Born:
10/11/1897
Died: 03/29/1982
Inducted:
10/30/1988
Nathan
Farragut Twining, born in Monroe, Wisconsin was the first U.S. Air
Force general to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and
was largely responsible for the creation of a strategic air force
that was second to none.
He began his
military career as a corporal on Mexican border duty in 1916 with
the Third Oregon Infantry and served as an infantry sergeant at the
outbreak of World War I. He entered the United States Military
Academy at West Point on a National Guard appointment, graduating in
1919. Twining was selected for flight training in 1923. He served as
pilot, flight instructor and later as engineering officer for the
U.S. Army airmail service.
At the beginning
of World War II Twining was appointed Director of War Organization
and Movements in Washington, D.C. He was sent to the South Pacific
during 1942 eventually commanding all tactical U.S. and Allied Air
Forces there. After a period in Europe he returned to the Pacific to
command the 20th Air Force.
For various
achievements during the war Twining was awarded the Distinguished
Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf cluster, the
Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf cluster
as well as the Yugoslav Order of Partisan Star and the rank of
Companion of the Order of the British Empire.
Returning to the
United States after the end of the war, Lieutenant General Twining
was assigned to the Continental Air Force headquarters at Bolling
Field, Washington, D.C. in October, 1945. In December of that year
he was named Commanding General of the Air Material Command
headquartered at Wright Field, Dayton, Ohio.
During October,
1947 he was appointed Commanding General of the Alaskan Department
and later was named Commander-in-Chief of the Alaskan Command.
In May, 1950 he returned to Washington as the Acting Deputy Chief of
Staff for Personnel.
Twining
was named Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force, succeeding
General Hoyt Vandenberg in June, 1953. President Eisenhower also
appointed him a member of the National Advisory Committee for
Aeronautics and he served as such until 1957. He was named the
Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in August, 1957. He retired in
September, 1960.
Several members of General Twining's
family also had careers in the military. His brother, LtGen Merrill
B Twining, USMC. Another brother, Robert, retired as a Navy captain.
His grandfather, Nathan C. Twining, was a Civil War Army captain;
and his uncle, Nathan C., a rear admiral.
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