Aviator, born in Columbus, Ohio, USA. Commissioned in 1928 from the Reserve Officers' Training Corps at Ohio State University, he earned a reputation as an excellent pilot during the 1930s. From August 1944 he commanded the heavy bomber force that carried out long-range attacks on the Japanese home islands, and helped plan the atomic bomb missions of August 1945. He directed the US airlift of supplies to Berlin in 1948, led the Strategic Air Command, and served as Air Force chief-of-staff (19615). An outspoken hawk on Vietnam, he ran for vice-president on George Wallace's independent ticket in 1968.
| Curtis Emerson LeMay | |
|---|---|
| November 15, 1906 - October 1, 1990 | |
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| Place of birth | Columbus, Ohio |
| Allegiance | USAF |
| Years of service | 1928 - 1965 |
| Rank | General |
| Commands |
Strategic Air Command USAF Chief of Staff |
| Battles/wars | World War II-Pacific Theatre |
| Awards |
Distinguished Service Cross Distinguished Service Medal Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross Legion of Honor |
| Other work | Candidate for U.S. Vice President |
Curtis Emerson LeMay (November 15, 1906 – October 1, 1990) was a General in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C.
He is credited with designing and implementing an effective systematic strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific Theatre of Strategic Air Command. After the war, he headed the Berlin airlift, then reorganized the Strategic Air Command into an effective means of conducting nuclear war.
Critics have characterized him as a belligerent warmonger (even nicknaming him "Bombs Away LeMay") whose aggressiveness threatened to inflame tense Cold War situations (such as the Cuban Missile Crisis) into open war between the United States and the Soviet Union.
World War II
At the entry of the USA to World War II, LeMay was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 305th Bomb Group.
The heavy losses in veteran crews on this and subsequent deep penetration missions in the autumn of 1943 led the Eighth Air Force to limit missions to targets within escort range until the employment of the P-51 Mustang fighter in January, 1944.
In July 1944, LeMay transferred to the Pacific Theater. LeMay was later placed in charge of all strategic air operations against the Japanese home islands.
LeMay soon concluded that the techniques and tactics developed for use in Europe against the Luftwaffe were unsuited to the conditions of the Pacific theatre of operations. As Japanese air defenses made medium and low-level daytime bombing impossible, LeMay switched to low-altitude, nighttime incendiary attacks on Japanese targets.
LeMay commanded subsequent B-29 combat operations against Japan, including the massive incendiary attacks on sixty-four Japanese cities. For this first attack, LeMay ordered the defensive guns removed from 325 B-29s, loaded each plane with Model E-46 incendiary clusters, magnesium bombs, white phosporus bombs and napalm, and ordered the bombers to fly in streams at 5,000–9,000 feet over Tokyo. Following British bombing practice, they marked the target area with a flaming 'X.' In a three-hour period, the main bombing force dropped 1,665 tons of incendiary bombs, killing more than 100,000 civilians, destroying 250,000 buildings and incinerating 16 square miles of the city. LeMay, commander of the B-29s of the entire Marianas area, declared that if the war is shortened by a single day, the attack will have served its purpose."
Precise figures are not available, but the firebombing and nuclear bombing campaign against Japan, directed by LeMay between March 1945 and the Japanese surrender in August 1945, may have killed more than one million Japanese civilians.
LeMay referred to his nighttime incendiary attacks as "fire jobs." In violation of the rules of war, but in keeping with typical Japanese conduct during the war, shot-down B-29 aircrews were frequently tortured and executed out-of-hand by both Japanese civilians and troops. LeMay was quite aware of both the brutality of his actions and the Japanese opinion of him — he once remarked that had the U.S. lost the war, he fully expected to be tried for war crimes, especially in view of Japanese executions of uniformed American flight crews during the 1942 Doolittle raid. Additionally, the Japanese had intentionally decentralized 90% of their war-related industry into small subcontractor workshops in civilian districts, making remaining Japanese war industry largely immune to conventional precision bombing with high-explosives. As the fire bombing campaign took effect, Japanese war planners were forced to expend significant resources to relocate vital war industries to remote caves and mountain bunkers, further reducing production of war materiel.
In addition, LeMay oversaw Operation Starvation, an aerial mining operation against Japanese waterways and ports which disrupted the Japanese shipping and food distribution logistics.
Cold War
After World War II, LeMay was briefly transferred to The Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research &
In 1949, he returned to the U.S. to head the Strategic Air Command, replacing Gen.
LeMay headed SAC until 1957, overseeing its transformation into a modern, efficient, all-jet force. He was instrumental in the U.S. Air Force's acquisition of a large fleet of new strategic bombers, establishment of a vast aerial refueling system, the formation of many new units and bases, development of a strategic ballistic missile force, and establishment of a strict command and control system with an unprecedented readiness capability. He was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force in July 1957, serving until 1961 when he was made the fifth Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force on the retirement of Thomas White. His belief in the efficacy of strategic air campaigns over tactical strikes and ground support operations became Air Force policy during his tenure as Chief of Staff.
As Chief of Staff, LeMay clashed repeatedly with Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Air Force Secretary Eugene Zuckert and Joint Chiefs Chairman General Maxwell Taylor.
Though LeMay lost significant appropriation battles (for Skybolt ALBM, and the B-52 replacement, the XB-70.), he was largely successful at preserving Air Force budgets.
During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, LeMay clashed again with President John F.
LeMay's dislike for tactical aircraft and training backfired in the low-intensity conflict of Vietnam, where existing Air Force interceptor aircraft and standard attack profiles proved incapable of carrying out sustained tactical bombing campaigns in the face of hostile North Vietnamese anti-aircraft defenses. Aircraft losses on tactical attack missions soared, and Air Force commanders soon realized that their large, missile-armed aircraft were exceedingly vulnerable not only to anti-aircraft shells and missiles, but also to cannon-armed, maneuverable Soviet fighter jets.
In the end, LeMay's call for a sustained strategic bombing campaign against North Vietnamese cities, harbors, ports, shipping, and other strategic targets did not take place. Even if full-scale strategic bombing had been approved, political limitations imposed by President Johnson on bombing Soviet and Chinese ships and cargo at the point of importation prevented any realistic evaluation of the effectiveness of a strategic air campaign in Vietnam. At the very end of the war, the limited Operation Linebacker II air campaign did succeed in forcing the North Vietnamese government to return to treaty negotiations.
Post-military
Due to his unrelenting opposition to the Johnson administration's Vietnam policy and what was widely perceived as his hostility to Secretary McNamara, LeMay was essentially forced into retirement in February 1965, and seemed headed for a political career. (Interestingly, Wallace had served as a sergeant in a unit commanded by LeMay during World War II.) When Wallace announced his selection in October 1968, LeMay opined that he, unlike many Americans, clearly did not fear using nuclear weapons.
He was honored by several countries, receiving the Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross with two oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Service Cross, Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the French Legion of Honor and the Silver Star.
He died on October 1st, 1990 and is buried in the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery at Colorado Springs, Colorado.
LeMay and UFOs
The April 25, 1988 issue of The New Yorker carried an interview of Barry Goldwater, who said he repeatedly asked his friend Gen. LeMay if there was any truth to the rumors that UFO evidence was stored in a secret room at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, and if he (Goldwater) might have access to the room.
Awards and Decorations
LeMay received recognition for his work from thirteen countries, receiving twenty two medals and decorations.
United States: Distinguished Service Cross Distinguished Service Medal with 2 oak leaf clusters Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross with 2 oak leaf clusters Air Medal with 3 oak leaf clusters Distinguished Unit Citation with 1 oak leaf cluster American Defense Service Medal American Campaign Medal European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with 3 service stars Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with 4 service stars World War II Victory Medal Army of Occupation Medal with the Berlin Airlift emblem Medal for Humane Action National Defense Service Medal Argentina – Order of Aeronautical Merit — Grades of Grand Official and Grand Cross Belgium – Croix de Guerre with Palm Brazil – Order of the Southern Cross and Order of Aeronautical Merit Chile – Order of Merit and Medalla Militar de Primera Clase Ecuador – Order of Aeronautical Merit (Knight Commander) France – Legion of Honor Degree of Commander and Croix de Guerre with Palm Japan – The First Class of the Order of the Rising Sun (Presented Dec. 7 1964) for his contribution to the reestablishment of the Air Force and Air Defence. Morocco – Oissam Alaouite Sweden – Commander of the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Sword United Kingdom – Distinguished Flying Cross Uruguay – Aviador Militar Honoris Causa (Piloto Commandante) U.S.S.R – Order of Patriotic War — 1st Degree
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