Posted by Terry Powers on December 19, 2022:

US Air Force Lieutenant General. An Air Force officer with no aviation background or combat experience, he rose in rank to become the commander of the Electronic Systems Division at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. Born in Grafton, West Virginia he graduated from Lancaster High School in Lancaster, New York in 1945 and began his military career by enlisting as a private in the US Army. Shortly thereafter, he received an appointment to the US Military Academy at West Point, New York, graduating in 1949. He was then commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the US Air Force and served from September 1950 through December 1954 in the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Albuquerque, New Mexico. He then attended the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio and graduated with a Master of Business Administration Degree in September 1956. He was then assigned to the Northern Air Materiel Area, Pacific, with duty as chief of production at the Kawasaki-Gifu Contract Facility at Gifu, Japan. In April 1959 he became an assistant professor of air science at the Michigan College of Mining and Technology (now Michigan Technological University) in Houghton, Michigan and in August 1961 he was assigned to the Air University at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama and served on the Air Force Reserve Officers' Training Corps headquarters staff. After graduating from the Armed Forces Staff College (now Joint Forces Staff College) at Norfolk, Virginia in January 1964, he was assigned to the Air Force Directorate of Nuclear Safety at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico. In July 1968 he was transferred to the Office of the Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (Atomic Energy) in Washington DC, which culminated in his appointment as Deputy Assistant to the Secretary of Defense (atomic energy), where he served until July 1971. In August 1971 he was assigned to Headquarters Air Force Systems Command at Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland as a division chief and later as executive secretary for Project Acquisition Cost Evaluation. In August 1973 he returned to Headquarters US Air Force as the Deputy Director of Procurement Policy and a year later he was appointed deputy to the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense (Procurement). While in this position, he conducted a major Department of Defense study of defense contract profitability (Profit 176) which resulted in major changes to Department of Defense profit policy. From February 1977 to January 1981 he was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Contracting and Manufacturing at Air Force Systems Command and in February 1981 he became the commander of Electronic Systems Division of, Air Force Systems Command at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. The following month he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general and he retired in this position in August 1984 with 39 years of continuous military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with 1 oak leaf cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Army Commendation Medal, and the National Defense Service Medal with service star. His other notable achievements were the 1979 San Fernando Valley, California Engineers Council Engineer of the Year and the 2008 Air Force Institute of Technology's Distinguished Alumni Award. He died in Virginia Beach, Virginia at the age of 82. Source: Find A Grave

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