appointment from Representative Clair Engle to West Point, entering as a plebe in July, 1945. In all, Bill completed Basic Training three times -- at Oklahoma, the Naval Academy Preparatory School in Bainbridge, Md. and USMA Prep in Cornell, NY. Bill's West Point years were the defining experience of his life. He always looked back on his West Point years with pride, living his life by its code: Duty. Honor. Country. It was also while at West Point that he met and courted Dianne Chippendale "Dee" Flagg, a freshman at Vassar College, who was to become his lifelong partner. Upon graduation from West Point in 1949, Bill was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the fledgling U.S. Air Force, and attended Air Tactical School at Tyndall AFB in Panama City, FL. Bill and Dee were married on September 3, 1949, at Tyndall's Chapel, forging a union lasting over 65 years. Bill's first official posting was to Air Force Research & Development Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Dayton, OH. Dee, newly graduated from Vassar, joined him there in June, 1950; two months later their first son, William Thomas, was born. In 1951, Bill entered the University of Michigan's AFIT Guided Missile Course, earning his MS, in Aeronautical Engineering in June 1953. He returned to Wright-Pat as Project Officer for the XQ-2 Firebee, an early jet-powered drone prototype. Bill and Dee welcomed their daughter, Julie Battelle, on Veterans Day, 1953. In 1955, Bill was assigned to the initial cadre of the ballistic missile program, working on the Atlas and Titan missiles, as well as the AF Meteorological Satellite at Inglewood, CA and Vandenberg AFB, CA. Bill's tenure at Vandenberg included the first successful "silo-lift" launch of the Titan I in September 1961. In 1962, following the turnover of Titan's operational control to Strategic Air Command, Bill and Dee moved their family -- now grown to include a second son, David Flagg, born in October 1960 -- to Andrews AFB, MD, where Bill was assigned to HQ Air Force Systems Command. Bill joined AFSC's newly created Space Directorate -- a small cadre of officers, all with established technical and managerial credentials in ballistic missiles, launch/re-entry vehicles and nuclear warheads, as well as cutting-edge space communications and reconnaissance. Over the next five years, Bill worked on a variety of extremely high-priority space programs during a crucial period of the Cold War. While at the Space Directorate Bill was promoted to Lt. Colonel. From 1966-67 he was enrolled at the Air War College at Maxwell AFB, Montgomery, AL. A tour at the Pentagon with Hq USAF followed in 1967 -- in the Directorates of Space, Development; and Development and Production -- as Program Element Monitor on International Communications Satellites and Deputy Director of the Electronics Division, responsible for AWACS and other command and control systems. Bill pinned on his Colonel's Eagles in 1968. In 1971, Bill was appointed Chief, Civil Engineering Research Division, Air Force Weapons Laboratory at Kirtland AFB, in Albuquerque, NM -- responsible for all USAF R&D on civil engineering, facility hardening and environmental controls. After 28 years' service -- a period encompassing almost the entire history of the Air Force --- Bill retired in 1977, having earned the AF Commendation Medal with three Oak Leaf Clusters, the Master Missileman Badge and the Legion of Merit. Since enlisting in the Navy at age 17, Bill served his country with honor for over 34 years. Having fallen in love with New Mexico -- its food, vivid sunsets and stark natural beauty -- Bill and Dee made Albuquerque their permanent home. Bill devoted himself to his life-long passions: sports cars, fishing, hunting, and guns. In 1980, he become a licensed gunsmith, opening a gun shop in Santa Fe. He was a Life Member of the NRA, pursuing his avocation at numerous gun shows throughout the Southwest. Bill was a proud, loyal '49er: he and Dee enthusiastically attended numerous class reunions and Army-Navy Game gatherings. They remained active throughout their retirement, travelling extensively -- to Europe, Australia, New Zealand and Asia. In 2002, Bill took his love of hunting on safari to South Africa, where he bagged an impala, warthog, duiker, and springbok. A devoted father and grandfather, Bill is survived by his wife, Dee, their three children -- Bill, Julie and David -- and six grandchildren - Christina, Richard, Katherine, Sarah, Daniel, and Elizabeth.

admin