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The National Guard paid tribute to more than 39 years of service as leaders bid farewell to Gen. Joseph L. Lengyel on Friday.
Lengyel, who served as the 28th chief of the National Guard Bureau, retired in a ceremony at the Alamo in San Antonio. It was broadcast online through the 142nd General Conference portal.
Maj. Gen. Tracy R. Norris, adjutant general of Texas, hosted the event, which she said honored a lifetime of service by the Lengyel family. Dignitaries in attendance include Gen. Daniel R. Hokanson, the 29th chief of the National Guard Bureau.
Hokanson said Lengyel is an extraordinary man, a wise leader, a devoted husband, proud pilot, patient mentor and very good friend.
His accomplishments while serving as chief for much of the past four years included the expansion of the State Partnership Program from 73 partner nations to 80 and, more recently, the historic deployment of Guard forces amid the coronavirus pandemic and civil unrest across the nation.
Those deployments peaked with 118,000 Guardsmen on duty earlier this year, the largest number activated since World War II.
Service is in the Lengyel family’s blood, officials noted. His father was an F-4 pilot who spent five years as a prisoner of war in Vietnam. One of his brothers is a retired major general. And one son serves today as an Air Force pilot.
Lengyel’s wife, Sally, is also an Air Force veteran.
"The family knows the meaning of sacrifice...,” Norris said. “This family you see here before you knows the meaning of service more than most of us.”
She said Lengyel was that rare breed of leader who was both humble and resolute and praised him for his leadership as Guard units tackled increasingly complex missions in cyberspace, on the southwest border and amid domestic emergencies and continuous overseas operations.
Lengyel commissioned in 1981 from the University of North Texas. He spent much of his career as an F-16 instructor pilot and weapons officer, fulfilling a childhood dream to fly fighter jets.
“I wanted to be like my dad,” he said. “Luckily for me I was able to do that.”
Lengyel said his greatest accomplishments weren’t any leadership positions or past deployments, but his children.
He fondly looked back on his career and thanked his family for the sacrifices they made because of that service.
“No one knows what this uniform is going to ask of them when you put it on for the first time,” Lengyel said. “It is that blank check that we all write… We swear to give this uniform whatever it asks, up to and including our very own lives.”
As part of his retirement ceremony, his brother, retired Maj. Gen. Greg Lengyel, administered the federal oath of office one last time as Lengyel swore to continue to support the nation in retirement.
Lengyel said it was an honor to be part of the National Guard.
“I spent my entire tenure watching them do amazing things,” he said.
