**For Immediate Release” November 4, 2009
The Museum of the Kansas National Guard will add four new names to the ranks of honored service members. Officials for the Hall of Fame will host an induction ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 8, at 2 p.m. at the Ramada Inn, 420 E. 6th Street, in Topeka, Kan., to pay tribute to the new members. The public is invited to attend. A reception will follow the ceremony.
The new members range from years past in the Civil War and Wild West to more recent members who battled in Vietnam.
Inductees
Pvt. William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody
The 1861-65 Report of the Adjutant General of Kansas shows that William F. Cody enlisted in February 1864 at the age of 18 and was mustered out of service with Company H, Seventh Cavalry Regiment, Kansas Volunteers. He later served as a civilian scout for the 9th Kansas Volunteer Cavalry Regiment. His service to the nation continued when, at 22 years of age, he was handpicked by General Phil Sheridan to be the chief scout of the 5th U.S. Cavalry in October 1868 as a civilian.
Cody served the state during the Civil War in Tennessee, Mississippi and Missouri. Prior to that, he joined the anti-slavery group known as the “Jayhawkers,” which was involved in ensuring Kansas was admitted to the Union as a “free” state. He participated in the development of the western part of the state by providing buffalo meat for the crews of the Kansas Pacific Railroad during the construction of the railway through Kansas. When he was 14 or 15 he was a Pony Express Rider, where he used his riding abilities developed as a youth to help to show how news and mail could move swiftly from the east to the west. This experience also served him in the cavalry.
On April 26, 1872, at the age of 26, he was awarded the Medal of Honor for “Gallantry in Action” by General Order 7 by General Eugene Carr while serving with the 3rd U. S. Army near the South Fork of the Loup River in Nebraska.
Cody is also credited with establishing the first “Equal Pay for Equal Work” policy when he was running his “Wild West” show when asked why Annie Oakley was not paid the same as her fellow “men” coworkers. Additionally, he insisted Native Americans should be given the same respect. He used his wealth to establish water conservation dams in the western U.S. and promoted the first animal wildlife conservation practices in the U.S. He was considered by many to be the U.S. World Ambassador.
Cpl. James Whitfield Ross
Cpl. James Whitfield Ross was born into slavery. In 1862, at the age of 26, he escaped and found his way to a Union Army regiment heading for Kansas.
Upon reaching Topeka in August of that year, he joined Company F of the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Infantry. His service and ability was such that on Jan. 13, 1863, he was promoted to the rank of corporal. He remained with Company F of the First Kansas, which on Dec. 13, 1864, became the 79th Regiment, United States Colored Troops (USCT) until mustered out in October of 1865.
Ross showed tremendous courage and dedication to a country that had dealt him such a terrible moral blow. Relinquishing the personal freedom he and the others had finally obtained, risking their lives fleeing from the oppression of slavery, they volunteered to again risk their lives for a freedom not only for themselves and their race, but for all oppressed Americans.
Contrary to modern movie makers, the First Kansas Colored Volunteer Regiment was the first African American unit to engage the Confederates in the American Civil War. Their valor and success at the Battle of Island Mound, Mo., on Oct. 29, 1862, convinced President Abraham Lincoln to proceed with the Emancipation Proclamation and allow black men to join the Union Army. Ross served over three years in a regiment that lost more soldiers than any other USCT regiment, and all but 19 regiments in the rest of the Union Army. Feared by the enemy and greatly respected by his fellow soldiers, Ross and his men were lauded by their commanders as some of the finest fighting men they had the pleasure to command.
After mustering out of the Union Army, James Ross returned to Topeka where he lived on a small farm just north of the city. In addition to farming he also worked laying stone for the basement and interior walls of the first portion of what is now the Kansas State Capitol building.
In 1868, he met and married Margaret Elizabeth Chapman from Mound City, Kan. They lived on a farm he bought and produced a family of seven children, including two girls who died in infancy. Their sons, however, went on to become educators and prominent members of their communities.
Retired Command Sgt. Maj. Warren J. "Bud" Smith
Command Sgt. Maj. Warren J. “Bud” Smith enlisted in the Kansas Army National Guard in September 1966 and completed his Basic and Advanced Individual Training at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo. He was assigned as a pioneer in the 226th Engineer Battalion.
After serving as a traditional Guardsman for six years, Smith was hired in 1972 to be an Administrative Supply Technician for the 242nd Engineer Company in Wichita, Kan. In the early 1970s, Smith served in an additional duty status as operation sergeant at the Kansas Military Academy Officer Candidate School. In 1980, he was asked by the school’s leadership to examine and evaluate a proposed course that would affect all potential noncommissioned officers. After reviewing and crafting a plan, Smith proposed his plan to the leadership and it was approved. By the end of the year, other states had heard of the plan and requested their soldiers be allowed to attend in Kansas. This was the beginning of what was known as the Primary NCO Course and now is the Warrior Leadership course.
In 1983, after assignment to the 226th Engineer Battalion, he was named commandant of the Noncommissioned Officer School. By 1984, he was selected to be the command sergeant major of the 1st Battalion, 635th Armor. His assignment to the Armor Battalion was extremely short because of the activation of the 35th Infantry Division and the need for an operation training sergeant major in the division headquarters.
In 1998, his family was selected as the “Fort Leavenworth’s Great American Family.” The citation from the commanding general reads, “Your family’s strong teamwork, love and service not only benefit you, but the community.” From this point on, Smith was assigned to represent the Reserve Components on the Future Leadership Doctrine Committees.
In 1991, Smith was selected to be the state command sergeant major.
In 2000, Smith retired from the Kansas National Guard and was quickly hired by United Services Automobile Association and assigned as the military affairs representative covering all military organizations from Texas to North Dakota and from Kansas to Illinois. He is now the National Guard program manager representing all Army and Air National Guard personnel in the 50 states and four territories.
Smith has served his community equally as well as a Boy Scout leader and as a church leader. He has also been involved in the “Seasons of Sharing Holiday Program” in San Antonio by coordinating, collecting and delivering gifts to the less fortunate children of the community.
Retired Col. Charles R. Rayl
Col. Charles Rayl enlisted in the United States Army in January 1964 and was commissioned in the United States Army on March 1, 1965. In 1970, he was commissioned in the Kansas National Guard and remained in the Guard until his retirement in 1994.
Rayl completed Armor Officer Basic Course in 1965, as well as Airborne Training. He became an Army aviator in 1967 and was assigned to Troop A, 7th Squadron, 14th Air Cavalry in the Republic of Vietnam in 1968. He held various command positions in Armored Cavalry Regiments from November 1968 until May of 1970 in Germany.
In September 1970, he was commissioned in the Kansas National Guard, serving in the 137th Aviation Company and the Headquarters, State Area Command, Kansas Army National Guard. During his time in the Kansas National Guard he also served as the commander, 920th Medical Detachment (Air Ambulance) and as the battalion commander of several units including the 135th Aviation Battalion, the 108th Aviation and the 635th Armor Battalion, and as the brigade commander of Troop Command, KSARNG. He served on the headquarters staff as the Director of Security and was the State Aviation Officer during his last assignment in the Kansas National Guard.
He is the recipient of the Purple Heart and the Legion of Merit along with numerous other military medals, ribbons and badges. He was the Distinguished Military Graduate of the Kansas State University ROTC program. He has a masters degree in Agricultural Economics from Kansas State and juris doctorate degree from Washburn University and is an attorney at law for Rayl and Jones, LLC, of Cottonwood Falls, Kan. Rayl has received numerous honors and awards from Kansas State University, and from Iowa State University and the Kansas Preservation Alliance Award for Excellence in Preservation Advocacy in 2003.
He considers getting the name of Sgt. Henry Jackson, Troop A, 7th Squadron, 17th Air Cavalry added to the Vietnam Memorial Wall on Memorial Day in 1999 his most personal special achievement.
For more information, call 785.862.1020
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