"Not By Arms Alone" - Col. Howard F. Bronson USAF

	The Al 'Batman' Shortt

	The Dirk Jory, Air tanker pilot

	The Linc Alexander, air tanker pilot

	John Lear

	Pilots who flew the Invader in air racing

	Fitzhugh L. "Fitz" Fulton    Fitzhugh L. "Fitz" Fulton Jr. is a retired civilian research pilot at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, Edwards, California, from August 1, 1966, until July 3, 1986, following 23 years of service as a pilot in the U.S. Air Force. Born in Blakely, Georgia, June 6, 1925, Fulton attended Auburn University, the University of Oklahoma, and is a graduate of Golden Gate University. Air Force service Fulton flew 225 trips to Berlin in C-54's during the Berlin Airlift. He also flew 55 combat mission in the Douglas B-26 Invader over North Korea. He received a Distinguished Flying Cross and five Air Medals for these missions. Fulton completed the Air Force Experimental Test Pilot School in 1952, and served as a test pilot with the Air Force. He was a project pilot on the B-58 supersonic bomber program and set an international altitude record of 85,360 feet with the aircraft carrying a payload of 11,023 pounds (5000 kilograms) in 1962. He received the 1962 Harmon International Aviation Trophy for his work on the program. Fulton was also assigned as the Air Force pilot on the B-52 launch aircraft for the X-15 research aircraft and other air-launched vehicles. During his earlier Air Force career Fulton received three Distinguished Flying Cross medals for his test pilot work. He flew the XB-70 prototype supersonic bomber on both NASA-USAF tests and NASA research flights during the late 1960s, attaining speeds exceeding Mach 3. He was also a project pilot on the YF-12A and YF-12C research program from April 14, 1969, until September 25, 1978. The planes were flown at speeds and altitudes in excess of 2,000 mph and 70,000 feet to acquire flight data for the development of future aircraft. Fulton retired from the USAF in 1966 after a 23-year career. At the time, he was Chief of Bomber Transport Test Operations Division at Edwards Air Force Base. NASA test pilot Fulton was the project pilot on all early tests of the Boeing 747 Space Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) used to air launch the Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise in the Approach and Landing Tests (ALT) at Dryden in 1977. During these flights, the SCA carried the un-powered Enterprise to an altitude of about 25,000 feet, where it was separated from the 747 and flown to a landing by the Shuttle test crew. Several uncrewed and crewed captive flights preceded the initial free-flights. For his work in the ALT program, Fulton received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal. He also received the Exceptional Service Medal again in 1983 for flying the 747 SCA during the European tour of the Space Shuttle Enterprise. After orbital flights began in 1981, Fulton continued to fly the SCA during ferry missions returning Orbiters to the Kennedy Space Center Florida. During his career at Dryden, Fulton was project pilot on NASA's B-29, B-50 and B-52 bombers launch aircraft used to air launch a variety of piloted and unpiloted research aircraft, including the X-1, X-2, X-15s and M-2, HL-10 and X-24 rocket airplanes. He was also project pilot on the Laminar Flow Control Leading Edge research program using a specially modified C-140 JetStar. Fulton was the project pilot for the FAA/NASA Controlled Impact Demonstration program during 1984. It culminated on December 1, 1984, when he remotely flew an unpiloted, heavily instrumented Boeing 720 to a prepared impact point on Rogers Dry Lake to test the flammability of anti-misting jet fuel in a crash situation. He is a Fellow of the Society of Experimental Test Pilots, and in 1977 received the Society's Iven C. Kincheloe Award as Test Pilot of the Year for his work on the ALT program. At the time of his NASA retirement in 1986, Fulton had over 16,000 flying hours in 235 types of aircraft. Scaled Composites After retiring from NASA, Fulton hired on as the Flight Operations Director and Chief Research Pilot for Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites. There, he flew the maiden flights on the Advanced Technology Tactical Transport and the Scaled Composites Triumph twin engine executive jet. In 1999, he was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame

	Joseph Kittinger Joseph William Kittinger II (born July 27, 1928) is a former Command Pilot and career military officer in the United States Air Force. He is most famous for his participation in Project Manhigh and Project Excelsior, holding the records for having the highest, fastest and longest skydive and as being the first man to make a solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in a gas balloon. Serving as a fighter pilot during the Vietnam War, he was shot down and spent 11 months in a North Vietnamese prison. Early life and military career Born in Tampa, Florida (U.S.), Kittinger was educated at the Bolles School in Jacksonville, Florida, and the University of Florida. After racing speedboats as a teenager, he entered the U.S. Air Force in March 1949. On completion of aviation cadet training in March 1950, he received a pilot rating and a commission as a second lieutenant. He was subsequently assigned to the 86th Fighter-Bomber Wing based at Ramstein Air Base in West Germany, flying the F-84 Thunderjet and F-86 Sabre. In 1954 Kittinger was transferred to Holloman AFB, New Mexico and the Air Force Missile Development Center (AFMDC). He flew the observation/chase plane which monitored flight surgeon Colonel John Paul Stapp's rocket sled run of 632 mph (1,017 km/h) in 1955. Kittinger was impressed by Stapp's dedication and leadership as a pioneer in aerospace medicine. Stapp, in turn, was impressed with Kittinger's skillful jet piloting, later recommending him for space-related aviation research work. Stapp was to foster the high altitude balloon tests which would later lead to Kittinger's record-setting leap from over 102,800 feet (31,300 m). In 1957, as part of Project Manhigh, Kittinger set an interim balloon altitude record of 96,760 feet (29,490 m) in Manhigh I, for which he was awarded his first Distinguished Flying Cross. Project Excelsior Main article: Project Excelsior Captain Kittinger was next assigned to the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories at Wright-Patterson AFB in Dayton, Ohio. For Project Excelsior (meaning "ever upward"), a name given to the project by Col. Stapp as part of research into high altitude bailouts, he made a series of three extreme altitude parachute jumps from an open gondola carried aloft by large helium balloons. Kittinger's first high-altitude jump, from about 76,400 feet (23,300 m) on November 16, 1959, was a near-disaster when an equipment malfunction caused him to lose consciousness. The automatic parachute opener in his equipment saved his life. He went into a flat spin at a rotational velocity of about 120 rpm. The g-forces at his extremities have been calculated to be over 22 times the force of gravity, setting another record. On December 11, 1959, he jumped again from about 74,700 feet (22,800 m). For that leap, Kittinger was awarded the A. Leo Stevens Parachute Medal. On August 16, 1960, he made the final jump from the Excelsior III at 102,800 feet (31,300 m). Towing a small drogue parachute for initial stabilization, he fell for four minutes and 36 seconds, reaching a maximum speed of 614 miles per hour (988 km/h)  before opening his parachute at 18,000 feet (5,500 m). Pressurization for his right glove malfunctioned during the ascent, and his right hand swelled up to twice its normal size.  He set historical numbers for highest balloon ascent, highest parachute jump, longest drogue-fall (four minutes), and fastest speed by a human being through the atmosphere. These are still current USAF records, but were not submitted for aerospace world records to the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). These jumps were made in a "rocking-chair" position, descending on his back, rather than in the usual face-down position familiar to skydivers. This was because he was wearing a 60 lb (27 kg) "kit" on his behind, and his pressure suit naturally formed the sitting shape when it was inflated, a shape appropriate for sitting in an airplane cockpit. For this series of jumps, Kittinger was decorated with a second Distinguished Flying Cross, and he was awarded the Harmon Trophy by President Dwight D. Eisenhower. Project Stargazer   Back at Holloman Air Force Base, Kittinger took part in Project Stargazer on December 13–14, 1963. He and the astronomer William C. White took an open-gondola helium balloon packed with scientific equipment to an altitude of about 82,200 feet (25,100 m), where they spent over eighteen hours performing astronomical observations. Later USAF career Kittinger later served three combat tours of duty during the Vietnam War, flying a total of 483 missions. During his first two tours he flew as aircraft commander in Douglas A-26 Invaders and modified "On-Mark Engineering" B-26 "Counter Invaders" as part of Projects Farm Gate and Big Eagle. Following his first two Vietnam tours, he returned to the United States, and he soon transitioned to the McDonnell Douglas F-4 Phantom II. During a voluntary third tour of duty to Vietnam in 1971-72, he commanded the 555th Tactical Fighter Squadron (555 TFS), the noted "Triple Nickel" squadron, flying the F-4D Phantom II. Kittinger would also later serve as vice commander of the 432nd Tactical Reconnaissance Wing. During this period he was also credited with shooting down a North Vietnamese MiG-21. Kittinger was shot down on May 11, 1972, just before the end of his third tour of duty. While flying an F-4D, USAF Serial No. 66-0230, with his Weapons Systems Officer, 1st Lieutenant William J. Reich, Lieutenant Colonel Kittinger was leading a flight of Phantoms approximately five miles northwest of the village of Thai Nguyen, North Vietnam, when they were engaged by a flight of MiG-21 fighter planes. Kittinger and his wingman were chasing a MiG-21 when Kittinger's Phantom II was hit by an air-to-air missile that damaged the fighter's starboard wing and set the airplane on fire. Kittinger and Reich ejected a few miles from Thai Nguyen and were soon captured and taken to the city of Hanoi. During the same engagement, Kittinger's wingman, Captain S. E. Nichols, shot down the MiG-21 they had been chasing. Kittinger and Reich spent 11 months as prisoners of war (POWs) in the "Hanoi Hilton" prison. Kittinger was put through "rope torture" soon after his arrival at the POW compound and this made a lasting impression on him. Kittinger was the senior ranking officer (SRO) among the newer prisoners of war (those captured after 1969), and in John D. Sherwood's book, Fast Movers, he was described as having been in conflict with some of his fellow prisoners over his leadership style. He tried to keep the aggressive junior officers under his command from doing anything that would result in more torture for the POWs. In Kittinger's autobiography "Come Up and Get Me" by Kittinger and Craig Ryan, Kittinger was described as being very serious about maintaining the military structure that was essential to survival. Kittinger and Reich were returned to American hands on March 28, 1973, and they continued their Air Force careers, with Kittinger promoted to full colonel shortly thereafter. Later civilian career Kittinger retired from the Air Force as a colonel in 1978, and initially he went to work for Martin Marietta Corporation in Orlando, Florida. Still interested in ballooning, he set a gas balloon world distance record for the AA-06 size class (since broken) of 3,221.23 km in 1983.  He then completed the first solo Atlantic crossing in the 106,000 cubic foot (3,000 m³) Balloon of Peace from September 14 to September 18, 1984. As an official FAI world aerospace record, it is (as of December 2008) the longest gas balloon distance flight in AA-10 size category (5,703.03 km). He participated in the Gordon Bennett Cup in ballooning in 1989 (ranked 3rd) and 1994 (ranked 12th). Kittinger still lives in the Orlando area, and he was the Vice President of Flight Operations for Rosie O'Grady's Flying Circus, part of the Rosie O'Grady's / Church Street Station entertainment complex in Orlando, prior to the parent company's dissolution. Kittinger is still active in the aviation community as a consultant and touring barnstormer.

	Joseph L Shannon In the midst of the cheering thousands who turned out to welcome Charles Lindbergh to Birmingham in 1927 was a 6-year-old boy who resolved then and there to pursue a career among the clouds. Joe Shannon grew up in Fairfield in a family that had followed the military. Unable to wait until the calendar said he was old enough to enlist, Shannon signed up for the Army National Guard squadron headquartered in Birmingham while still a student at Fairfield High School. The boyhood days of Shannon and his friends, like those of an entire generation of American boys, came to an abrupt end when Birmingham's Guard unit was activated in 1940. After completing his Army Air Corps training, Shannon's pilot wings were pinned on his uniform, and he shipped out for England to train in British Spitfires. At just 19 years old, Staff Sgt. Joe Shannon was learning how to stay alive in aerial dogfights against Germany's Luftwaffe pilots in the skies over North Africa. When Rommel's Afrika Korps was defeated, Shannon's squadron remained in hot pursuit, flying combat missions in Italy during the Salerno landings. He flew missions in the P-40 fighter plane, the P-51 Mustang escort fighter for long-range bombers and the P-38. "The P-38 was the most sophisticated fighter we had, and the one I found most challenging to fly," Shannon says. After surviving 50 combat missions during his tour in Africa and Europe, Shannon received orders returning him stateside to train in the B-25 bomber. He then saw action in the China/Burma/India Theater of Operations, where his squadron flew aerial reconnaissance missions from China to the Indian Ocean. Shannon was recalled to active duty for service during the Korean War. Jet aircraft were now streaking through the skies, and Shannon became qualified to fly them, as well. He also flew during the Berlin Crisis. Following that action, Shannon received a call from the Central Intelligence Agency. Highly qualified B-26 pilots were being recruited for a top-secret mission that would involve training Cuban exiles to fly aircraft in support of an operation designed to topple Castro's communist government, which President Kennedy deemed a threat to the security of the Western Hemisphere. "The CIA did not want any active-duty U.S. military personnel involved in the operation," Shannon says. "The operation was not intended to defeat Castro's forces, but to spark an internal uprising which would eventually bring about the downfall of the Castro government." Shannon and his colleagues were flown to Guatemala, where they trained Cuban exiles to fly the B-26 bomber. The action began in April 1961 at the Bay of Pigs, the site selected by the CIA as the insertion point of the men and materiel. The round-trip flights in support of the landings were exhausting, however, and the decision was made to scrap the no-fly policy for American pilots. A search went out for the pilots who had trained the Cubans, and Shannon and three other pilots were located in time to join the operation. An uproar at the United Nations over the assault led Kennedy to cancel the remaining flights. Without air cover, the campaign was doomed. The invasion troops were killed or captured as soon as they landed in the swampy Bay of Pigs area. Shannon retired from the Air Force in 1972 after more than three decades of service to his country and began flying as a corporate pilot. His career in aviation has now spanned more than 60 years, and he has logged more than 20,000 hours in the air. The sergeant stripes on the uniform once worn by a novice flier have been replaced by the silver oak leaf cluster of a lieutenant colonel awash in decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross, an Air Medal with 14 Oak Leaf clusters, the Distinguished Unit Citation, the Chinese Air Medal and the Cuban Liberation Air Force Medal for Valor. The state of Alabama also awarded him its Distinguished Service Medal and Commendation Award. He was inducted into the Alabama Aviation Hall of Fame in 1999. The award that stands out most prominently in Shannon's mind, however, is the Seal Medallion he received from the CIA for his role in the Bay of Pigs operation. "I believed in President Kennedy's dream of freedom for the Cuban people," Shannon says. "He wanted to offer them a chance at a better life." At 80-something years old, Shannon continues to take to the skies. He joins a group of aviation junkies every Saturday morning at Pell City Airport to fly and swap aviation stories. Military aviation history today is being written by a generation of pilots who are streaking though the skies at supersonic speeds in aircraft equipped with laser-guided bombs, heat-seeking missiles and other space-age weaponry that allow them to engage an enemy often without ever seeing him. Shannon represents the dwindling number of fliers of an earlier age who dueled in the skies with an enemy whose faces they were close enough to see.

	Air Vice Marshal James Edgar "Johnnie" Johnson CB, CBE, DSO James Edgar Johnson was born on March 9, 1915 at Barrow-upon-Soar, Leicestershire, United Kingdom. The village policeman's son from Melton Mowbray, Leicestershire, was originally rejected by the Auxiliary Air Force because he was not a member of the local fox hunt. “The hunt,” as it was known in the England of those days, was part of a class based system of “who’s who.”   “Johnnie” trained as a civilian engineer, and when he was rejected by the RAF Volunteer Reserve he joined the Territorial army. When war broke out he was soon called to the RAFVR to begin flying training, joining his first operational squadron, No.19 Squadron, in 1940. Unfortunately, Johnnie arrived with a unit that had no time to train new pilots and he was soon moved to No.616 Squadron (No.19 was facing great frustration with its first cannon armed Spitfires). He was off to a rough start. He crashed his first Spitfire just four days after taking to the air, and when he reported the aggravation of an old rugby injury (a broken collarbone with attendant trapped nerves) he was suspected of having a lack of moral fiber. An operation allowed him to get back in the air, and when Fighter Command launched a series of aggressive cross-Channel sweeps (summer of 1941) the airmanship and combat skills exhibited by Johnson as a member of No 616 Squadron (South Yorkshire's Auxiliary AF Spitfire squadron), were recognized by Douglas Bader. Bader was the charismatic leader who lost both legs in a pre-war flying accident, at that time leading his celebrated Spitfire wing from Tangmere at the foot of the South Downs.   Bader paid Johnson the compliment of inviting him to fly in his own section, and the two men struck up a lifelong friendship, with Johnson frequently flying No.2 to the Wing Leader. On August 9, during the wing's operation in support of a bomber attack on Gosnay, near Lille, Johnson was present when Bader was shot down and taken prisoner. Johnson later recalled how the amiable banter of his groundcrew relieved the tension as they strapped him in at Westhampnett airfield, a satellite of Tangmere. He remembered also "the usual cockpit smell, that strange mixture of dope [varnish], fine mineral oil, gun oil and high octane assailing the nostrils" was "vaguely comforting". He tightened his helmet strap, swung the rudder with his feet on the pedals, wiggled the stick, thought about Lille and Me 109s and switched on his gunsight. He continues, "In a slanting climb we cross Beachy Head and steer for the French coast. Bader rocks his wings, we level out for the climb, slide out of our tight formation and adopt wider battle formations at 25,000 ft. “We were flying over the Pas de Calais when we encountered a swarm of Me 109s. We fanned out alongside Bader. There were four 109s with others on either side. Before opening fire I had a swift glance to either side. For the first time I see Bader in the air, firing at a 109. My 109 pulls into a steep climb, I hang on and knock a few pieces from his starboard wing." Wing Leader, JE Johnson, 1964. Spotting a lone Messerschmitt, Johnson dropped below the aircraft to take aim with his cannon at the unarmored underside. Moments later a plume of thick black smoke marked the end of the 109. By September, 1941, his score had risen to six (all Me109s) and Johnson was awarded the DFC and promoted to Flight Commander. By this time the Spitfire was encountering serious opposition to its sweeps, including the new radial-engined Focke Wulf Fw 190 which could both outpace and outmaneuver it. The Fw190 sported four 20mm cannon and two 13mm machineguns. Johnson first encountered one of these aircraft in April 1942, getting a shot at it and damaging it. In June 1942 he was awarded the bar to his DFC. In July 1942, when his score had already reached double figures, Johnson received command of No 610 (County of Chester), an Auxiliary AF Spitfire squadron based at Ludham in Norfolk. The next month, on August 19, 610 flew with New Zealander Jamie Jameson's No 12 Group Spitfire wing in the air battle over Dieppe, in support of the disastrous Dieppe Raid. Jameson recalled how, "Over Dieppe the wing was immediately bounced by a hundred FW 190s and a few Me 109s. I heard Johnson swearing as he broke 610 into a fierce attack. I was hard at it dodging 190s, but I found time to speak sharply to Johnson about his foul language." Johnson flew four sorties over Dieppe, adding to his tally of "kills". At Dieppe during the raid of August 19 he had his first Fw 190 kill. It was to be the first of many he shot down as improved marks of the Spitfire closed the gap on the Fw 190. Johnnie was always the first to acknowledge his debt to his groundcrew. "My life depended on my rigger Arthur Radcliffe and my fitter, Fred Burton," he wrote. "They strapped me in, waved me off and welcomed me back - and whenever I was successful they were as pleased as me." Johnnie Johnson attributed his shooting skill to his love for hunting, as did many other famour air marksmen. At the age of 17 he bought a BSA 12-bore shotgun - for £1 down and nine similar monthly payments. In those days rabbits fetched a shilling each, and he estimated that if he could average two rabbits from three shots he could pay for the gun. His determination resulted in his becoming adept at deflection shooting on the ground. Graduating to wildfowling on the Lincolnshire marshes, Johnson adapted the skill to bring down widgeon, pintail and teal. He later commented, "The principles of deflection shooting against wildfowl and aeroplanes were exactly the same, except that aeroplanes could sometimes return your fire. The best fighter pilots were usually outdoor men who had shot game and wildfowl." Johnnie married Pauline Ingate in 1942. They would eventually have two sons.   Following command of No 610, in March 1943 Johnson was posted to lead the Canadian fighter wing at Kenley. Before long, Syd Ford, commanding No 403 Squadron, laid a pair of blue Canadian shoulder flashes on Johnson's desk. "The boys would like you to wear these," said Ford. "After all, we're a Canadian wing and we've got to convert you. Better start now." Though technically a breach of regulations, Johnson had the insignia sewn to the upper sleeves of his tunic. Attacking ground targets and acting as escorts to US Eighth Air Force Fortress bomber formations, Johnson's Canadians produced ever increasing scores - in addition to Johnson's 14 kills and five shared between April and September (Johnson was awarded the DSO in June) When Johnson left the squadron to rest from operations, his send-off party was such that the wing was stood down the next day. Between September 1943 and March 1944 Johnnie rested in a Staff Appointment at HQ No.11 Group. Such was Johnson's reputation with the Canadians that when, early in 1944, the Royal Canadian Air Force formed No 144 Wing of three squadrons at Digby, in Lincolnshire, they insisted Johnson command it. On 7th July 1944, Johnson received a second bar to his DSO and was promoted to Group Captain. At the D-Day landings on June 6 1944, Johnson led the wing four times over the Normandy beaches. Bill weeks, an RCAF pilot with 144 Wing, tells the story of the move of 144 Wing to B3, at Saint-Croix-sur-Mer on the morning of June 15. “B3 was located in a large pasture; sod had been removed and wire mesh laid down to form a runway. It was a suitable enough landing strip, although exceedingly dusty. “In view of this, Johnson decided that we would make our move one squadron at a time, in 30 minute intervals. He selected S/L BD Russel’s 442 Squadron to go first. “We landed in pairs, with enough intervals between pairs to allow the dust to clear, and dispersed our aircraft. Shortly thereafter, a lone Spitfire flew over the field. It was low enough that we could read the letters JEJ on its side—Johnson’s letters. On his first approach, Johnnie didn’t come close to getting his aircraft down, nor did he on the second. He did grease it on his third or fourth attempt—in my mind it was the latter—and parked near our aircraft. “He walked over to where Russel was standing and was overheard to say, “Dal, if I hadn’t gotten the damn thing down on that last approach, I was going to get you to send up one of your boys to shoot me down.” Spitfire, The Canadians, by Robert Bracken. Boston Mills Press, 2000.   From B3 Johnson and his men saw much action, and he himself had soon notched up his 28th kill, an FW 190 shot down over Normandy. Johnson surpassed Malan's score in on June 30, 1944, near Falaise while flying with 441 Squadron. The South Africans' kills had all been scored in the dark days of 1940 to 1941. Johnson ended his war in command of 125 Wing which in May 1945 he led to Denmark to put on a victory air display. His wartime tally of 38 was exceeded only by that of the South African ace 'Pat' Pattle, who was credited with 41 kills in the Middle East and Eastern Mediterranean before being shot down and killed in April 1941. On the ground, Johnson got about on a horse he had found abandoned by the Germans. In the mess, dissatisfied with field rations, he brightened up meals with airlifts of bread, tomatoes, lobster and stout supplied by the wing's favourite Chichester landlord. The transportation of some refreshments was by unorthodox methods. The Chichester beer arrived hung in barrels from the wings of his plane! Brian “Blackie” MacConnell of 402 Squadron tells this related story. “I had heard of the Spitfire XIVs and had asked for them when I was at OTU. “I was posted to 402 Squadron, which was the first RCAF squadron equipped with Mark XIVs. I landed, with three or four other pilots, at Brussels in Ansons. Our kit was taken out of the aircraft and put on the ground, and we were standing around. Another pilot (I think his name was Riddell) and I were waiting for a lift to the squadron, and I noticed a barrel of beer among the kit we carried. I very carefully moved my kit aside and worked it over toward the barrel. “Then a truck came and a sergeant asked, “You’re for 126 Wing?” We said, “Yes.” He said, “Fine, where’s your kit?” We pointed to the barrel and our kit bags, and the beer went into the truck. “When the truck arrived at Diest, I me the adjutant of the 402, Alex Cronsberry. During our first discussion, I mentioned that I came from Lindsay, Ontario. He said, “Oh, that’s where Ken Sleep is from,” and they put me in his flight. We hid the beer in his quarters.   “It was only later on, while we were enjoying the beer—now hidden in Sleep’s room, since we did not want to share it with the other squadrons—that I noticed on the end of the barrel, written in chalk: J. Johnson—127 Wing. The only J. Johnson at 127 Wing was of course, the very well-known Johnnie Johnson. So if I ever meet Johnnie, I will have to thank him for the beer!” Spitfire, The Canadians, by Robert Bracken. Boston Mills Press, 2000. In April 1945 Johnson was given command of No 125 Wing, equipped with the latest Griffon-engined Spitfire XIVs. After VE Day, on May 8, he led the wing to Denmark. In the course of the war, he had never been shot down and had only once been hit by an enemy fighter, over France in August 1944. After Denmark, he was posted to Germany in command of No 124 Wing. In 1947, having reverted to the substantive rank of wing commander (the price of peace and a permanent commission), he was sent to Canada to attend the RCAF staff college at Toronto. The next year he went on exchange to the US Air Force, and in 1950-51 he served with the Americans in Korea, before returning to Germany to command RAF Wildenrath until 1954. In 1957, once more in the rank of group captain, Johnson was transferred to the world of bombers, as Commander of the new Victor V-bomber station at Cottesmore, Rutland. . He flew reconnaissance mission in Douglas B-26 Invaders and fighter-bomber sorties in the Lockheed F-80 Shooting Star, winning the US Air medal and Legion of merit, in Korea though he did not score any kills. After promotion to Air Commodore and a spell as Senior Air Staff Officer at Bomber Command's No 3 Group, at Mildenhall, Suffolk, he received (on promotion to air vice-marshal) his final command - Middle East Air Forces, Aden. Johnson rated the latter command "the best air vice-marshal's job in the Air Force". After retirement from the RAF in March, 1966, he sat on company boards in Britain, Canada and South Africa. He also launched, and until 1989 ran, the Johnnie Johnson Housing Trust, providing housing and care for the elderly, the disabled, and vulnerable young people and families. Today the trust manages more than 4,000 houses and flats. He wrote several readable books, notably Wing Leader (1956), a wartime autobiography, and Full Circle (1964). With his friend and fellow ace Wing Commander P B "Laddie" Lucas, he wrote Glorious Summer (1990); Courage in the Skies (1992); and Winged Victory (1995). In addition to the decorations mentioned already he was awarded an American DFC, Air Medal, and Legion of Merit, and the Belgian Croix de Guerre and Order of Leopold. He was appointed CBE in 1960 and CB in 1965. He became a Deputy Lieutenant for Leicester in 1967, and was appointed to the Legion d'honneur in 1988. Air Vice-Marshal J. E. (Johnnie) Johnson, CB, CBE, DSO and two Bars, DFC and Bar, fighter ace, was born on March 9, 1915. His close friend, Air Chief Marshal Sir Christopher Foxley-Norris, said the record-breaking pilot died at his home in Derbyshire on Tuesday, January 30, after an illness. His Tally: 15/1/1941: Shared kill of a Do 17 26/6/1941: Shot down Bf 109 July 1941: Shot down two Bf109s, damaged two more and shared in another probable. August-September 1941: Downed three more Bf109s, shared in the destruction of another and was credited with a probable and a shared probable. 15/4/1942: Damaged an Fw190 19/8/1942: Downed a Fw190, shared a Bf109 and shared the damaging of another. 20/8/1942: Probable Fw190 13//2/1943: Probable Fw190 3/4/1943: Shot down Fw190 5/4/1943: Damaged three Fw190 May 1943: Three killed and one shared kill June and July 1943: downed seven more aircraft, shared in the destruction of two more and damaged a further two. August to September 1943: Downed three Fw190s, shared in the destruction of two 109s and was credited with a damaged 109 and shared damaged. 28/3/1944: Shared in the destruction of a Ju88 on the ground at Dreux April and May 1944: Three more Fw190s shot down June and July 1940: Seven enemy aircraft shot down and one damaged August 1944: Downed two more Fw190s 27/9/1944: Closed his score with a Bf109

	Colonel Dick Denison Dick Denison's first combat missions were flown during the D-Day invasion in C-47s, towing gliders into Normandy and making casualty evacuations. He then tranferred to the 386th Bomb Group, flying the A-26 Invader. Dick completed a total of 40 combat missions in the A-26, all flown as Squadron Navigator.     Major Carl Oates Carl Oates joined the 386th Bomb Group at Great Dunmow, England, in September, 1944. Piloting first the Martin B-26 and then the A-26 Invader, he he flew 22 combat missions from England, and later from bases in France and Belgium. Carl served as the Operations Officer of the 554th Squadron during the final six months of the war in Europe.     Captain Earl Slanker Joining the USAAF in October, 1942, Earl was posted in Eurpoe, flying the B-26F Marauder, flying with the 386th B.G. at Great Dunmow. He flew combat missions in the buildup to D-Day, later moving to Beaumont, France in October, 1944. Promoted to Flight Leader, Earl converted to the A-26 Invader in February, 1945. He completed a total of 62 combat missions.     Ralph Lackner Jr Ralph Joseph Lackner, Jr., retired Engineer, died peacefully at his home in New Braunfels on Tuesday, November 6, 2007 at the age of 86. He was born April 4, 1921 to Austrian immigrant Ralph J. Lackner, Sr. and Emma Hubert. He attended Brooklyn Technical High School and New York University. He was a decorated World War II pilot and a member of the Ninth Air Force's "Famous 416th Bombardment Group." Ralph was one of the first pilots to fly the A-26 Invader in attacks over Germany. On July 2, 1946 in Tulsa, Oklahoma, he married Betty Shumaker Lackner and together they raised four children. In 1982, Ralph retired from Exxon after 35 years of service and relocated from Houston to New Braunfels in 1988. He was a devoted husband, proud parent, brilliant engineer and master model railroad maker. He is survived by his beloved wife Betty of 61 years; son, Ralph Lackner III and wife Linda of Tulsa; three daughters, Nancy Lackner of Lockhart, Lynda Lackner and husband Wray Walker of Wimberley, and Barbra Lackner Nelson of New Braunfels. Other survivors include five wonderful grandchildren, Matthew Lackner Garza, Peter Lackner, Allison Lackner, Lisa Casey and Lesli Wood; and two special great grandsons, Kye and Seth.

	BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD T. DRURY Retired Jan. 1, 1982. Brigadier General Richard T. Drury is vice commander of the Military Traffic Management Command, Washington, D.C. The command is a jointly staffed, major Army command serving as the Department of Defense single-manager operating agency for military traffic, land transportation and common-user ocean terminal service. General Drury was born in 1927 in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and graduated from high school at New Mexico Military Institute in Roswell. He was appointed to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y., and graduated in 1950 with a bachelor of science degree in military engineering and a commission as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force. He received a master of science degree from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1961. General Drury completed the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va., in 1965, and the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in 1970. He entered pilot training in Texas in June 1950 and then served as pilot, operations officer and safety officer at various bases in France, Korea and Texas. While in Korea he completed 20 combat missions with a total of 87 combat hours in B-26s from April to July 1952. After observer-bombardier training at James Connally Air Force Base, Texas, General Drury was assigned to the 342nd Bombardment Squadron at Biggs Air Force Base, Texas, as a B-47 pilot and later as an aircraft commander. In January 1959 he enrolled at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology under the Air Force Institute of Technology program, where he received his master's degree in aeronautics and astronautics. From June 1960 to August 1964, he was an instructor and then associate professor in the Department of Mechanics at the U.S. Military Academy. After qualifying as a paratrooper at the U.S. Army Airborne Infantry School at Fort Benning, Ga., he proceeded to the Armed Forces Staff College as a student officer. General Drury transferred to Naha Air Base, Okinawa, as a pilot and squadron operations officer with the 35th and 817th Troop Carrier Squadrons from May 1965 to July 1966. He completed 130 combat missions during 153 combat hours in C-130A's in Vietnam. His next assignment, in September 1966, was at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, as director of tactical operations, 315th Air Division. From January to September 1967, he accumulated 185 combat missions and 208 combat hours in the C-130A, also in Vietnam. In August 1968 he was assigned to the 834th Air Division at Tan Son Nhut Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, as chief of support operations. He later became senior duty officer, then assistant director of operations and, in January 1969, deputy director of operations. He returned to the United States in August 1969 to attend the Air War College. In June 1970 he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as chief of the Command Plans Branch in the Directorate of Plans. General Drury became commander of the 516th Tactical Airlift Wing at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, in June 1971. He went to Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., in July 1972 as commander of the 314th Tactical Airlift Wing. In June 1973 he assumed duties as director, international staff, Inter-American Defense Board, Washington, D.C. In July 1974 General Drury become vice commander of 22nd Air Force, Military Airlift Command, Travis Air Force Base, Calif. In October 1977 he become commander, U.S. Forces, Azores, and commander, 1605th Air Base Wing, Lajes Field, Azores. He assumed his present duties in June 1980. The general's military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with six oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Unit Citation emblem with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon with "V" device and two oak leaf clusters, Humanitarian Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation and Republic of Portugal Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique. He was promoted to brigadier general Sept. 1, 1973, with date of rank Aug. 30, 1973.             BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN F. BARNES Retired June 1, 1975. Brigadier General John F. Barnes is the deputy assistant chief of staff, operations (J-3), United Nations Command/United States Forces Korea. General Barnes was born in Anderson, Ark., in 1925. After graduation from high school, he attended Arkansas Polytechnic College at Russellville. He received his bachelor of science degree in journalism from the University of Arkansas in 1950. During World War II, General Barnes enlisted in the U.S. Army and entered the aviation cadet program in April 1943. He received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant at Pampa Army Air Field, Texas in February 1944. He then served in various assignments as pilot of a variety of aircraft and was flying B-25s in the Pacific Theater of Operations when the war ended. He was released from active military service in June 1946. General Barnes returned to active duty during the Korean War in April 1951 and served as a B-26 combat crew training instructor pilot at Langley Air Force Base, Va. In September 1951 he was assigned to the 3rd Bombardment Wing at Kunsan Air Base, Korea, and flew 55 combat missions over North Korea in the B-26 Invader. He returned to the United States in March 1952 and served in various flying assignments with Air Defense Command and Air Training Command. In May 1957 he was transferred to Europe where he served with the U.S. Air Forces in Europe in operational positions at Etain Air Base, France, until August 1959 and then at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany, where he became chief of the Tactical Operations Branch, 49th Tactical Fighter Wing. He entered the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in September 1961. General Barnes was transferred to Langley Air Force Base in June 1962 where he served for three years as an operations staff officer with the Directorate of Plans, Tactical Air Command headquarters. He then was assigned to the 4th Tactical Fighter Squadron at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., as an operations officer. In June 1966 General Barnes was sent to Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, to serve as operations officer for the 558th and later the 559th Tactical Fighter Squadrons, and in October 1966 became Commander of the 559th Squadron, an organization flying F-4C Phantom jet fighter aircraft. He returned to Tactical Air Command headquarters in April 1967 and assumed duties as chief, Combat Crew Training Division, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations. In June 1968 he was transferred to the U.S. Air Force Military Personnel Center at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, where he became deputy chief of the Officers Management Division, Directorate of Personnel Resources and Distribution. General Barnes returned to Tactical Air Command in September 1970 and was named vice commander of the 4453rd Combat Crew Training Wing at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz. In February 1971 he assumed command of the wing, which later transitioned from the F-4 to A-7D Corsair II tactical fighter aircraft and became the 355th Tactical Fighter Wing. General Barnes returned to Eglin Air Force Base, Fla., in September 1972, and became commander of U.S. Air Force Special Operations Force. In September 1973 he was appointed deputy chief of staff, personnel, Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Va. In August 1974 General Barnes was assigned as deputy chief of staff, operations (J-3), United Nations Command/United States Forces Korea, at Yongsan, Korea. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon. He is a command pilot with more than 6,000 flying hours. He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective March 1, 1973, with date of rank Feb. 7, 1973.             MAJOR GENERAL JOHN W. BURKHART Retired April 1, 1977. Major General John W. Burkhart is deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb. General Burkhart was born in Connellsville, Pa., in 1922. He graduated from Monessen Public High School in 1940 and later attended West Virginia Wesleyan College. In 1942 he enlisted in the U.S. Army Reserve and entered the aviation cadet program in 1943. He completed pilot training in August 1944 and received his pilot wings and commission as second lieutenant. He then served tours of duty as aircraft commander, operations officer and fighter pilot, and flew P-51 aircraft with the 431st Fighter Squadron in Korea. He was relieved from active military service in 1947. During the Korean War in May 1951, General Burkhart returned to active duty and served as a B-29 aircraft commander with the 52d Strategic Reconnaissance Squadron at Lake Charles Air Force Base, La. In June 1952 he went to Korea and was assigned to the 307th Bombardment Wing. He is credited with 30 combat missions. In December 1952 he returned to the United States for pilot-observer training. From March 1954 to August 1958, General Burkhart served at Lockbourne (now Rickenbacker) Air Force Base, Ohio, as an RB-47 aircraft commander and operations officer for the 352d Bombardment Squadron. In November 1959, he was transferred to Robins Air Force Base, Ga., where he was assigned to the 4137th Strategic Wing as a B-52 squadron operations officer; in May 1960 became operations officer for the 342d Bombardment Squadron, and in October 1962 assumed command of the squadron. He became chief, Operations Training Division of the 465th Bombardment Wing in March 1964. General Burkhart entered the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in August 1965. After graduation in June 1966, he was assigned as operations staff officer in the National Military Command Center, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Washington, D.C. His next assignment was in July 1968 as deputy commander for operations, 7th Bombardment Wing, Carswell Air Force Base, Texas. From July 1969 to February 1970, he served as vice commander of the 2d Bombardment Wing at Barksdale Air Force Base, La. He commanded the 379th Bombardment Wing at Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Mich., from February 1970 to July 1972. Under his command, the wing received an Air Force Outstanding Unit Award for the period July 1, 1970, to June 30, 1971; won the Omaha Trophy for the best aircraft or missile organization in Strategic Air Command, and the Commander in Chief, Strategic Air Command, Flying Wing of the Year Award in 1971. Other major awards included the SAC Charles D. Trail Materiel Award and the Sweeney and Martensen awards from Second Air Force. General Burkhart was appointed commander of the 19th Air Division, SAC, at Carswell Air Force Base, Texas, in August 1972. Concurrently, he served on temporary duty as the commander, 57th Air Division (Provisional), Andersen Air Force Base, Guam, from January through October 1973. During this period the 57th Air Division was responsible for the largest force of B-52s ever assembled for combat operations. General Burkhart commanded this force at the time of the signing of the Paris peace agreements ending the U.S. participation in the war in Southeast Asia, and the release of American prisoners of war. In October 1973 General Burkhart was assigned as assistant deputy chief of staff for plans, Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., and became deputy chief of staff for plans in July 1974. He was reassigned as deputy chief of staff for operations, in July 1975. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, and Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon with three oak leaf clusters. He is a command pilot with more than 7,000 flying hours, 4,000 of which have been in multiengine jet aircraft. He has flown a variety of aircraft, including P-51, P-38, A-20, A-26, B-25, B-29, B-47, KC-135 and B-52. His hometown is San Antonio, Texas. He was promoted to the grade of major general effective Aug. 1, 1974, with date of rank March 1, 1972.             MAJOR GENERAL REGINALD J. CLIZBE Retired Aug. 1, 1968. Major General Reginald James Clizbe is commander of the U.S. Air Force Southern Command, at Albrook Air Force Base, Canal Zone. USAFSO is the U.S. Air Force representative for plans and operations throughout Latin America and is the air component of the unified U.S. Southern Command. Its overall mission centers on conducting planning and operations as directed by the unified commander and assisting in developing Latin American air forces. Born at Enid, Mont., in 1916, General Clizbe graduated from Centralia Junior College in Centralia, Wash. In 1940, he graduated from the U.S. Military Academy with a degree in engineering. He also earned a master's degree from the Harvard Graduate School of Business Administration in 1947, and graduated from the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in 1953. Prior to his current assignment, General Clizbe was director of operations, deputy chief of staff, plans and operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He earlier served in various command and staff positions which included duty with North Atlantic Treaty Organization, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Military Airlift Command, Tactical Air Command and U.S. Air Forces in Europe. He commanded several light bombardment wings and during World War II and Korea led many combat missions, flying predominantly in A-20 and A-26 type aircraft. A command pilot with more than 26 years' service his decorations include the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, Soldier's Medal, Bronze Star Meda1 and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.             MAJOR GENERAL WILLIAM A. COHEN Retired June 30, 1997. Maj. Gen. William A. Cohen is mobilization assistant to the Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas. He is the senior Reservist and senior officer in the command advising on Reserve matters. He is responsible for providing leadership to the AETC Reserve program at locations around the country. This includes the development and direction of Reserve initiatives; procurement and training of Reserve personnel in support of the command's active-duty force; and the productive and efficient utilization of Air Force Reservists assigned to the command in peacetime, and their readiness for mobilization in time of war or national emergency. General Cohen entered the Air Force in 1959 as a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, and was previously a distinguished graduate of the Reserve Officer Training Corps program at Wentworth Military Academy, Lexington, Mo. He is a master navigator and has flown more than 3,500 hours in bombardment, attack and transport aircraft. He flew 174 combat missions in special operations, attack aircraft in Vietnam and additional combat missions in the Middle East during the Yom Kippur War as a member of the Israeli air force. EDUCATION 1959 Bachelor's degree, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. 1967 Master's degree in research and development management, University of Chicago 1978 Master's degree in management, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, Calif. 1979 Doctorate in executive management, Claremont Graduate School, Claremont, Calif. 1989 Distinguished graduate, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. ASSIGNMENTS 1. July 1955 - June 1959, cadet, U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. 2. July 1959 - May 1960, student, navigator training, James T. Connally AFB, Texas 3. June 1960 - November 1960, student, advanced navigator-radar bombing, Mather AFB, Calif. 4. December 1960 - January 1961, student, B-52 combat crew training, Castle AFB, Calif. 5. January 1961 - April 1961, student, B-52 combat crew training, Walker AFB, N.M. 6. May 1961 - March 1965, B-52E navigator, navigator-bombardier, instructor and lead crew, 26th Bomb Squadron, Altus AFB, Okla. 7. March 1965 - July 1966, B-52E navigator standardization evaluator and flight examiner, Standardization Division, 11th Strategic Aerospace Wing, Altus AFB, Okla. 8. July 1966 - September 1967, student, Air Force Institute of Technology, University of Chicago, Ill. 9. October 1967 - December 1968, student, A-26 combat crew training, England AFB, La. 10. January 1968 - January 1969, A-26 navigator, 609th Air Commando Squadron, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai AFB, Thailand 11. January 1969 - June 1970, program manager, Life Support Program Office, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 12. June 1970 - October 1978, inactive 13. October 1978 - November 1978, student, C-141 crew training, Altus AFB, Okla. 14. November 1978 - September 1979, C-141 navigator, 445th Military Airlift Wing, Norton AFB, Calif. 15. September 1979 - October 1984, Staff Development Engineering Manager, Defense Support Systems Program Office, Los Angeles Air Force Station, Calif. 16. November 1984 - June 1986, staff developmental engineer, Commander's Action Group, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. 17. June 1986 - June 1988, individual mobilization augmentee to the Deputy Commander for Satellite Systems, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. 18. June 1988 - June 1989, student, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. 19. June 1989 - January 1990, individual mobilization augmentee to the Deputy Commander for Communications, Operations Support and Control Systems, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. 20. January 1990 - April 1991, individual mobilization augmentee to the Commander, Phillips Laboratory, Kirtland AFB, N.M. 21. April 1991 - June 1992, mobilization assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineering and Technical Management, Air Force Systems Command, Andrews AFB, Md. 22. June 1992 - September 1992, mobilization assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Engineering and Technical Management, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio 23. September 1992 - July 1994, mobilization assistant to the Commander, Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles AFB, Calif. 24. July 1994 - present, mobilization assistant to the Commander, Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas FLIGHT INFORMATION Rating: Master navigator (navigator wings from United States and Israel ) Flight hours: More than 3,500 Aircraft flown: 8-52, A-26, A-1 , F-100, C-141, C-97 and T-29 MAJOR AWARDS AND DECORATIONS Legion of Merit Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters Defense Meritorious Service Medal Meritorious Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters Air Medal with two silver and one bronze oak leaf clusters Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters Air Force Achievement Medal Vietnam Service Medal with four bronze stars Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm and bronze star OTHER ACHIEVEMENTS Author of 33 books and more than 80 articles published in 12 languages Institute director, former department chairman, full professor, California State University, Los Angeles Former president, West Point Society of Los Angeles Biography in Who's Who in America EFFECTIVE DATES OF PROMOTION Second Lieutenant June 3, 1959 First Lieutenant Dec. 3, 1960 Captain Dec. 3, 1963 Major (Spot) June 7, 1965 Captain Oct .17, 1978 Major April 10, 1981 Lieutenant Colonel Sept. 30, 1985 Colonel Aug. 1, 1989 Brigadier General Aug. 12, 1992 Major General Feb. 9, 1994             BRIGADIER GENERAL RICHARD N. CORDELL Retired July 1, 1971. Died April 12, 1992. Brigadier General Richard Nichols Cordell is assistant chief of staff, communications and electronics, Pacific Command, Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii. General Cordell was born in 1920 in Burley, Idaho. He received his first military training with the Idaho National Guard at Boise, Idaho, in 1937, and attended the University of Idaho and Brigham Young University from 1938 to 1942. In January 1942 he enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. He completed pilot training in July 1942 at Stockton Army Air Field, Stockton, Calif., and received his pilot wings and commission as second lieutenant. During World War II in December 1942, he was sent to the China-Burma-India Theater of Operations as a B-24 pilot with the 7th Bombardment Group. In January 1944 he was assigned to the Army Air Corps Gunnery School at Harlingen, Texas, as a B-24 pilot and aircraft maintenance officer. From May 1945 to February 1947, General Cordell served as aircraft maintenance officer at Truax Field, Wis., and Spokane Army Air Field, Wash., and also ferried A-26 aircraft from Hobbs Field, N.M. From May 1947 to August 1949 he flew F-51 aircraft with the 8th Fighter Wing at Itazuke Air Base, Japan. In November 1949 he was assigned to the Ground Electronics School at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., graduating in September 1950. His next assignment was as operations officer and later commander of the 1907th Airways and Air Communications Service Squadron at March Air Force Base, Calif. General Cordell was transferred to the Pacific Area for the third time in June 1952 and assigned to the 1818th AACS Mobile Communications Group in Korea as executive officer and later was deputy commander and in June 1953 was transferred to the 1808th AACS Wing Headquarters at Tokyo, Japan, where he served as executive officer, deputy commander, and director of plans and requirements. During that tour of duty he was responsible for providing communications and air traffic control facilities for atomic test forces in the Eniwetok-Kwajalein area. He graduated from Air Command and Staff School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in June 1957 and was transferred to Washington, D.C., as chief of the Terminal Aid Section, Navigational Air Branch, Division of Communications Electronics, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. In February 1959 he moved to the Electronics Division of the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and worked on International Civil Aviation Organization adoption of tactical air navigation compatible distance measuring equipment and very high frequency, omnirange. In July 1961 he became director of engineering at Ground Electronics Engineering Installations Agency Headquarters at Griffiss Air Force Base, N.Y., and in December 1962 assumed duties as director of installations and materials. He was assigned in July 1964 as commander of the European GEEIA Region with headquarters at Wiesbaden Air Base, Germany, and in May 1967 returned to Griffiss Air Force Base, N.Y., as Deputy Commander, GEEIA. General Cordell assumed the position of assistant chief of staff, communications and electronics, Pacific Command, in August 1968. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal, and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon. He is a command pilot. He was promoted to the temporary grade of brigadier general effective Aug. 1, 1968, with date of rank June 22, 1968.             BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWARD L. ELLIS Retired Oct. 1, 1979. Brigadier General Edward L. Ellis is commander of the 23rd North American Air Defense Command Region and the 23rd Aerospace Defense Command Region, Duluth International Airport, Minn. General Ellis was born in 1925, at Drumright, Okla., and graduated from Capitol Hill High School in 1942. He attended the University of Oklahoma in 1948-49 and studied business at Oklahoma City University in 1950-51. He received a bachelor of arts degree in 1965 from Park College, Parkville, Mo. He is a graduate of the Air Command and Staff College and has completed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces. He entered military service as an aviation cadet in June 1943 at Sheppard Field, Texas, and received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant in August 1944 at Brooks Field, Texas. General Ellis served in the Western Pacific with the 3rd Attack Group, flying the A-26 until he separated from the service in August 1946. Recalled to active duty in March 1951, General Ellis was a B-29 pilot with the 6th Bombardment Wing, Walker Air Force Base, N.M., until he entered navigator-observer training at Mather Air Force Base, Calif., in September 1952. From May 1953 to May 1958, General Ellis was a pilot and aircraft commander with the 22nd Bombardment Wing, March Air Force Base, Calif., flying the B-47. In May 1958 he was transferred to Barksdale Air Force Base, La., and served as a B-47 aircrew evaluator until he entered the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in September 1960. General Ellis was a member of the Seventeenth Air Force operations staff at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from June 1961 to June 1965. He then returned to the United States and entered Park College under Operation Bootstrap. After graduation he was assigned to Headquarters Air Training Command, Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, serving first as a manpower and organization management staff officer and then us chief, Training Branch, under the deputy chief of staff for plans. In May 1967 he became commander of the 3300th Support Squadron, also at Randolph Air Force Base. General Ellis' next tour of duty was in the Republic of Vietnam where he flew A-37 jet aircraft and was squadron operations officer and chief of the Plans Division for the 3rd Tactical Fighter Wing at Bien Hoa Air Base. General Ellis was assigned to Headquarters Aerospace Defense Command in November 1970 and served briefly as chief, Management Engineering Division, Directorate of Manpower and Organization. He then became assistant deputy chief of staff for personnel and later deputy chief of staff for personnel for Headquarters North American Air Defense Command and Headquarters Aerospace Defense Command, which were collocated in Colorado Springs, Colo. In August 1976 he was named commander of the 46th Aerospace Defense Wing at Peterson Air Force Base, Colo. General Ellis assumed command of the 23rd NORAD Region with additional duty as commander, 23rd Air Division, ADCOM, of Duluth International Airport, in March 1977. In January 1979 his command responsibilities were redesignated as commander, 23rd NORAD Region, and commander, 23rd ADCOM Region. He is a command pilot. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 11 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal, 1st Class. General Ellis was promoted to the grade of brigadier general May 1, 1977, with date of rank April 30, 1977.             MAJOR GENERAL THOMAS R. FORD Retired March 1, 1969. Died May 27, 2002. Major General Thomas R. Ford is deputy chief of staff for materiel, Headquarters Aerospace Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, Colo. General Ford was born in 1914 in Edgetts, Mich. He received his high school education in Shelby, Mich., and graduated from Michigan State University in 1938 with a bachelor of arts degree in business administration. He received his commission as a second lieutenant in November 1939 after completion of aviation cadet training in Texas. His first assignment was with the 25th Bombardment Squadron in the Canal Zone, Panama. He was transferred in May 1951 to the 59th Bombardment Squadron in the Dutch West Indies where he served as engineering officer and later commander. He then served in the Caribbean area until 1943 and upon return to the United States joined the 416th Bombardment Group for assignment to the European Theater of Operations. In July 1944 General Ford was assigned to the 409th Bombardment Group as commander. While with the 409th, he flew 27 combat missions in A-20 and A-26 light bombers over Normandy, the Rhineland, Northern France, Ardennes-Alsace and Central Europe. Returning to the United States in 1945, he became commander of Lake Charles Field, La. A year later, he went to Biggs Field, Texas, where he became deputy chief of staff for operations for Headquarters Ninth Air Force. From 1947 to 1950 General Ford was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, where he held positions as chief, Combat Training Branch; chief, Air Training Division; and Air Force member on the Joint Advisory Planning Staff, Turkey. In August 1950 General Ford returned to the United States and attended the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Va. He was next assigned as chief, Tactical Air Branch, Operational Plans Division, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. In January 1954, ha became commander of the 461st Bombardment Wing at Hill Air Force Base, Utah and later went with the wing to Blytheville Air Force Base, Ark., where he remained in command until the wing was inactivated in 1958. He then transferred to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., as special assistant to the commander, Ninth Air Force and in June 1958 assumed command of the 837th Air Division. He served in that position through July 1960 after which he assumed duty as deputy for operations, Ninth Air Force. In June 1961 General Ford assumed command of the 41st Air Division at Johnson Air Station, Japan, and in June 1962 became commander of the 6100th Support Wing at Tachikawa Air Base, Honshu, Japan. He assumed duties as deputy chief of staff for materiel, Headquarters Aerospace Defense Command, in July 1964. His decorations include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal and the Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters. He is a command pilot.             LIEUTENANT GENERAL ABBOTT C. GREENLEAF Retired May 1, 1980. Died June 22, 2002. Lieutenant General Abbott C. Greenleaf is deputy chief of staff, programs and evaluation, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. General Greenleaf was born in 1926, in Pittsburgh. He attended elementary and secondary schools in Cayuga, N.Y., and Washington, D.C., and graduated from The Manlius School, Manlius, N.Y. After 17 months of enlisted service in the U.S. Navy during World War II, he received an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., and graduated in 1949 with a commission in the U.S. Air Force. He received pilot training at James B. Connally and Reese Air Force bases, Texas. After earning his pilot wings in August 1950 at Reese Air Force Base, he remained there as a flight instructor. While assigned at Reese he also attended pilot instructor school at Craig Air Force Base, Ala. General Greenleaf completed combat crew training in A-26 aircraft at Langley Air Force Base, Va., in August 1951. He then transferred to the 452nd Bombardment Wing (Light/Night Intruder) stationed at Pusan East Air Base (K-9), Republic of Korea, where he served successively as a flight commander and squadron operations officer with the 728th Bombardment Squadron and as a group operations officer with the 452nd Bombardment Group. At Pusan East he met his future wife who was serving in Korea with the Air Force's Special Services. In July 1952 General Greenleaf was assigned as an instructor at the Air Command and Staff School (squadron officer course), Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. In August 1953 he entered graduate school at Princeton University, N.J., and graduated in 1955 with a master's degree in politics. He also earned a master's degree in public affairs from Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. From August 1955 until May 1959, General Greenleaf was assigned to the department of social sciences, U.S. Military Academy, first as an instructor in government, history, geography and economics and then as the assistant professor of international relations. In 1958 he received a Social Science Research Council fellowship to study national security affairs at Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H. In 1959 General Greenleaf participated as a staff member of the President's Committee to Study the U.S. Military Assistance Program ("Draper" Committee). He was assigned in October 1959 to the Long-Range Objectives Group, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Policy, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. In 1960, while assigned to the Air Staff, he served with a defense reorganization study group under Secretary of Defense Thomas S. Gates. From January 1961 until August 1964, General Greenleaf was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense where he served successively as a military staff assistant in the Office of the General Counsel, the Directorate of Organizational and Management Planning; the immediate Office of the Secretary of Defense; and the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Administration. He attended the National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., from August 1964 until June 1965. During this period General Greenleaf also served as a staff assistant to retired U.S. Air Force General Thomas D. White, who was appointed by the secretary and the chief of staff of the Air Force to assess the U.S. Air Force Academy. During this period he also continued to work on projects for the secretary and deputy secretary of defense. From June 1965 through 1968, General Greenleaf was assigned as military assistant to the deputy secretary of defense. Following the Pueblo incident and the "Blue House" affair in January 1968, he was the military assistant to the U.S. presidential emissary to the president of the Republic of Korea. From December 1968 to May 1969, General Greenleaf was a military staff assistant in the Organizational and Management Planning Division, Office of the Secretary of Defense, Administration. In May 1969 he entered combat crew training in C-7s at Sewart Air Force Base, Tenn. From September 1969 until April 1971, General Greenleaf served successively as vice commander and commander of the 483rd Tactical Airlift Wing, Cam Ranh Bay Air Base, Republic of Vietnam. From May 1971 until August 1973, General Greenleaf was first assistant deputy chief of staff for operations and then deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters Air Force Systems Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Md. In August 1973 he was assigned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Programs and Resources, Headquarters U.S. Air Force as deputy director of programs. In May 1974 he become director, and in May 1977 he become deputy chief of staff, programs and resources. In June 1978 the position of deputy chief of staff, programs and resources was redesignated deputy chief of staff, programs and analysis, and in January 1979 it become deputy chief of staff, programs and evaluation. General Greenleaf is a command pilot. He has flown more than 50 different types of Air Force aircraft and has logged more than 5,000 flying hours, including more than 600 combat hours. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with three oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with five oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Republic of Vietnam Armed Forces Honor Medal 1st Class, Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with palm and Secretary of Defense Service Badge. He was promoted to lieutenant general June 1, 1977, with same date of rank.             MAJOR GENERAL VICTOR R. HAUGEN Retired Dec. 8, 1967. Died Oct. 15, 1987. Major General Victor Raymond Haugen is the commandant of the Air Force Institute of Technology, (a component of Air University) located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. Born in Kelowna, British Columbia, in 1912, he went to high school in nearby Penticton. He attended the University of Washington and graduated in 1934 with a bachelor of science in aeronautical engineering, and as a result of his ROTC training, a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery (Reserve). After graduation he enlisted as a flying cadet, U.S. Army Air Corps, and began flight training at Randolph Field, Texas. After he received his pilot's wings and aircraft observer rating at Kelly Field in June 1935, he was assigned as a flying cadet on active duty to the 12th Observation Squadron at Brooks Field, Texas. He soon became interested in rotary wing aircraft and flew an autogiro during its service test with the Cavalry School at Fort Riley, Kan., in 1938 and 1939. He now holds the rating of command pilot. In 1940 after getting a degree of master of aeronautical engineering from New York University, Lieutenant Haugen was assigned to the Engineering Division, Air Materiel Command, at Wright Field. As chief of the Mechanical Branch, Aircraft Laboratory, he was in charge of developmental projects in aircraft wheels, brakes, tires, hydraulic and mechanical activating systems, and also contributed to the early beginnings of the helicopter. A year later he became project officer for light and medium bombardment aircraft, responsible for the development of several experimental aircraft in this class, including the well known A-26 (now called the B-26). At the time of his departure for the Southwest Pacific area early in 1945, Colonel Haugen was chief of the Aircraft Projects Section. As deputy commander of the 307th Bomb Group, Colonel Haugen flew B-24s in the New Guinea-Borneo-Philippines area. When the war ended, he became base commander of Clark Field and helped set up the homeward flight of all available four-engine aircraft, known as Project Sunset. After the war, his assignments included: commander, 18th Fighter Group; chief of plans, 13th Air Force and chief of maintenance, Headquarters Far East Air Forces, in Tokyo. In 1947 he returned to Washington, D. C. to help establish the Joint Research and Development Board, the forerunner of the present Directorate of Defense Research and Engineering. In 1949, Colonel Haugen attended the Air War College, and then joined the staff of the Director of Research and Development, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. In June 1952, he was assigned to the Wright Air Development Center and served successively as the chief, Weapon Systems Division; Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations; Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander for Development. During this time he was promoted to brigadier general and was awarded the Legion of Merit for "outstanding leadership enabling the Air Force to make major technological advancements in its air weapons systems inventory." In August 1956, General Haugen became assistant deputy commander for weapons systems of ARDC and took command of Detachment 1, Headquarters ARDC, at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as the director of systems management. In March 1958, he was promoted to major general. General Haugen returned to Washington as the director of development planning, Deputy Chief of Staff/Development, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. Then in May 1960 he became the assistant deputy chief of staff, development, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. Before joining AFIT, General Haugen spent three and a half years as chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group to the Federal Republic of Germany. In this capacity, he represented the secretary of defense at the seat of the West German Convention in Bonn and was concerned with development of bilateral U.S./German cooperative programs designed to enhance the capabilities of the recently reconstituted Bundeswehr. General Haugen assumed the position of commandant of AFIT Sept. 1, 1965.             GENERAL JOSEPH R. HOLZAPPLE Retired Sep. 1, 1971. Died Nov. 14, 1973. General Joseph Randall Holzapple is commander in chief, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, with headquarters at Lindsey Air Station, Wiesbaden, Germany. The geographical area of interest of USAFE is from the British Isles and Scandinavian Peninsula through Western Europe and Turkey. He also commands the Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force with headquarters at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, which as an air force in NATO would during wartime direct and control Allied air operations in the defense of Western Europe. General Holzapple was born in 1914, in Peoria, Ill., where he graduated from Bradley University in 1938 with a bachelor of science degree in business administration. He received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the same university in 1958. He entered aviation cadet training in December 1940 and graduated in August 1941 with a commission as second lieutenant and his pilot wings. Subsequently he performed various flying duties at Jackson, Miss; Patterson Field, Ohio; and Barksdale Field, La. He was ordered to the European Theater of Operations in September 1942, where he served as operations officer and then commander of the 319th Bombardment Group, Twelfth Air Force. He flew 91 combat missions in North Africa and Europe with a total of 390 combat hours primarily in B-26 aircraft. In November 1944 the 319th Group converted to B-25 aircraft and used them for approximately two months before the group returned to the United States where it was reequipped with A-26 aircraft. In May 1945 the group moved to Okinawa where it operated until August 1945. During this period, General Holzapple flew eight combat missions over Japan and mainland China, totaling 33 combat hours. General Holzapple returned to the United States in February 1946 and was assigned to Headquarters Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C., with duties in the Requirements Division of the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Training and Requirements. He entered the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Va., in August 1949 and completed the Joint Operations Course there in January 1950. He returned to Washington, D.C., and was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force for duties with the Air Force Special Weapons Project. In September 1951 he was assigned to the Air Research and Development Command at Baltimore, Md., where he served first as the deputy for strategic air and later as assistant for operational readiness. From August 1954 to August 1955, he attended the National War College at Washington, D.C. After graduation, General Holzapple went overseas to Sculthorpe, England, to become commander of the 47th Bombardment Wing. In October 1956 he was assigned to U.S. Air Forces in Europe with headquarters at Wiesbaden, Germany, as deputy chief of staff for operations, and later became chief of staff. In July 1958 General Holzapple again was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, this time as deputy director for operational forces with Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. In August 1959 he was assigned to the Air Research and Development Command at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, as assistant deputy commander for weapons systems management, and in July 1960 he became commander of Wright Air Development Division. He was reassigned in July 1961 to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as assistant deputy chief of staff for systems and logistics. In May 1964 he became director of the Weapon Systems Evaluation Group, Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering, Department of Defense. In September 1966 he returned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as deputy chief of staff for research and development. General Holzapple became commander in chief, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, with headquarters at Lindsey Air Station, Wiesbaden, Germany, and commander of the Fourth Allied Tactical Air Force with headquarters at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, in January 1969. He received an honorary doctor of laws degree from the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1970. His military decorations include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with 18 oak leaf clusters, and Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem with oak leaf cluster. Foreign governments have bestowed upon General Holzapple the Croix de Guerre with etoile d'argent (France), the Croix de Guerre with palm (France), and the Distinguished Flying Cross (Great Britain). He is a command pilot.             BRIGADIER GENERAL GUY HURST JR. Retired Oct. 1, 1974. Died March 24, 1999. Brigadier General Guy Hurst Jr., is inspector general for Aerospace Defense Command, Ent Air Force Base, Colo. General Hurst was born in Greenville, Texas, in 1921. He entered Arkansas Southern College in September 1940. He enlisted in October 1942 in the aviation cadet program of the U.S. Army Air Corps and postponed his studies when ordered to active duty in April 1943. He completed primary and basic flight training and graduated from advanced flight training at La Junta, Colo., in August 1944, with his pilot wings and commission as second lieutenant. He next attended transition and combat crew training in B-26 and A-26 aircraft. In June 1946 as an A-26 pilot, General Hurst was transferred to the Pacific area where he served with the 38th Bombardment Group of the Fifth Air Force as flight commander, assistant operations officer, and maintenance officer. He returned to the United States in July 1949, attended pilot instructor school and became a flight instructor at Reese Air Force Base, Texas. During that period he attended Air Tactical School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. In January 1952 he entered jet transition training and later became an instructor in the Air Force instrument school at Moody Air Force Base, Ga. His next assignment was in January 1953 as an exchange officer with the U.S. Navy at Corpus Christi Naval Air Station, Texas. During this tour of duty, General Hurst was instrumental in organizing the Navy All-Weather Flight School and wrote, published and taught the entire curriculum, both flight and academic, to the initial cadre of pilots selected to be instructors in the school. In March 1954 General Hurst returned to Moody Air Force Base, Ga., as a member of the Crew Training Standardization Board. In January 1955 he was assigned to the 29th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Great Falls, Mont., and in August 1955 became operations officer for the squadron. In September 1957 he entered Sacramento State College, Calif., under the Air Force Institute of Technology program, and received a bachelor of arts degree in 1959. In June 1959 General Hurst was assigned to the 449th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Ladd Air Force Base, Alaska, as flight commander. He was assigned in August 1960 as chief of the Fighter Branch of the Tactical Evaluation Team for the 29th Air Division at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Mont. In this capacity he flew F-89 and F-101 aircraft with an air defense fighter squadron. He was transferred in July 1961 with the reorganized 29th Air Division at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Mo., as fighter interceptor officer for the deputy for operations and in May 1962 became director of tactical evaluation. In January 1963 he entered the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Va., and after graduation in July 1963 became commander of the 2d Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Suffolk County Air Force Base, N.Y. In July 1964 General Hurst was transferred to McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., as commander of the 539th Fighter Interceptor Squadron. He became director of operations for New York Air Defense Sector (redesignated 21st Air Division) also with headquarters at McGuire Air Force Base, in January 1966. During the Vietnam War in March 1967, General Hurst went to Southeast Asia as commander of the Tiger Hound/Tally Ho Task Force, at Tan Son Nhut Airfield, Republic of Vietnam. He became commander of the Seventh Air Force Airborne Battlefield Command and Control Center at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, in September 1967, and later also served as commander of the Seventh Air Force Command and Control Squadron at Udorn. During his Southeast Asia tour of duty he flew 38 combat missions with a total of 239 flying hours. He returned to the United States in May 1968 and was assigned as deputy commander of operations and training, Air Defense Weapons Center, Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla. In August 1969 he became vice commander of the 32d Air Division, Gunter Air Force Base, Ala. In December 1969 he was transferred to Duluth International Airport, Duluth, Minn., as commander, 343d Fighter Group, and in August 1970 assumed command of the 23d Air Division (ADC) with additional duty as deputy commander of the 23d North American Air Defense/Continental Air Defense Region with headquarters at Duluth. General Hurst was appointed inspector general for Aerospace Defense Command with headquarters at Ent Air Force Base, Colo., in March 1972. He is a command pilot with flying experience in many jet aircraft including the T-33, F-94, F-9F, F-31D, F-2H, F-101, F-102, F-104, F-4, and is currently a combat-ready pilot in the F-106 Delta Dart aircraft. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon, and Republic of Vietnam Air Service Medal. General Hurst's hometown is Greenville, Texas. He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective Aug. 1, 1970, with date of rank July 6, 1970.             BRIGADIER GENERAL HAROLD VERNON LARSON Retired Feb. 1, 1970. Died Aug. 30, 2005. Brigadier General Harold Vernon Larson is the director of military assistance, Deputy Chief of Staff, Systems and Logistics, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He is responsible for discharging the Department of the Air Force's responsibilities under the Military Assistance Program in the manner best adapted to the timely and effective attainment of United States objectives in the field of military assistance, both grant aid and foreign military sales. General Larson was born in Strong, N.D., in 1918. His family moved to Portland Ore., when he was a child. He entered military service in July 1940 as a flying cadet, completed flight training at Randolph and Kelly fields, Texas, in March 1941, and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Reserve. His first assignment was with the 22d Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Va. Subsequently, he was assigned to the 38th Bombardment Group at Jackson Army Air Base, Miss., and, after the outbreak of World War II, was transferred to Thirteenth Air Force in the Pacific Theater of Operations. General Larson served as a bomber pilot and the operations officer of the 70th Bombardment Squadron and participated in combat missions from Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands. Returning to the United States in 1943, General Larson was assigned to a B-26 combat crew training unit as a squadron operations officers and later as a squadron commander at Barksdale Field and Lake Charles, La., respectively. From Lake Charles he was assigned to the 56th Combat Crew Training Wing at Morris Field, Charlotte, N.C., as the flying safety officer. In 1945, he went to First Air Force Headquarters at Mitchel Field, N.Y., responsible for A-20, B-25, B-26 and A-26 bomber crew training. After World War II, General Larson separated from the service and returned to the University of Oregon to obtain his bachelor of science degree. During the period 1946 - 1947, he was engaged in graduate studies at the University of Uppsala, Sweden. Returning to active service in 1947, General Larson was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as a staff officer in the Directorate of Plans and Operations. In 1950, he was transferred to Oslo, Norway, as the programs and reports officer of the Military Assistance Advisory Group. Following this duty, he returned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in 1952 for assignment as a staff officer and later as deputy chief, Plans and Policy Division, Assistant for Mutual Security, which was the focal point for all Air Force military assistance planning worldwide. In October 1955, General Larson was transferred to Ohio Wesleyan University as professor of air science of the Air Force Reserve Officers Training Corps Detachment. This detachment was also responsible for the AFROTC program at Denison University, Kenyon College and Otterbein College, all located in central Ohio. General Larson attended the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pa., in 1958-59, and subsequently was assigned to Headquarters Commander in Chief Pacific at Camp Smith, Hawaii, as assistant chief of the Joint Policy Section and later as the assistant chief of the Foreign Military Aid Branch. This latter office was responsible for triservice military assistance policy and planning matters for all recipient Far East countries. In July 1962, General Larson was assigned to the Joint Chiefs of Staff where he served in the Far East Branch and the Plans and Policy Branch, and later as the deputy special assistant for military assistance affairs, responsible for the triservice strategic aspects of military assistance worldwide. Upon completion of the JCS tour in August 1965, he was transferred to the directorate of military assistance, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, where he held the position of chief, Plans and Policy Division and acting director of military assistance until he was appointed director of military assistance in March 1966. He was promoted to brigadier general in May 1966. General Larson, a command pilot, has been awarded the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal and several campaign and service medals.             MAJOR GENERAL HARRISON LOBDELL JR. Retired Sep. 1, 1978. Major General Harrison Lobdell Jr., is commandant, The National War College, National Defense University, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C. General Lobdell was born in 1924, in Los Angeles, Calif. He graduated from high school at the New Mexico Military Institute at Roswell in 1941 and completed junior college in 1943. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y., in 1946 with a bachelor of science degree in military science and commission as a second lieutenant. He attended the Army Command and General Staff College in 1959, the Air War College in 1964, and received his master's degree in international affairs from The George Washington University in 1964. After graduation from the academy, he entered flying school at Williams Field, Ariz., received his pilot wings in November 1946, then completed fighter pilot transition training. General Lobdell next was assigned to the 162d Reconnaissance Squadron at Brooks Field, Texas, and later at Langley Field, Va., where he served as a photographic reconnaissance pilot and supply officer from November 1946 to September 1948. He was transferred to the 8th Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron at Johnson Air Base, Japan, in September 1948. In his new assignment he served as photographic reconnaissance pilot, squadron adjutant, and personnel officer. In March 1949 he joined the 13th Bombardment Squadron, 3d Bombardment Group, at Yokota Air Base, Japan, and served as pilot, adjutant, training and armament officer, and flight commander. During the Korean War, as a member of the 13th BMS' famed "Grim Reapers" he led the first U.S. Air Force mission over North Korea as a B-26 Invader bomber pilot. He completed 60 missions over Korea as a night-intruder pilot. In January 1951 General Lobdell was transferred to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as a night and electronic reconnaissance operations staff officer with the Directorate of Requirements, Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Development. He served in this position until July 1954, when he was transferred to Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., as a reconnaissance pilot. In January 1955 he reported to the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., as deputy director for physical training. In August 1958 he was assigned as a student at the Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan. General Lobdell joined the 10th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Spangdahlem, Germany, in July 1959 and served as executive officer. He moved with the wing to Royal Air Force Station Chelveston and then to Royal Air Force Station Alconbury, England, where he became chief, Plans Division. In February 1961 he assumed command of the 1st Tactical Reconnaissance Squadron, also at Alconbury, and in February.1962 returned to the 10th Wing as chief, Tactical Operations Division. He later went to Toul-Rosieres Air Base, France, to be assistant deputy commander for operations for the wing. In August 1963 General Lobdell entered the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. After graduation in August 1964, he returned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force and was assigned as a plans and programs officer in the Directorate of Doctrine, Concepts and Objectives. During this tour of duty, he was concerned with various aspects of advanced planning including future aerospace capabilities, limited war doctrine, concepts and objectives. General Lobdell went to Southeast Asia in June 1967 as commander of Detachment 1, 432d TRW at Takhli Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, and in August was assigned as deputy commander for operations/reconnaissance, 355th Tactical Fighter Wing at Takhli. During these assignments he flew 105 missions -- 66 over North Vietnam -- in the EB-66 Destroyer aircraft. In August 1968 he returned to the United States and was assigned to Air Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas, as director of operations for the 3510th Flying Training Wing. In June 1969 he assumed command of the 3560th Pilot Training Wing, ATC, at Webb Air Force Base, Texas, and in April 1970 he returned to Randolph Air Force Base to command the 3510th Flying Training Wing. In January 1971 he became inspector general for Headquarters Air Training Command at Randolph Air Force Base. General Lobdell was appointed director, European Division, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (International Security Affairs), Washington, D.C., in February 1971. He assumed duty as deputy chief of staff for plans, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, with headquarters at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, in August 1974. General Lobdell became commandant of the National War College on Sept. 1, 1976. He is a command pilot. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with 12 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon. He was promoted to the grade of major general Feb. 12, 1975, with date of rank July 1, 1972.             BRIGADIER GENERAL ALAN P. LURIE Retired July 1, 1987. Brigadier General Alan P. Lurie is commander of the 25th Air Division, Tactical Air Command, McChord Air Force Base, Wash. General Lurie was born in 1933, in Cleveland and graduated from Cleveland Heights High School in 1951. He graduated from Ohio State University in 1955 with a bachelor of arts degree in history and was commissioned a second lieutenant through the Air Force Reserve Officer Training Corps program. The general completed Squadron Officer School in 1961 and the Air War College in 1976. After pilot training at Moore and Goodfellow Air Force bases, Texas, General Lurie was assigned to the 6500th Operations Squadron at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Md., in March 1957. In 1959 he transferred to the 6550th Operations Squadron, Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. From May 1961 to July 1962 he served as victor alert duty officer and command post controller, 47th Bombardment Wing, Royal Air Force Station Sculthorpe, England. For the next three years he was assigned as a pilot with the 480th Tactical Fighter Squadron, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, Phalsbourg Air Base, France, deploying with the squadron to Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. In February 1966, when the squadron deployed to Da Nang Air Base, Republic of Vietnam, he served as an F-4C aircraft commander. General Lurie was shot down in June 1966 and held as a prisoner of war in North Vietnam until his release in February 1973. Prior to his capture he flew 75 combat missions in F-40s. The general served as commander of the 20th Tactical Fighter Training Squadron at George Air Force Base, Calif., from March 1973 until July 1975. Upon graduation from the Air War College in June 1976, he moved to Headquarters Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va. While there he was the command's inspector general inspection team chief, chief of the readiness initiatives group and director of electronic warfare operations. In August 1978 he was assigned as deputy commander for operations, 366th Tactical Fighter Wing, Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho. From August 1979 to June 1981 General Lurie commanded the 58th Tactical Training Wing, Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. He then took command of the 67th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, and in June 1982 was named 12th Air Force's deputy chief of staff for operations at Bergstrom. The general transferred to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., in November 1982 and commanded the 836th Air Division until assuming his present duties in September 1984. A command pilot with more than 5,000 flying hours, General Lurie has flown T-33s; B-57s; C-131s; A-26s; F-84s; T-38s; F-4C's, D's, E's and F's; F-111A's; F-104s; A-10s; and F-15s. His military decorations and awards include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal with "V" device and two oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, Vietnam Service Medal with two service stars, Republic of Vietnam Gallantry Cross with Palm and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. General Lurie was awarded German air force Command Pilot Wings. He also wears the Missile Badge. He was promoted to brigadier general Aug. 1, 1983, with same date of rank.             MAJOR GENERAL HUGH B. MANSON Retired Feb. 1, 1969. Major General Hugh Boyd Manson is commander of the Air Force Flight Test Center, Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. Appointed in January 1966, he is responsible for the executive management for the center and the various technical facilities required to conduct manned aerospace vehicle development test operations. He also supervises the operation of the Air Force Aerospace Research Pilot School at Edwards and the Air Force activities at the Joint Parachute Facility at El Centro, Calif. Born in Darien, Ga., in 1915, General Manson graduated from Robert E. Lee High School in 1934 and from the University of Florida, Gainesville, in 1938, with a bachelor of science degree in biology. After air cadet training at Kelly and Randolph fields, Texas, he was commissioned on Feb. 1, 1939, as a second lieutenant and received his pilot's wings. Today he is a command pilot with more than 4,700 hours flying time. General Manson's initial assignment was with the 2d Bomb Group at Langley Air Force Base, Va. Prior to World War II, he joined the 22d Bomb Group and earned the American Campaign Medal with bronze star for participation in the antisubmarine campaign. He served from 1942 to 1943 as a squadron commander in the 22d Bomb Group in Australia and New Guinea, which earned the Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem. From 1943 to 1945, as commander of the training group at Lake Charles, La., and later as director of operations and training and deputy base commander, General Manson formed and developed a crew training program on operation of the new A-26 aircraft, which thoroughly familiarized crews with the capabilities and limitations of the aircraft. In March 1945, he joined the 319th Bomb Group as deputy commander and while in Okinawa earned the Air Medal for a flight over Kumamoto, Kyushu, Japan. After cessation of hostilities he served with the occupation forces in Japan. Upon his return to the United States, he attended Georgia Institute of Technology, receiving a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering in 1950. From 1951 to 1954 General Manson was director of flight and all-weather testing at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. After graduating from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in June 1955, he became commander of the 406th Fighter Interceptor Wing in England until May 1958 when he moved to Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, as deputy chief of staff for operations, where he earned the Legion of Merit. In August 1959, the general became the deputy chief of staff for operations at AFFTC and in 1960, he was named commander of the Atlas Site Activation Task Force at Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, where he was awarded an oak leaf cluster to the Legion of Merit for providing a combat-ready site for the Atlas F. In August 1962, General Manson returned to Wright-Patterson as assistant to the deputy commander for B-70, Aeronautical Systems Division. In 1963, he became deputy for systems management; on July 15, 1964, he became vice commander, Aeronautical Systems Division; and on Nov. 1, 1965, assumed command of the Systems Engineering Group, Wright-Patterson, remaining there until reassignment to his present position in January 1966. The general's decorations include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and the Air Medal.             BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLIAM J. MENG Retired July 31, 1967. Died Feb. 1, 2001. William J. Meng was born at North Middletown, Ky., in 1917. He attended High School in North Middletown where he graduated in 1935. He entered Transylvania College in 1935 and completed three years majoring in economics. He participated in the University of Maryland off-duty education program while on active duty in the Washington, D.C. area. In November 1939 he entered the U. S. Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet. He completed flying training in August 1940 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Corps Reserve Aug. 30, 1940. After flying training his first assignment was the Panama Canal Zone where he served as an A-20 pilot and squadron engineering officer. Captain Meng's next assignment was Lake Charles, La., as an A-20 squadron commander. In January 1944 he was transferred to the European Theater of Operations where he served as an A-20 squadron commander, deputy group commander of an A-26 group and later as air inspector of the 9th Bomber Command. While leading the A-20 group on the late D-Day mission over France he received wounds from 88 mm flack. During his tour in the European Theater of Operations, he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with eight oak leaf clusters and the Purple Heart. Returning to the Zone of Interior after World War II, Lieutenant Colonel Meng was assigned duty as the air inspector, 311th Reconnaissance Wing at Buckley Field, Colo. His next assignment was commander of the 7th Geodetic Survey Squadron. The mission of this squadron was geodetic survey using SHORAN equipment. To perform this mission the squadron was assigned B-29s, B-17s, OA-10s, C-47s and helicopters. From July 1948 to December 1949 he attended the Air Command and Staff School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. After Command and Staff School, January 1950 to January 1951, Lieutenant Colonel Meng assumed the duties of inspector general, 2nd Air Force. In January 1951, Lieutenant Colonel Meng was assigned to the 91st Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. The wing was equipped with RB-45, and the first multi-jet unit in the Strategic Air Command. He was deputy for operations and materiel during this assignment. He was promoted to the grade of full colonel, effective Jan. 19, 1951. The next assignment was as deputy wing commander, 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing at Lockbourne, Ohio. From Lockbourne, Colonel Meng transferred to Sidi Slimane Air Station, Morocco as director of operations for the 5th Air Division. He returned from Sidi Slimane back to Lockbourne Air Force Base as commander, 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing. During his tenure as commander, 26th Strategic Reconnaissance Wing, he commanded "Home Run Task Force" at Thule Air Base, Greenland. Director of personnel for 8th Air Force was the next assignment for Colonel Meng. While with 8th Air Force, Colonel Meng was selected to attend the National War College in Washington, D.C. After graduation, Colonel Meng was assigned the Strategic Division, Directorate of Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. After 10 months in this duty he was selected as executive to the vice chief of staff, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. In June 1963, Colonel Meng assumed the duties of vice commander, U.S. Air Force Tactical Air Reconnaissance Center at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C. On Oct. 9, 1963 he was promoted to the grade of brigadier general. General Meng flew 250 missions of anti-submarine patrol and amassed 800 combat flying hours in the Caribbean Theater. He flew 50 combat missions for a total of 170 combat hours in the European Theater of Operations. General Meng has more than 5,600 hours flying time in a variety of aircraft including the A-20, A-26, B-17, B-29, B-50, RB-45, RB-47, KC-97, KC-135, B-52 and B-58. He is presently current in the EF-101 and flies it regularly.           BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN E. PITTS JR. Retired Nov. 1, 1976. Died Aug. 9, 1977. Brigadier General John Emmett Pitts Jr., is director of the International Staff, Inter-American Defense Board, Washington, D.C. General Pitts was born in 1924, in Auburn, Ala., and graduated from Lee County High School in 1942. He enrolled in The Citadel, was called to active duty as an enlisted man in the U.S. Army in April 1943, and was discharged two months later to accept an appointment as a cadet at the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y. He received his pilot wings and graduated from the academy with a bachelor of science degree and a commission as second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Air Corps in June 1946. He then received various operational assignments in Texas, Guam, the Canal Zone, and South Carolina, where he flew P-47, A-26, and F-84 aircraft. During the Korean War in July 1951, General Pitts was assigned to the 136th Tactical Fighter Group in Korea. During the next seven months, he accumulated 200 hours of combat time while flying 100 missions in the F-84, and earned the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster. In March 1952, General Pitts returned to the United States and was assigned to the F-84 equipped 31st Strategic Fighter Wing at Turner Air Force Base, Ga. He served as a flight commander during the first mass flight, Fox Peter One, of tactical fighter jets across the Pacific in June 1952. From February 1953 to March 1954, he served as an Air Force exchange officer with the U.S. Marine Corps at El Toro Air Station, Calif. There he flew a variety of marine fighters and became carrier qualified in both propeller and jet aircraft. General Pitts was reassigned to the 31st Strategic Fighter Wing at Turner Air Force Base, in March 1954, as an operations staff officer. When the wing was transferred to the Tactical Air Command, he became commander of the 308th Strategic Fighter Squadron which was equipped with F-84 and later F-100 aircraft. In September 1957, General Pitts was assigned as chief, Fighter Missile Test Branch, Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., where he flew F-100s, F-102s, and F-104s, and participated in "Blue Suit" test programs pertaining to development and employment of air-to-air missiles. He entered the Armed Forces Staff College, Norfolk, Va. in August 1960. General Pitts was assigned to the 48th Tactical Fighter Wing, Royal Air Force Lakenheath, England, in March 1961, as commander of the F-100-equipped 494th Tactical Fighter Squadron. In July 1964 he became an operations staff officer in the Tactical Division, Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. He entered the U.S. Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., in August 1966. After graduation from the college, he attended F-100 refresher training at Luke Air Force Base, Ariz. In October 1.967 General Pitts was transferred to the Republic of Vietnam where he served as Air Force director of the Third Corps Direct Air Support Center at Bien Hoa Air Base. While there he was credited with more than 200 combat flying hours, primarily in the 0-1 Bird Dog. He returned to the United States and was assigned as deputy commandant of cadets for military instruction at the U.S. Air Force Academy, Colo., in October 1968. While at the academy, he earned his parachutist rating in July 1969. General Pitts went to Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, in March 1971 and was assigned to the Air Force Officer Training School as deputy commander, and later was commander. He became vice commander of the Lackland Military Training Center in April 1972. General Pitts was appointed director of the International Staff, Inter-American Defense Board, Washington, D.C., in July 1974. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; Distinguished Flying Cross; Air Medal with two oak leaf clusters; Air Force Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster; Combat Readiness Medal; and from the Republic of Vietnam the Air Force Distinguished Service Order, Second Class; Gallantry Cross with gold star; and the Air Force Service Medal. He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective April 2, 1973, with date of rank March 28, 1973.           BRIGADIER GENERAL ROBERT V. SPENCER Retired Feb. 1, 1974. Brigadier General Robert V. Spencer is commander, 832d Air Division, Cannon Air Force Base, N.M. General Spencer was born in 1921, in Salt Lake City, Utah, where he graduated from South High School and attended the University of Utah. He entered the Army Air Corps as an aviation cadet in April 1942 and received his pilot wings and commission as second lieutenant in March 1943 at Altus Army Air Force Station, Okla. During World War II, he flew P-40 Kittyhawk and P-47 Thunderbolt aircraft in the China-Burma-India, Theater of Operations. He is credited with 105 combat missions in 280 hours of flying time. After the end of World War II, he remained in Shanghai, China. He returned to the United States in January 1946 and was assigned to Hill Army Air Field, Utah, as chief of the Flight Test Section. He remained in that position until April 1949 when he was assigned to the 13th Bombardment Squadron and later the 3d Bombardment Group, in Japan and Korea. During the Korean War, General Spencer flew B-26 Invader aircraft on 56 missions with the U.S. Air Force and then was an exchange officer with the U.S. Navy. He completed more than 70 combat missions from the deck of an aircraft carrier flying Chance Vought Corsair, AD-4 and Banshee aircraft. He also flew with the 1st Marine Air Wing. In January 1952 he returned to the United States and was stationed at Stewart Air Force Base, N.Y., as commander, 4700th Maintenance and Supply Squadron. From January 1954 to December 1955, he served an exchange tour with the Royal Air Force, and attended the RAF Staff College at Bracknell, England, and later tested British fighter aircraft at Boscombe Downs Test Center in England. General Spencer became commander of the 326th Fighter Interceptor Squadron, Grandview Air Force Base, Mo., in December 1955.In August 1959 he was selected to attend the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. After graduation in June 1960 he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as chief, Fighter Branch, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. He later served as deputy chief and chief of Counterinsurgency Operations Division, Deputy Chief of Staff, Operations, and was given the task of establishing the Counterinsurgency Force of the Air Force. In June 1963 he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Lindsey Air Station, Germany, as director of personnel plans and one year later became director, readiness inspection, Office of the Inspector General. He returned to the United States in July 1966 and assumed command of the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing at Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C. In February 1967 he became commander of the 479th Tactical Fighter Wing, George Air Force Base, Calif. In September 1967 he was assigned as commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, Ubon Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand. He flew F-4 Phantom aircraft on 123 combat missions, 101 of which were over North Vietnam. He was assigned as assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, Headquarters Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, in July 1968. He became inspector general for PACAF in February 1969. He was transferred to Seymour Johnson Air Force Base, N.C., in June 1969 as commander of the 833d Air Division. General Spencer served as inspector general, Tactical Air Command, from February 1970 to March 1972. He assumed command of the 832d Air Division, TAC, Cannon Air Force Base, N.M., effective March 13, 1972. His military decorations and awards include the Silver Star with oak leaf cluster, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Air Medal with 19 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation Emblem, Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem, and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation Ribbon. He is a command pilot with more than 7,000 flying hours. General Spencer's hometown is Salt Lake City, Utah. He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective Aug. 1, 1968, with date of rank July 4, 1968.             BRIGADIER GENERAL LESLIE J. WESTBERG Retired Sep. 1, 1975. Died Jan. 4, 1997. Brigadier General Leslie J. Westberg is commander of Headquarters Civil Air Patrol-U.S. Air Force, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and also serves as National Commander of Civil Air Patrol, volunteer civilian auxiliary of the Air Force. General Westberg was born June 23, 1920, in Menasha, Wis., graduated from Menasha High School in 1938, and later attended the University of Omaha. He enlisted in September 1942 in the U.S. Army Air Corps and entered civilian pilot training and the aviation cadet program. He graduated in November 1943 with a commission as second lieutenant and his pilot wings. He then received training as a bomber pilot at Maxwell Field, Ala.; Charleston, S.C.; and Langley Field, Va. General Westberg served from June 1944 to April 1945 with the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy and flew 35 combat missions in B-24 bombers. From 1945 to 1954 he served in various bomber organizations as lead crew aircraft commander on B-25, A-26, B-29, and B-36 medium and heavy bomber aircraft, operations officer, inspector, and as maintenance and tactical squadron commander at Memphis, Tenn., and Fairchild Air Force Base, Wash. He flew 27 combat missions in B-29 bombers in 1950 during the Korean War with the United Nations Forces in Korea. He served from October 1954 to August 1957 at March Air Force Base, Calif., in staff and command positions, flying B-47 Stratojets with the 22d and 320th bombardment wings. He then became base commander of Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., a position he held until October 1958. General Westberg next served at Strategic Air Command headquarters at Omaha, Neb., as deputy chief of the Command Control Division. In January 1962 he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he served as chief, Operations Division, and later as deputy chief, Joint Alternate Command Element, in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He served at Hahn Air Base, Germany, from September 1963 to June 1965 and flew F-100 aircraft with the 50th Tactical Fighter Wing as deputy commander for operations and later vice commander. He then served at Incirlik Air Base, Turkey, from June 1965 to August 1966 as commander of The United States Logistic Group Detachment 10 and flew F-105 and F-100 aircraft with Tactical Air Command rotational units. After graduation from the National War College in August 1967, General Westberg served at Shaw Air Force Base, S.C., as commander, 363d Tactical Reconnaissance Wing, and was an RF-4C Phantom pilot. He was transferred in July 1968 to the Republic of Vietnam where he commanded the 460th Tactical Reconnaissance Wing at Tan Son Nhut Airfield. Later he became chief of staff of the Seventh Air Force. During his Vietnam tour of duty, he flew 600 hours with a total of 240 combat missions in the RF-4C reconnaissance aircraft. He moved to Hawaii in August 1969 to become deputy assistant chief of staff for operations, Pacific Command. In November 1972 General Westberg was assigned as commander, Headquarters Civil Air Patrol-U.S. Air Force at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. He is a command pilot. His military decorations and awards include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 16 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Presidential Unit Citation Emblem, Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon. He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general on Sept. 1, 1969, with date of rank May 27, 1969.           BRIGADIER GENERAL EDWIN J. WHITE JR. Retired July 1, 1972. Died Oct. 16, 1985. Brigadier General Edwin J. White Jr., is director, plans and programs, U.S. Southern Command, Canal Zone. General White was born in 1922, in Lynchburg, Va., where he graduated from Holy Cross Academy and attended Lynchburg College. He completed studies and received a bachelor of arts degree in business administration from Jackson College in 1957 while serving in Hawaii. He entered aviation cadet bombardier training in March 1942 and graduated in January 1943 with a commission as second lieutenant. During World War II, General White served in the Southwest Pacific area with the 90th Bombardment Group in New Guinea. He completed 54 combat missions. In July 1944 he returned to the United States and became a bombardier instructor at Westover Field, Mass. He entered officer pilot training in November 1944 at Turner Field, Ga., and later at Arcadia Field, Texas. In May 1946 he went to Perrin Field, Texas, as a pilot and was administrative assistant operations officer. He was assigned as Reserve Officers Training Corps instructor at West Virginia University in November 1946. In February 1948 he went to Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., where he served as pilot with the 64th Bombardment Squadron, 43d Bombardment Group, and then was assistant operations officer and later operations officer for the 20th Bombardment Squadron, 2d Bombardment Group, which moved to Chatham and then Hunter Air Force Bases, Ga. During 1949 he attended U.S. Air Force Special Weapons School, Sandia Base, N.M. While at Hunter Air Force Base he became operations officer for the 20th Bombardment Squadron in November 1951; Commander, 373d Bombardment Squadron in February 1953; and Deputy Director of Operations, 38th Air Division in November 1953. He returned during 1953 to the Pacific area where he served in the Korea War. In June 1954 he went to Headquarters Far East Air Forces in Japan and was assigned to the Directorate of Operations as combat operations officer, Special Operations Division, and then as operations staff officer, Offense Branch, Operations Plans Division. In December 1956 he was transferred to Hawaii where he served in the Directorate of Operations, Pacific Air Forces, Hickam Air Force Base, and in February 1958 he was assigned to Pacific Command, as assistant executive and then executive to the deputy chief of staff, plans and Operations. General White returned to the United States in 1959 to attend the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala. In July 1960 he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as plans officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations. He became deputy commander for operations, 3560th Pilot training Wing, Webb Air Force Base, Texas, in July 1964. He returned for his fourth tour of duty in the Far East in July 1966 and was assigned as director of operations, Thirteenth Air Force, at Clark Air Base, Republic of the Philippines. Later as vice commander of the 405th Fighter Wing, he flew 41 combat missions in B-57 bomber and F-102 fighter aircraft during a combat tour of duty in the Republic of Vietnam. In July 1967 he became deputy chief of staff for plans, Thirteenth Air Force. He returned to Southeast Asia, in November 1968, as commander, 56th Special Operations Wing at Royal Thai Air Force Base, Nakhom Phanom, Thailand. On that tour of duty he flew 233 combat missions. He was assigned as commander of the 3535th Navigator Training Wing at Mather Air Force Base, Calif., in November 1969. General White became director, plans and programs, U.S. Southern Command, Canal Zone, in March 1970. His military decorations include the Silver Star, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with 16 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal, Purple Heart, Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem, and Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. He is a command pilot with more than 8,000 flying hours in many types of aircraft including B-29, B-50, B-57, F-51, F-84, F-100, F-102, T-37, T-38, A-1, and A-26. General White is married to the former Eileen Reynolds of Lynchburg, Va. They have three sons: Mike, Alan and Richard, an Air Force lieutenant and graduate of the U.S. Air Force Academy, now in pilot training at Williams Air Force Base, Ariz.; and a daughter: Linda, a student at Loretta Heights College, Denver, Colo. He was promoted to the temporary grade of brigadier general effective May 1, 1970, with date of rank April 20, 1970.

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