Kenneth Butler McCoy Jr.

His stack of ROTC demerits – blamed on bad timing of his part-time job as a sorority waiter – offered an unlikely stepping stone to a career in the U.S. Air Force: An instructor suggested that a bright young man who didn’t like to wear his uniform should apply to be a plainclothes Special Agent for the Air Force Office of Special Investigations (AFOSI).

Col. Kenneth B. McCoy, Jr., former Deputy Commander for Operations of the AFOSI and former Base Commander at Osan Air Base in South Korea, died on October 10, 2022, at the age of 80.

He was born on August 26, 1942, in Indianapolis, Indiana. Ken was the eldest of two children of Kenneth B. McCoy and Martha (Stanford) McCoy. He was especially close to his grandfather, Fred H. Stanford, who fostered his grandson’s curiosity and sense of humor.

After graduating from Howe High School in 1960, Ken attended DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, where one of his brothers in the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity introduced him to Mary Barbara Swensrud of Galesburg, Illinois.

Ken and Barbara – both Economics majors – got married after graduation in 1964 and set out for Barksdale Air Force Base near Shreveport, Louisiana. It was the first of many assignments in the U.S. and overseas over the course of his 26-year military career.

While Ken got better at wearing his uniform, he continued to stand out. Friends remember him as a gifted storyteller and writer. He was a colleague, friend and leader who could be by turns firm or funny as the situation demanded.

In 1968, Ken earned an MBA from Louisiana Tech, then went to South Vietnam to command AFOSI Detachment 5005 at Bien Hoa Air Base. After the birth of his son Stan in 1971, Ken and the family moved to Bangkok, Thailand, where he continued to support the AFOSI mission in Southeast Asia.

In the ensuing years, Ken gained extensive experience leading fraud, counterintelligence, and anti-terrorism investigations. A passing resemblance to TV detective Tony Baretta served him well early in his career.

In the early 1980s, as gray hair began to set in, Ken served as Deputy Commander of AFOSI District 70 in Wiesbaden, West Germany, then as Commander of District 69 in Ankara, Turkey, then as AFOSI Inspector General.

Ken passionately hated stupidity in all its forms. While on a family car trip in France, he once wrinkled the bumper of his 1973 Mercedes on a stupidly-located concrete barrier. The concrete barrier is said to have required extensive counselling.

After serving as President of the Air War College Class of 1986, Ken became Base Commander at Osan – a key front-line role in the Cold War standoff with North Korea. Ken drew on his vast reservoirs of charisma, energy, leadership, diplomacy, and good humor to ensure the combat readiness of a critical base just 48 miles south of the DMZ.

In his final Air Force assignment as AFOSI Deputy Commander for Operations, Ken directed investigative programs worldwide. He refocused the organization’s fraud work, resulting in more than 600 indictments, and oversaw the deployment of AFOSI personnel for Operation Desert Shield.

Over the course of his career, Col. McCoy’s numerous awards and commendations included the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with one oak leaf cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with one silver and one bronze oak leaf cluster, the Republic of Vietnam Honor Medal 1st Class, and the Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross.

After retiring from the Air Force, Ken continued to fight fraud as Eastern Division Vice President of the National Insurance Crime Bureau. He and Barbara settled north of Atlanta, in a home on a pond five minutes from Rivermont Country Club, where they enjoyed many friendships and many rounds of golf. They travelled with the Georgia Seniors and Southern Seniors golf associations and visited Stan and his family in Europe. Ken was a regular at the annual AFOSI golf outings to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Ken liked dry martinis, Thai food, rare steaks cooked on his own grill, soup-bowl sized portions of vanilla ice cream, and sleeping through Braves games on TV. You may celebrate his memory by enjoying any of the above.

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, Barbara; his son, Stan and daughter-in-law, Nathalie; grandsons, Benjamin (10) and Cameron (7), and sister, Loryne Coffin.

Interment is planned for next year at Arlington National Cemetery. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice; his favorites were DePauw University, the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, and the American Heart Association.