Governor Attends MP OSUT Graduation Ceremony Thursday at Fort Leonard Wood

Missouri Governor Mike Parson visited Fort Leonard Wood Thursday, where he provided remarks at a Military Police One Station Unit Training graduation ceremony and then was honored with the Order of the Marechaussee in steel by Brigadier General Niave Knell, U.S. Army MP School commandant, for his service in the Army as an MP. At the graduation for Company E, 701st Military Police Battalion, Parson spoke about his hometown of Wheatland, Missouri. “There were two flags that flew in that little town,” he said. “One over the post office, one over the schoolhouse. I said the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.” Parson said he didn’t really understand the importance and the meaning of the flag of the United States of America and the Pledge of Allegiance until he “wore the uniform in the Army.” After completing Basic Combat Training at Fort Wood in 1975, Parson attended MP Advanced Individual Training at Fort McClellan, Alabama. “I stood in that exact spot many years ago taking my basic training right here at Fort Leonard Wood,” he said to the graduates and their family and friends at the graduation.
Parson received his Order of the Marechaussee award in the MP Foyer at the Maneuver Support Center of Excellence’s Thurman Hall. The award is one of the highest honors bestowed upon a military policeman in the MP Regimental Association.