KANSAS CITY, Mo. (AP) - Former Missouri congressman Ike Skelton has been named to the national panel planning next year's activities marking the 100th anniversary of the start of World War I.
The western Missouri Democrat was appointed Thursday by President Barack Obama to the 12-member World War I Centennial Commission. The commission is headquartered in Kansas City at the National World War I Museum at Liberty Memorial.
Skelton represented Missouri's 4th Congressional District in the U.S. House from 1977 to 2011. He chaired its Armed Services Committee during his final two terms.
Skelton is currently a partner in the law firm of Husch Blackwell LLP. The White House noted that his father, Ike Skelton Sr., served in the U.S. Navy during World War I as a fireman aboard the USS Missouri.