Edward C. Raleigh, 89, a retired Army colonel who lived in Alexandria, Virginia and worked in public affairs, died Sunday, February 4, 2007 of complications after intestinal surgery Jan. 26 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital.
  
Considered "an early champion of maximum disclosure and minimum delay," according to his 2002 induction in the U.S. Army Public Affairs Hall of Fame, Col. Raleigh put that philosophy to the test in 1968 when he found himself in the middle of a public relations crisis.
  
Some 6,400 sheep near the Army's Dugway Proving Ground in Utah were found dead, poisoned by a deadly nerve agent called VX, which had drifted onto Skull Valley from an aerial spray accident over the base. Col. Raleigh, serving at the Army Materiel Command, insisted on a quick response to the public outrage, which became a national controversy over how the Army stored and secured toxic materials. According to the Hall of Fame, "What could have been a disastrous incident critical of the Army actually resulted in the media and public's understanding of what actually occurred. This event later became a 'case study' on how to successfully handle high profile incidents."

 

McCOLGAN TURNED A NIGHTMARE INTO A MANAGEABLE EPISODE

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===Retired lieutenant colonel August T. McColgan Sr., who handled one of the Army's toughest public relations assignments, died of cancer Thursday October 30, 2006 at Stella Maris Hospice at the age of 86.
===McColgan, one of the first 15 inductees into the Army Public Affairs Hall of Fame, was recognized for decades of public affairs service, dating from the Eisenhower era.
===McColgan began his public affairs career in 1952 while assigned to the Maryland Military District in Baltimore.
===He retired from government service in 1985 as public affairs officer for the Army Test and Evaluation Command at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md.
===One of the thorniest issues during his career was helping the Army regain its credibility after 6,000 of sheep died in the Skull Valley rangeland near Dugway Proving Ground, Utah in March 1968.
===Residents of nearby communities blamed Army nerve gas testing. The Army was accused of stonewalling citizens and state officials while it conducted investigations.
===That incident embarrassed the Army. But McColgan persuaded TECOM to let him take over the PAO mission at Dugway Proving Ground. McColgan conducted regular briefings and invited members of the media to come and see for themselves what the Army was doing.
===His openness and honesty earned him great respect and trust. And McColgan was able to turn a nightmare of a situation into a manageable episode that would not forever mar the Army’s image in Utah.

^{View the Skull Valley VX Sheep Kill (Windows Media File - wait for load time)}