WILLIAM COLBY TO GIVE SPEECH AT SIKESTON

SIKESTON - Former Central Intelligence Agency director William Colby will be the featured speaker tonight at the annual Sikeston Area Chamber of Commerce Man of the Year Banquet.

Colby was director of the CIA from 1973-76, and began his intelligence career in World War II by parachuting into both German occupied France and Norway to help the resistance movement.

Tonight's banquet will begin at 7:30 at the Banquet By the Bay at Kingsway Mall. Tickets are available through the Sikeston Chamber of Commerce office.

Colby served as ambassador to South Vietnam from 1968-71, and was also deputy to the commander of the U.S. Military Assistance Command during that period. Colby helped direct American support to the Vietnamese government's rural pacification program.

He is the author of two books: "Lost Victory" and "Honorable Men." He has received a number of honors and high awards, including the National Security Medal in 1976 and the Distinguished Intelligence Medal in 1973.

His World War II decorations include the Bronze and Silver Star, French Croix de Guerre, the Norwegian St. Olaf's Medal, and the British Mentioned in Despatches.

Colby earned his A.B. degree from Princeton in 1940 and his law degree from Columbia University in 1977. He currently is counsel to the Washington law firm of Donovan, Leisure, Rogovan, Huge and Schiller.