
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: TUESDAY, March 5, 1991                   TAG: 9103050219
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-7   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

LT. GEN. KELLY ANNOUNCES RETIREMENT

Thomas Kelly, the gruff, ruddy-faced general who became known to millions of Americans through televised Gulf War news conferences, bade farewell Monday with a salute to Pentagon reporters and the First Amendment.

With that, the lieutenant general announced his retirement.

Kelly was head of operations for the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Gulf War, and was the main military spokesman in afternoon sessions with reporters that often turned contentious.

Kelly, 58, told reporters at the end of Monday's briefing that it would be his last such session and that his last day at the Pentagon will be Friday. As he left the briefing room, reporters applauded.

The 34-year Army veteran said he had gotten a lot of mail from television viewers who suggested the news media were being impertinent by pressing so hard for war-time information.

"People . . . really don't understand the hurly-burly and give-and-take of a press briefing," he said, still on camera. "At no time were you ever impolite to me and at no time did I ever become offended."

Kelly praised the role of the press in a free society and said, "Deep down, you're a good bunch of guys."

- Associated Press

by CNB