US Air Force General. He was born at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, near Honolulu, the son of a US Cavalry officer. After enlisting in the regular army in 1934, he was selected to attend the US Military Academy at West Point, New York. After graduating in 1940, he entered flying training received his pilot wings in March 1941. He was stationed at Langley Field (now Langley Air Force Base), Virginia, where he flew B-24 Liberator Consolidated LB-30 aircraft on submarine hunting patrols. In the spring of 1943, he was sent to England and assigned as an operations officer for the 351st Bombardment Group, 8th Air Force, and in June 1943 he became the commander of the 91st Bombardier Group. He flew B-17 Flying Fortress aircraft on bombing raids over Germany, leading 22 B-17 aircraft of his unit against a German refinery at Gelsenkirchen on August 12, 1943. On October 12, 1943, he led a force of 291 B-17 aircraft that, in two waves, dropped more than 2,800 bombs on ball-bearing factories over Schweinfurt, Germany, without fighter escort. This proved to be a costly mission with 60 aircraft shot down, 121 aircraft damaged, and over 600 airmen killed, wounded, or missing-in-action, illustrating the need for fighter escort for deep penetration bombing raids over Germany. On January 11, 1944, he led a bonbing raid over Oschersleben, Germany, and was wounded when cannon shells entered the cockpit and exploded. Then, on April 6, 1944, he led 730 B-17 and B-24 aircraft on the historic, first successful daylight bombing raid over Berlin, Germany. When World War II ended in Europe, he was the commander of the 384th Bombardier Group. He returned to the United States in 1945 and helped to organize the Military Air Transport Service (now Militay Airlift Command), remaining until 1948 when he was reassigned to Europe as the chief of staff for the Combined Airlift Task Force that directed operations for the Berlin Airlift. In 1949, he returned to the United States where he served as the director of operations for the newly created Military Air Transport Service, attended the Air War College, and then was appointed as the executive assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force. In October 1957, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and assigned to Japan as the commander of the 41st Air Division, 5th Air Force. In 1961 he was promoted to the rank in major general and selected as commander of 13th Air Force, Clark Air Base, Philippines, and in 1963 he relocated to Camp H.M. Smith, Hawaii, where he was the deputy chief of staff, plans and operations, to the commander in chief Pacific Air Forces. He returned to the United States in 1965 and was the chief of staff, Tactical Air Command (now Air Combat Command), Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. In February 1967, he was promoted to the grade of lieutenant general and assigned to Headquarters Air Force, Washington DC, as the inspector general, until August 1967 when he was named comptroller of the Air Force. In March 1969, he was transferred to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Headquarters at Brussels, Belgium, as the deputy chairman of the NATO Committee. On August 1, 1971, he was promoted to the rank of general and assumed his duties as the deputy chairman, NATO, and retired in this position on July 31, 1974, with 33 years of continued active military service in the US Army Air Corps and the Air Force. Among his military and foreign decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters, the Bronze Star, the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, the Purple Heart, the Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, the British Distinguished Flying Cross, and the French Croix de Guerre with palm. After he retired, he wrote for the Air Force Magazine and often lectured at the US Air Force Academy. In 1985, he was a recepient of the Thomas D. White National Defense Award, established on March 1, 1962 by the US Air Force Academy. He died of a stroke.