Past Professors/Faculty of Military Science

DAVID R. LYON, Colonel, USA, Retired (First BYU Army ROTC Professor of Military Science)

Colonel David R. Lyon was born 21 June 1920 in Salt Lake City, Utah. He graduated from the University of Utah in 1941, and entered active duty in the US Army in January 1942. He holds a Master's in Business Administration from George Washington University, Washington, DC.

Colonel Lyon served on the staff of the Far East Command in Tokyo, after combat duty in Korea where he was decorated with the Bronze Star and promoted by Major. He later served on the staff of the Commander in Chief, Pacific in Hawaii.

As an instructor, Colonel Lyon served four years at the Artillery School in Fort Sill, Oklahoma; four years as a faculty member at the Command and General Staff College, Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas; three years on the faculty of Cornell University, Cornell, New York; and four years as the Professor of Military Science, Brigham Young University.

Colonel David R. Lyon inaugurated the Army ROTC program at Brigham Young University in 1968. The University had established the Air Force ROTC program here when the Air Force became a separate service after WWII and was authorized by Congress to initiate some Air Force ROTC programs at a number of institutions. They provided additional officers for the Air Force to augment those commissioned at the Air Force Academy. Not until 1967 was the US Army authorized to add any new ROTC units and BYU applied for and was approved for one of them. One of Colonel Lyon's sons was a cadet at Brigham Young University and was commissioned through that program while Colonel Lyon served as Professor of Military Science there.

Colonel Lyon came to BYU from command of a Nike-Hercules Air Defense Group in western New York State. He directed the program until his retirement from active duty in 1972. A former Chief of Staff of the Army, General Harold K. Johnson, gave the commissioning address for him that year. General Johnson congratulated Colonel Lyon on the success of the program and presented him with a second award of the Legion of Merit. Colonel Lyon remained at the university for six more years in University Relations, serving as President of the Provo Chamber of Commerce in 1978-79 and chairman and board member of the American Red Cross for 18 years, among other areas of civilian service.

Colonel Lyon has served in a variety of church callings throughout his life. Some of them include: branch president (Ft. Leavenworth, KS (on two different occasions), bishop in the Halawa Ward, Oahu Stake, Hawaii (two and one half years), Bishop in the BYU 9th Ward (three years), and High Priest Group Leader (two different times and stakes). He and Mrs. Lyon ( the former Cherie Deane Moss) were married in the Salt Lake Temple on May 11, 1942. They served a church mission to the French Island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean in 1981-83. They have four sons, a daughter, 12 grandchildren, and four great grandchildren.

Colonel David Reed Lyon passed away March 19, 2002. His wife Cherie Deane Moss Lyon preceded him on June 25, 2001, by only a few months.