Honorees
The Honorable Stanley Wayne Legro
The Honorable Stanley Wayne Legro passed away on Monday, August 17, 2020, in La Jolla, California. Mr. Legro was a dedicated public servant and generous supporter of the Naval Academy Foreign Affairs Conference.
Mr. Legro was born in 1936 in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He graduated first in the Class of 1959 at the U.S. Naval Academy, and following graduation, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps, which brought him to the San Diego area. He resigned his commission to attend Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Law Review. Public service was an important part of Mr. Legro's life, and he served as a member of the San Diego Planning Commission and as a board member of the Citizens Democracy Corps. He was also appointed Assistant Administrator for Enforcement at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) during the Ford administration, and he remained active in environmental causes following his retirement, both as a member of the EPA Alumni Association and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Environmental Law Institute.
NAFAC is extremely grateful for the generosity and support of Mr. Legro. We are proud to present the Legro Address in his honor.
The Honorable Robert H. McKinney
McKinney was born November 7, 1925, in Indianapolis, Indiana. He graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy, where he received a B.S. in engineering. In WWII, he served in the Pacific theater for three years (including a period on General Douglas MacArthur’s staff) before returning to law school in Indianapolis in 1949. Recalled to the Navy after receiving his law degree from Indiana University, he served in the Korean War for two years.
McKinney is or has been a director of many organizations, among them the Presidential Advisory Board for Cuba, Hudson Institute, Indianapolis Economics Club, Indianapolis and Indiana Chambers of Commerce, Chief Executives Organization, Inc., World President’s Organization, Inc., the American, Indiana, and Indianapolis Bar Associations, the United States Naval Academy Foundation, Indiana University Foundation, Conservation Law Center, Board of Trustees of Marian University (former chair), the Carter Center at Emory University, and the Sierra Club Foundation (former chair). His past work in the community also includes serving as the Indiana Chairman for the presidential campaigns of John F. Kennedy, Edmund Muskie, and Jimmy Carter. McKinney served as legal counsel to Indiana Governor Roger D. Branigin and as Chairman of Governor Evan Bayh’s Government Reorganization Committee.
He and his five children actively manage the McKinney Family Foundation, with its emphasis on solving Indiana’s environmental issues.
Lieutenant Commander James J. Connell
James J. Connell graduated from the United States Naval Academy with the Class of 1961 as a Naval Aviator. On 10 Dec 1965, Lieutenant Connell deployed as a pilot in Attack Squadron 55. On 15 July 1966, LT Connell was flying as one of four aircraft conducting an "Iron Hand" mission along the Red River south of Hanoi. The flight encountered heavy conventional antiaircraft artillery and fire, and LCDR Connell was shot down. Shortly thereafter, Connell established radio contact with his squadronmates. Rescue efforts were impossible in this high-threat area and Connell was eventually captured. When the POWs were repatriated in February 1973, Jimmy Connell was not among them; he had died in captivity, reportedly on 14 January 1971.
Lieutenant Commander Connell's Navy Cross Citation speaks to both his treatment while a POW and his response to that treatment. He was kept in solitary confinement for several years and was subjected to repeated and severe physical and mental abuse by his captors. His fellow POWs were in a position to judge LCDR Connell's response, and it was their judgment and first-person testimony which led to the award of the Navy Cross.
