Arrow-right Camera
The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Shalikashvili put family first, son says

Pentagon’s first foreign-born leader remembered in Tacoma

Shalikashvili
Associated Press

TACOMA – The son of the four-star general who rose to the top job in the Pentagon where he advised President Bill Clinton over military involvement worldwide remembered him as a loving father who always put his family first, no matter the state of the world.

Brent Shalikashvili spoke about retired Army Gen. John Shalikashvili during a memorial service Saturday in Tacoma. KING-TV reported that dignitaries from around the world also paid their respects to the former chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Shalikashvili died at 75 from complications of a stroke two weeks ago at Madigan Army Hospital in Washington state. He will be buried Oct. 7 at Arlington National Cemetery.

He was from Poland, becoming the first foreign-born leader of the Pentagon.

He oversaw more than 40 operations, including Haiti, Rwanda, Bosnia and the Persian Gulf.