COL Angelo Perri, US Army (Ret.)

Funeral services for Colonel Angelo Perri, US Army (Ret.), will be held 11:30 o’clock, Tuesday, January 14th, 2020 at Shives Funeral Home, Trenholm Road Chapel, 7600 Trenholm Road Ext., with The Rev. Smoke Kanipe officiating. The committal, officiated by Chaplain Sam Boone, and burial with full military honors will be held at Fort Jackson National Cemetery following the service at 1 o’clock. The family will receive friends from 10:30 until 11:30 o’clock, prior to the service, at the funeral home. Honorary pallbearers will be Brig. Gen. John Finan, Colonels Robert Anderson, Bernard Chapman, Jack Carter, Ryan Zimmerman, Victor Robertson, Scott Nahrwald and Eli Wishart. Ushers will be LT COL Tom McAndrew and MAJ Richard Deasy. COL Perri arrived in the United States at age four, from Italy, with his mother and older sister where they joined his father, in Akron, Ohio, who had previously immigrated in 1922 to Canada and later to Ohio. In Akron, Angelo graduated from Samuel Findley Grade School and Akron North High School… then premier schools. Upon graduation in 1947 he enlisted in the US Army for a period of 18 months and completed the then required 16 weeks of basic training at Fort Jackson. The remainder of his enlistment was at Fort Lee, VA and Fort Bliss, TX. Discharged as a Corporal in November 1948, he enrolled at the University of Akron and was credited with most of his freshman year having passed advanced placement exams while on active duty. At the University he was a member and treasurer of Theta Chi Fraternity, President of the Commerce Club, Scabbard and Blade Military Honorary, Student Council and other campus organizations. As a 1951 distinguished Military Graduate of the ROTC program he was commissioned in the Regular Army and ordered to Fort Benning, GA where he completed the 16-week Infantry Company Officer course. Upon completion he served several months at the Basic Training Center of Camp Breckinridge, KY and then was ordered to Korea via Japan. In September 1952 he joined the US 27th Infantry Regiment (The Wolfhounds), then one of the Army’s most distinguished regiments. He served as a platoon leader, Company Commander and Acting Battalion Operations Officer during the Hill Battles that took place in the last year of the war. When the war ended in July 1953, he returned to the United States, again assigned to Fort Benning, GA where he served with the Officer Candidate Regiment, Company Commander in the 29th Infantry Regiment and also completed the nine-month Infantry Officer Advanced Course. He remained with the Infantry School as an instructor until 1958 when he was assigned to ROTC duty at St. Peter’s College in Jersey City, NJ. His primary duty was to teach American Military History to the ROTC cadets. He used the Great Battles of the American Civil War to illustrate the principles of War and how they applied to both defeats and victories. This method was later adopted by most ROTC programs in the Eastern USA. His other assignments that followed included duty with the 24th Infantry Division during the 1961 Berlin Crisis, duty at Fort Polk, LA as Secretary of the General Staff, and Headquarters Commandant with the US Military Advisory Group in the Philippines. On return to the US he completed the Army Command and General Staff College Course and then came to Fort Jackson where he commanded a Training Battalion for 18 months and then was ordered to Vietnam. In Vietnam he initially served as Senior US Advisor at a large training center located near Hue. After seven months he then transferred to the US First Calvary Division, an airmobile unit, and served as Deputy Commander of their 3rd Brigade (Garry Owen). This was the Division’s “swing brigade” and was constantly dispatched to troubled areas and was in constant combat along the Cambodian border areas. In August 1969 he returned to Fort Jackson. Regretfully, his marriage of some seventeen years to the former Erma Brandt did not survive the separations and dislocations of a military career, and they separated and divorced in 1971. He then served three one-year assignments as a Brigade Executive Officer, Deputy Director of Personnel, Deputy Chief of Staff and, upon promotion to full Colonel he was acting as Chief of Staff for some three months before again returning to Vietnam in July 1972 to the newly organized Army Advisory Group. This group was commanded by MGen. William Coleman, who had been the commanding general at Fort Jackson. COL Perri’s duties were to supervise US Training Detachments at some 23 South Vietnamese training centers. This command also had advisors with the Airborne Division, the Ranger Battalions, and a special MACV Strike Force organized to react swiftly to possible threats to the remaining US bases. Upon signing of the Paris Peace Accords that ended US support and involvement in February 1973 he returned to the US, proposed to and married Clelia Elizabeth Moore of Columbia. Ms. Moore was then the Social Secretary at the Fort Jackson Officer’s Club and had been divorced with one child, son, Stephen. They then went to his next assignment as Commanding Officer of the US Army, NY Area Command which then consisted of Forts Hamilton, Totten, Tilden, Wadsworth, and Hancock in NJ. The primary mission was support of the Army Air Defense Command Units that guarded NY City, as well as providing administrative and logistical support to a myriad of Dept. of Defense activities located in the area to include ROTC Detachments, Army and Navy Reserve units, and Army National Guard commands. Additionally, this position was on the “A” list for the many patriotic, social, governmental events that went on almost daily in Manhattan to include the National Horse Show, the USO Gold Medal Dinners, and the Alfred E. Smith Dinner. The Smith Dinner was the top political gathering of the year at the Waldorf. Col. Perri was a dais guest along with those from the world of entertainment, government, academia, and corporate CEOs. Another “unofficial” duty was to “look after” Ms. Douglas MacArthur who still lived at the Waldorf Astoria Towers, but preferred to visit Fort Hamilton for medical or dental care, etc. In 1975 Fort Hamilton celebrated its 150th Anniversary, and in 1976 the US celebrated the Bicentennial. The Tall Ships came into NY Harbor and many foreign leaders also came. Fort Hamilton was involved in supporting many of these functions with their 26th Army Band, military escorts, security details, etc… as a consequence Col. and Mrs. Perri were invited to a series of social gatherings that included the European royalty… Queen Elizabeth and Prince Philip, Princess Grace and Prince Ranier, the Duchess of Windsor, among others. After this assignment from 1973-76, described by Gen. Walter Kerwin, then commanding General of US Forces Command, as the most complex Army Colonels’ command in the US. There was no assignment offered that could compare so the decision was made to retire, which Col. Perri elected to do in August 1976 returning to Columbia. In retirement COL Perri devoted most of his efforts to the then Retired Military Officer’s Association, then 500 members strong, and as leader in military affairs in the Midlands. He served four terms as Chapter President, Chief Lobbyist for the 12 chapters in South Carolina, and six years on the National Board in Washington, DC, with primary responsibility for supervision of the 320 chapters of this then 400,000-member organization. In 1989 he was the lead plaintiff in a lawsuit which successfully obtained refunds for retired military personnel who had been improperly taxed by the State of SC. The typical refund was around $10,000 depending on taxes paid. He also led efforts to raise the SC State Income Tax exclusion for returned military from $1,200 where it had been for some 25 years, to $15,000. He also renewed efforts along with Ike McLeese, the CEO of the Columbia Chamber of Commerce, to obtain a National Military Cemetery for the Midlands. The effort had begun in the 1980s, had withered, and was again renewed to a successful and beautiful resting place that today holds some 8,000 graves of those who honorably served the nation. Among his other volunteer efforts COL Perri served as the State Director for the Service Corps of Retired Executives, known as SCORE. They provided retired executives mainly through Chambers of Commerce and the US Small Business Administration to advise aspirants who wish to start, expand, or close a small business. In SC there are chapters in major cities and branches in the smaller ones. An avid golfer, he held memberships in the Fort Jackson Golf Club, Fort Jackson Officer’s Club, The Members Club at Wildewood and Woodcreek and the Summit Social Club. He and MGen. John Renner, a former commander of Fort Jackson, golfed every Monday and Wednesday for some 16 straight years until Gen Renner’s death, and a decline in Col Perri’s health required that he stop playing. In the 1980’s and 1990’s the retired Military Officers in the Midlands entertained almost constantly with dinner dances at the Fort Jackson Officer’s Club, stand up cocktail parties, formal sit-down dinners, and theme parties such as Kentucky Derby parties. The Perri’s for some 12 years sponsored a Super Bowl party which included, for those so inclined small wagers on the scores at the end of each quarter as well as the final score. Their house provided two separate dens which permitted each team to cheer separately when their team scored. Most attendees came dressed as cheerleaders, or football players. COL Perri’s awards and decorations include two awards of the Combat Infantry Badge (for Korea and Vietnam), three awards of the Legion of Merit (two for combat operations), two awards of the Bronze Star, the Air Medal, the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Commendation Medal and the Vietnamese Distinguished Service Order. His service medals include the National Defense Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster, the Korean Service Medal with three bronze stars, the Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars, the United Nations Service Medal and the Vietnam Campaign Medal with 60/device. His unit awards are the Republic of Korea Presidential Unity Citation, The Vietnamese Gallantry Cross with Palm (second award) and the Vietnamese Civil Actions Medal. In 2017 he was inducted into the Fort Jackson Hall of Fame based on his service to Fort Jackson, his military career, his community and legislative accomplishments on the local, state and national level on behalf of retirees of all branches of the Armed Forces. He is also a member of the University of Akron ROTC Hall of Fame. But when asked what he considered his major accomplishments, COL Perri cited that his five children, step-son, and 12 grandchildren hold college degrees from USC Columbia, Northwestern, Colorado State, George Washington Law School, Penn State, Florida, Florida State, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Tulane, Georgia, Arizona and the Medical College of Georgia. He credits his first wife, Erma Brandt, of Hershey, PA, as a major partner in this effort, along with his wife of almost 50 years, Libby, of Columbia. The degrees include Journalism, Medicine, Engineering, Banking, Nursing, Governmental and Military Affairs as well as the Arts and Sciences. He is survived by his wife of some 46 years, Libby Perri; stepson, Stephen Cone and his family, wife, Janie; sons, Dr. Ryan Cone (Cardin), Dr. Brent Cone, Lindsay (Dr. Beau Gilmore); great granddaughter, Miles Gilmore; daughters, Lynne Perri (Bob Barnes), Karla Perri (Ben Matarese), Eileen Perri (Joe Koons), Jeanmarie Perri (Richard Morton), and son, Leilyn Perri (Michele); and grandchildren, Abigail and Grace Barnes, Emilie and Brendan Matarese, Ethan and Chloe Koons, Julia and Daniel Morton, Matthew Perri: and also a brother, Dominic of Stow, Ohio; and a sister, Yolanda Petroski of Grenada Hills, CA. He was predeceased by his parents, Frank and Josephine Perri of Akron, Ohio and older sister, Lee Perri Velardi of Laguna Niguel, CA. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorials be made to Shandon United Methodist Church, 3407 Devine Street, Columbia, SC 29205, to St. Anthony of Padua Parish, 83 Mosser Place, Akron, OH 44310 or to MOAA Scholarship Fund, Columbia Chapter, Post Office Box 290927, Columbia, SC 29229.

Tributes

COL Angelo Perri, US Army (Ret.)

November 15, 1929 - January 8, 2020