COMPANY A OF 1140TH ENGINEER BATTALION CHANGES ITS COMMAND

JACKSON -- First Lieutenant Joseph M. Leahy, a native of Bloomington, Ill., is the new commanding officer of Company A of the 1140th Engineer Battalion of the National Guard in Jackson.

Leahy relieved Capt. David Davis, of Oran, during a change-of-command ceremony held Sunday at the National Guard Armory Building. Davis had commanded the company for 18 months.

Leahy, who now lives in Poplar Bluff, is a design engineer. He served on active duty for three years and has served in the National Guard for the last seven months.

During that time, Leahy served in Operation Desert Storm for six months with the 317th Engineer Battalion from Frankfurt, Germany. Leahy was a line platoon leader of the combat engineer platoon and served with the first infantry division on the assault into Iraq.

Leahy and Specialist Joseph Ballance were awarded medals by Lt. Colonel Jimmy Bland, for their service in Operation Desert Storm.

"It was an honor to have some of our men serve our country in combat during Desert Storm," Bland said as he presented the medals.

Ballance served in Saudi Arabia for five months during Desert Storm. He is a student at Southeast Missouri State University where he is working on his bachelor's degree in sociology.

Ballance was transferred to the Jackson command center on Friday from serving with the 1138th Military Police.

The 1140th Engineer Battalion meets once a month at the Armory Building. The National Guardsmen at the ceremony in Jackson on Sunday represented one of the two detachments of A Company. The other detachment is headquartered in Charleston.