Ken Gallagher '48

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Ken Gallagher ’48, who celebrated his 100th birthday on April 16, is not your typical centenarian. The 1948 UCLA Student Body President retired as a Colonel in the Air Force, went on to a successful second career as a banker, and recently renewed his driver’s license – and not just for identification purposes. He still drives, although he does point out, “I haven’t driven at night for a while – but only because I haven’t had the occasion to.”

His longevity and still-strong motor vehicle skills have made Gallagher a celebrity in the luxury retirement community in Carlsbad, California, where he and his wife of 50 years, Karen, live.
“People here thought it was amazing,” he said. “‘You got a driver's license? They renewed you at 100?’” I said, “‘Yeah, the governor was good to me.’”

That feeling of gratitude and good fortune was evident in a feature done by FOX 5/KUSI (San Diego) television as he marked his milestone birthday as well as in a conversation with UCLA Alumni. Whether it was his experience at UCLA, getting through active duty in three wars unscathed and enjoying a second career as a banker – as well as happiness in his personal life – he considers himself lucky. “I’ve led a charmed life,” he said.

“I never got wounded. Never got shot down, anything like that,” Gallagher said in the television interview. “I never had any scares in my flying time. Of course, at that age, as a teenager, you think you’re immortal; you haven’t got sense enough to be scared.”

Pilot

Gallagher was a freshman at UCLA on December 7, 1941, and he remembers where he was when he heard about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

“My dad and I were watching the Los Angeles Bulldogs football team back before they had major leagues on the West Coast. It was announced on the radio. I was still 17 years old, but soon after I was 18, I asked my mother and father if I could join. I wanted to be a pilot; I joined the aviation cadets and went right to the flying school.”

When asked why he was so anxious to serve, he gives two reasons:

“Even back then, people did say, ‘Why don't you just wait?’ Well, number one, I didn't want to be drafted; I didn't want to be a foot soldier. Number two, I didn't want to tell my grandchildren that I didn’t fight in World War II.

“I became a pilot; I went to Europe in June of 1944 and I finished my missions rather rapidly. I got to be a squadron leader over there, and my tour was short. I flew heavy bombers – B-17, four-engine bombers. I bombed Germany, Austria, even bombed Greece once or twice when the Germans were still there. I flew my 50 missions and came home before Christmas 1944.”

Contemporaneous accounts of Gallagher’s achievements belie his recollection of “no scares” during his flying time. The Aug. 20, 1944, edition of the San Diego Union recounted a close call after a bombing run over Vienna, Austria:

“Two of its engines shot out of commission, its fuselage and wings riddled by flak and its weigh stripped 3000 pounds as the crew lightened it to bare essentials, a 15th Air Force Flying Fortress was brought staggering back to its Italian base recently by a San Diego pilot, 1st Lt. Kenneth H. Gallagher, 20, of 1141 Seventeenth St., the army announced yesterday.”

Gallagher received the Distinguished Flying Cross, his citation stating, “Despite severe and adverse weather conditions, rugged terrain and many other major obstacles and hazards, Gallagher engaged, fought and defeated the enemy without regards for his own personal safety and against great odds.”

Big Man on Campus

The San Diego native, now a decorated war hero, returned to UCLA on the GI Bill in the spring of 1946, able to resume his education even though his first year had not gone well academically.

“In my first year I think I failed everything except gym and ROTC.” (He eventually taught ROTC at UCLA.) “But they accepted me back at UCLA after the war on probation. I was grateful for that.”

Now more motivated and taking 18 units per semester, it didn’t take long for Gallagher to make the most of his second chance at UCLA, as the 1946 Southern Campus yearbook notes: “Ken Gallagher was released from the Army Air Corps and was promptly installed as ‘Chief Factotum’ [one who has many diverse responsibilities] of [Theta Delta Chi] affairs, as well as holding the job of treasurer on Interfraternity Council.”

The next year, 1947-48, he was president of both the house and Interfraternity Council and in his senior year, he was elected student body president.

The 1948 yearbook summed up Gallagher’s accomplishments:

Ken Gallagher has proved to be a student body president of merit and ability. “K.G.” has shown keen interest in student welfare by exerting his efforts to make the much-discussed Student Union more of a reality than a dream. The executive ability which seems to be one of his inherent characteristics was put to good use after he enrolled at UCLA; Ken’s campus activities have included positions on both the AMS and OCB Councils, membership in Gold Key, Cal Club, and Interfraternity Council where he served as president when he was a high junior. His political life at UCLA was capped in his senior year, when the help of [his] Theta Delt brothers, his winning smile, and his winning way gained for Ken Gallagher the highest honor attainable by a student at UCLA, of the office and title of “President of the Student Body.”

A noteworthy happening during Gallagher’s time in office was the hiring of John Wooden as head basketball coach.

“Johnny Wooden? I never met him, because I hired him in my senior year and he of course wasn't on the athletic staff at that time [he started the following academic year]. I was on the Athletic Board of Control by virtue of being president of the student body, but I can't claim any credit for hiring him except for that I voted for him. About all I knew was that he had been a great player at Purdue.”

Model Leader

Gallagher credits his time at UCLA with helping develop qualities he would need later in life – one in particular.

“I think I developed leadership there as student body president,” he said.

“We made a lot of decisions, one of which I distinctly remember: there was a very liberal movement going around back then in colleges – they were trying to form a National Association of Students, and the people that were organizing it were very liberal to communist. So, I kind of influenced the student body council to vote no on joining that organization. And it never fully became a national institution.”

During his UCLA days, Gallagher knew future student body president Sherrill Luke ’50 – the first Black student to hold that office – who is still going strong at age 95.

“I knew Sherrill Luke because he was one of our yell leaders for athletic events and then, later on, I was pleased when he decided he wanted to get into student politics. And, I was also very pleased that he went on to get a law degree and then became a judge. He had a very successful career.”

Gallagher’s daughter BJ recalled other activities in which the “big man on campus” had the opportunity to participate.

“In addition to Dad's intelligence and leadership skills, he was also very handsome – so handsome that he was a male model for Desmond's department store. When I was kid, I recall seeing an old newspaper ad featuring Dad modeling a fedora hat. With his finger-wave curly hair, blue eyes and great smile, he was very photogenic. Cameras loved his face.”

Career Officer

After graduating with a degree in business administration – and getting married in the summer of 1948 – Gallagher took a job a traveling salesman for the Arrow shirt company (“the only shirt in town when I grew up”), but as the Korean War ramped up, he got a call from the military asking if he wanted to move from his status as a reservist back to active duty.

“They called me and asked me if I would be interested in a recall. And I said, ‘Yeah, I would like that.’ So they called me back and sent me over to Guam and the Philippines. And then the Korean War broke out.

“I talked to my wife at the time. I said, ‘I could get out now, but I like to fly and I already have about four years invested. How about I become what they call a lifer, a career officer?’

“She said, ‘Yeah; that's okay. I like to travel, so that's fine.’ So I did.”

He would also fly in the Vietnam War and live with his young family on three different continents.

Banker

“I stayed in for 33 years total. I was only 50-something when I retired from the Air Force in 1975.

“I decided that I was too young to not work anymore, so I had a second career with Bank of America. I was manager of operations at Seventh and Alameda down in the industrial area in Los Angeles. The bank was very good to me. I rose to be a vice president. I had about 14 years with them – I was 65 – and I was tired of commuting in the L.A. area, so I retired.”

Some in his immediate family were dubious about how the newly retired former military officer and bank manager would fare with no urgent, day-to-day responsibilities.

“I was very early in my family in graduating from college; there weren’t many others that did that. I've always been ambitious. Until I retired. My children used to say, ‘What are you going to do when you retire? You know, you've worked hard all your life. You've always been ambitious and busy.’

Retiree

“I said ‘You just watch old Dad – I can do nothing just as hard as anyone.’”

He was right; retirement suited him well.

“I had re-married a younger wife -– 18 years younger – after my first marriage ended. My second wife, Karen, and I have traveled all over the world, mostly on cruises. Early on, we went on bus tours in Europe. We even took a bus tour to Russia before the Berlin wall came down – that was very educational.”

To what does he attribute the quality of his life?

“I think the primary thing is that my health has always been good. I don't have any major disabilities. Now, I have some hearing loss – that’s the most serious thing that’s wrong with me.

“And here I am, 100 years old. I was just lucky.

“I’ve led a charmed life: the Air Force was a good to me; the bank was good to me. I tried to be good to myself. Not much more to be said.”