Curtis LeMay

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Curtis Emerson LeMay
November 15, 1906(1906-11-15) – October 3, 1990 (aged 83)

Nickname Bombs Away LeMay
Place of birth Columbus, Ohio
Place of death March Air Force Base, California
Allegiance Flag of the United States United States of America
Service/branch United States Air Force
United States Army Air Corps
Years of service 1928–1965
Rank General
Commands held Strategic Air Command
USAF Chief of Staff
Battles/wars World War II-Pacific Theatre
Awards Distinguished Service Cross
Distinguished Service Medal(3)
Silver Star
Distinguished Flying Cross(3)
Air Medal (4)
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) (United Kingdom)
Legion of Honor
Other work Candidate for U.S. Vice President
Curtis Emerson LeMay
Election date
November 5, 1968
Running mate George Wallace
Opponent(s) Spiro Agnew (R)
Edmund Muskie (D)
Incumbent Hubert Humphrey (D)
Political party American Independent Party

Curtis Emerson LeMay (15 November 1906–3 October 1990) was a general in the United States Air Force and the vice presidential running mate of independent candidate George C. Wallace in 1968.

He is credited with designing and implementing an effective systematic strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific Theatre of World War II. After the war, he headed the Berlin airlift, then reorganized the Strategic Air Command (SAC) into an effective means of conducting nuclear war.

Contents

[edit] Biography

[edit] Early life and career

LeMay was born in Columbus, Ohio on November 15, 1906 to Erving LeMay, an ironworker, and Arizona Carpenter; he was raised in his native city. He attended Columbus public schools and studied civil engineering at Ohio State University graduating with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering. While in college he was a member of the National Society of Pershing Rifles and the Professional Engineering Fraternity Theta Tau. He joined the Air Corps in 1928 and became an officer through the ROTC. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant in 1930. He married Helen E. Maitland (died 1994) on 9 June 1934 with whom he had one child—Patricia Jane LeMay Lodge.

In 1937 he located the battleship Utah in exercises off California and "bombed" it with water bombs, despite being given the wrong coordinates by Navy personnel. In 1938 he navigated B17s nearly 800 miles (1,300 km) over the Atlantic Ocean to intercept the Italian liner Rex to illustrate the ability of airpower to defend the American coasts. War brought rapid promotion and increased responsibility.

When his crews were not flying missions they were being subjected to his relentless training as he believed that training was the key to saving their lives. Lemay was widely and fondly known among his troops as "Old Iron Pants". This continued through out his career.[1]

One apocryphal story has it that he approached a fully-fueled bomber with his ever-present cigar stuck firmly between his lips. When asked by a guard to put it out as it might ignite the fuel, LeMay growled, "It wouldn't dare." The line is actually a scene from the 1955 film Strategic Air Command. Actor Frank Lovejoy, playing General Ennis Hawkes (very clearly modeled on LeMay) is smoking around a Boeing C-97 transport and a guard expresses concern that there might be a fire. "Dutch" Holland (played by Jimmy Stewart) simply smiles and says, "It wouldn't dare."

LeMay's military career was marked by successive promotions beginning with commissioning as a second lieutenant in October 1929. Subsequent promotions were: First Lieutenant: 1929; Captain: January 1940; Major: March 1941; Lieutenant Colonel: January 1942; Colonel: 1943; Brigadier General: September 1943; Major General: March 1944; Lieutenant General: January 1948; General: 1951.

Upon receiving his fourth star at age 44, LeMay became the youngest full general in American history since Ulysses S. Grant.

[edit] World War II

LeMay became known for his massive incendiary attacks against Japanese cities during the war using hundreds of planes flying at low altitudes.
LeMay became known for his massive incendiary attacks against Japanese cities during the war using hundreds of planes flying at low altitudes.

At the entry of the U.S. to World War II, LeMay was a lieutenant colonel and commander of the 305th Bomb Group. He took that B-17 Flying Fortress unit to England in October 1942, as part of the Eighth Air Force and led it in combat until May 1943, notably helping to develop the combat box formation. He led the 4th Bombardment Wing, and was its first commander when it was reorganized into the 3rd Bomb Division in September, 1943. He often demonstrated his courage by personally leading dangerous missions, including the Regensburg section of the Schweinfurt-Regensburg mission of August 17, 1943. In that mission he led 146 B-17s beyond the range of escorting fighters to Regensburg, Germany, and after bombing, continued on to bases in North Africa, losing 24 bombers in the process.

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 deployment in the European theater of the P-51 Mustang fighter in January, 1944.

In August 1944, LeMay transferred to the China-Burma-India Theater and directed first the XX Bomber Command in China and then the XXI Bomber Command in the Pacific. 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. His bombers flying from China were dropping their bombs near their targets only 5% of the time. Losses of aircraft and crews were unsustainably high due to increasingly competent Japanese daylight air defenses including high-altitude interceptor aircraft and flak cannon. He became convinced that high-altitude, precision bombing would be ineffective, given the usual cloudy weather over Japan. As Japanese air defenses made medium and low-level daytime bombing impossible, LeMay switched to low-altitude, nighttime incendiary attacks on Japanese targets. At the time Japanese cities were largely constructed of combustible materials such as wood and paper. Precision high-altitude daylight bombing was ordered to proceed only when weather permitted.

LeMay commanded subsequent B-29 combat operations against Japan, including the massive incendiary attacks on sixty-four Japanese cities. This included the the firebombing of Tokyo on March 9–March 10, 1945. 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.

The first pathfinder planes arrived over Tokyo just after midnight on March 10. 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 (41 km²) of the city. Aircrews at the tail end of the bomber stream reported that the stench of burned human flesh permeated the aircraft over the target.

A "LeMay Bombing Leaflet" from the war, which warned Japanese civilians that "Unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives."
A "LeMay Bombing Leaflet" from the war, which warned Japanese civilians that "Unfortunately, bombs have no eyes. So, in accordance with America's humanitarian policies, the American Air Force, which does not wish to injure innocent people, now gives you warning to evacuate the cities named and save your lives."

The New York Times reported at the time, "Maj. Gen. Curtis E. 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 atomic 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 [Warning: this figure is almost certainly greatly inflated]. Official estimates from the United States Strategic Bombing Survey put the figures at 330,000 people killed, 476,000 injured, 8.5 million people made homeless and 2.5 million buildings destroyed. Nearly half the built-up areas of sixty-four cities were destroyed, including much of Japan's war industry.

LeMay referred to his nighttime incendiary attacks as "fire jobs." The Japanese nicknamed him "Demon LeMay". Downed B-29 aircrews were frequently tortured and executed when captured by both Japanese civilians and military. Also, the remaining Allied prisoners of war in Japan who had survived imprisonment to that time were frequently subjected to additional reprisals and torture after an air raid. LeMay was quite aware of 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. He argued that it was his duty to carry out the attacks in order to end the war as quickly as possible, sparing further loss of life.

Presidents Roosevelt and Truman justified these tactics by referring to an estimate that one million American troops would be killed if Japan had to be invaded. Additionally, the Japanese had intentionally decentralized 90% of their war-related production into small subcontractor workshops in civilian districts, making remaining Japanese war industry largely immune to conventional precision bombing with high-explosives.[2]

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, reducing production of war material. A young officer who served under LeMay, Robert McNamara, was in charge of evaluating the effectiveness of American bombing missions. Later McNamara, as Secretary of Defense under Kennedy and Johnson, would often clash with LeMay.

LeMay also oversaw Operation Starvation, an aerial mining operation against Japanese waterways and ports which disrupted Japanese shipping and food distribution. Aerial mining supplemented a tight Allied submarine blockade of the home islands, drastically reducing Japan's ability to supply its overseas forces.

[edit] Cold War

General Curtis E. LeMay
General Curtis E. LeMay

After World War II, LeMay was briefly transferred to The Pentagon as Deputy Chief of Air Staff for Research & Development. In 1947, he returned to Europe as commander of USAF Europe, heading operations for the Berlin Airlift in 1948 in the face of a blockade by the Soviet Union and its satellite states that threatened to starve the civilian population of the Western occupation zones of Berlin. Under LeMay's direction, C-54 cargo planes that could each carry 10 tons of cargo began supplying the city on July 1. By the fall, the airlift was bringing in an average of 5,000 tons of supplies a day. The airlift continued for 11 months — 213,000 flights that brought in 1.7 million tons of food and fuel to Berlin. Faced with the failure of their blockade, the Soviet Union relented and re-opened land corridors to the West.

In 1949, he returned to the U.S. to head the Strategic Air Command, replacing Gen. George Kenney. When he took over SAC, it consisted of little more than a few understaffed B-29 groups left over from World War II. Less than half of the available aircraft were operational, and the crews were undertrained. When he ordered a mock bombing exercise on Dayton, Ohio, most bombers missed their targets by one mile or more.

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 insisted on rigorous training and very high standards of performance for his aircrews, supposedly saying, "I have neither the time nor the inclination to differentiate between the incompetent and the merely unfortunate."

Lemay was an active amateur radio operator and held a succession of call signs; K0GRL, K4FRA, and W6EZV. He held these calls respectively while stationed at Offutt AFB, Washington D.C. and retired in California. K0GRL is still the call sign of the Strategic Air Command Memorial Amateur Radio Club.[3] He was famous for being on the air on amateur bands while flying on board SAC Bombers. Lemay became aware that the new Single Side Band (SSB) technology offered a big advantage over Amplitude Modulation (AM) for SAC aircraft operating long distances from their bases. In conjunction with Art Collins (W0CXX) of Collins Radio, he established SSB as the radio standard for SAC bombers in 1957.[4]

LeMay 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. At the time, budget constraints and successive nuclear war fighting strategies had left the armed forces in a state of flux. Each of the armed forces had gradually jettisoned realistic appraisals of future conflicts in favor of developing its own separate nuclear and non-nuclear capabilities. At the height of this struggle, the U.S. Army had even reorganized its combat divisions to fight land wars on irradiated nuclear battlefields, developing short-range atomic cannon and mortars in order to win appropriations. The United States Navy in turn proposed delivering strategic nuclear weapons from supercarriers intended to sail into range of the Soviet Air Defense Forces. Of all these various schemes, only LeMay's command structure of the SAC survived complete reorganization in the changing reality of postwar conflicts.

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. He expanded the service into satellite technology and pushed for the development of the latest electronic warfare techniques. By contrast, the U.S. Army and Navy frequently suffered budgetary cutbacks and program cancellations by Congress and Secretary McNamara.

During the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, LeMay clashed again with President John F. Kennedy and Defense Secretary McNamara, arguing that he should be allowed to bomb nuclear missile sites in Cuba, even though he himself estimated that his planes could take out only about 90 percent of these sites (post-crisis analysis hypothesized that such attacks would have missed significantly more missiles than that). He opposed the naval blockade, and after the end of the crisis, suggested that Cuba be invaded anyway, even after the Russians agreed to withdraw. LeMay called the peaceful resolution of the crisis "the greatest defeat in our history."

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. LeMay said, "Flying fighters is fun. Flying bombers is important."[5] 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. The limited interdictive bombing of fluid enemy supply corridors in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia failed to either reach a significant quantity of enemy war supplies or destroy enemy morale. 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. LeMay was proved correct in his assumptions however, because at the very end of the war in December 1972, the Operation Linebacker II high intensity B-52 air campaign authorized by President Richard M. Nixon succeeded in forcing the North Vietnamese government to return to treaty negotiations in Paris within weeks.

[edit] 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. Moving to California, he was approached by conservatives to challenge moderate Republican Thomas Kuchel for his seat in the United States Senate in 1968, but he declined. For the presidential race that year, LeMay originally supported Richard Nixon; he turned down two requests by George Wallace to join his American Independent Party that year, on the grounds that a third party candidacy might hurt Nixon's chances at the polls. (By coincidence, Wallace had served as a sergeant in a unit commanded by LeMay during World War II.). However, LeMay gradually became convinced that Nixon planned to pursue a conciliatory policy with the Soviets, and to accept nuclear parity, rather than retain America's first strike supremacy. This led him to not only throw his support to Wallace, who advocated a strong military, but also accept the spot as his running mate. The General was dismayed, however, to find himself attacked in the press as a racial segregationist because he was running with Wallace; indeed, LeMay had been a strong advocate for desegregating the armed forces, and he had never considered himself a bigot. When Wallace announced his selection in October 1968, LeMay opined that he, unlike many Americans, clearly did not fear using nuclear weapons. His saber-rattling did not help the Wallace campaign.

The Wallace/LeMay AIP ticket received a fairly significant 13.5 percent of the popular vote and carried 5 states for a total of 46 electoral votes, but this was not enough to deny Nixon his election as 37th President of the United States. Following the 1968 election, LeMay returned to private life, including pursuing several charitable projects. He declined further suggestions to run for political office.

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. On December 7, 1964 the Japanese government in an ironic gesture conferred on him the First Order of Merit with the Grand Cordon of the Order of the Rising Sun. He was elected to the Alfalfa Club in 1957 and served as a general officer for twenty-one years.

He later became one of the founding members of Executive Jet, later to become Netjets, currently a Berkshire-Hathoway company.

He died on October 1, 1990, and is buried in the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery[6] at Colorado Springs, Colorado.

[edit] LeMay and UFOs

The April 25, 1988 issue of The New Yorker carried an interview of former Arizona Senator Barry Goldwater, who said he repeatedly asked his friend Gen. LeMay if he (Goldwater) might have access to the secret "Green" room at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, alleged by numerous Goldwater constituents to contain UFO evidence. According to Goldwater, an angry LeMay gave him "holy hell" and said, "Not only can't you get into it but don't you ever mention it to me again."

[edit] LeMay and sports car racing

General LeMay was also a sports car owner and enthusiast (he owned an Allard J2); as the "SAC era" began to wind down, LeMay loaned out facilities of SAC bases for use by the Sports Car Club of America, as the era of early street races began to die out. He was awarded the Woolf Barnato Award, SCCA's highest award for contributions to the Club, in 1954. In November 2006, it was announced that General LeMay would be one of the 2007 inductions into the SCCA Hall of Fame.[7]

[edit] Rank history

Curtis LeMay’s first entry into the military service occurred in September 1924 when he signed up as a student in the ROTC program at Ohio State University. By his senior year, LeMay was listed on the ROTC rolls as a “Cadet Lieutenant Colonel” but had not actually signed any appointments or enlistments in the regular United States military.

On June 14, 1928, the summer before the start of his senior year, LeMay accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Field Artillery Reserve of the United States Army. In September of 1928, LeMay was approached by the Ohio National Guard and asked to accept a state commission also as a Second Lieutenant. This LeMay did and, although it is common in the 21st century to hold such “dual commissions”, in 1928 it was slightly unusual for a person to hold a commission both in the National Guard and the Officer Reserve Corps at the same time.

On September 29, 1928, LeMay enlisted in the Army Air Corps as an Aviation Cadet under the service number 6650359. For the next thirteen months, LeMay was listed not only on the Enlisted Rolls of the Regular Army, but also still held his 2nd Lieutenant’s commission in the National Guard and Army Reserve. Thus, for this short period in LeMay’s career, he was technically an officer and enlisted solider at the same time. The matter was resolved on October 2, 1929 when LeMay’s Guard and Reserve commission were terminated. According to his service record, these commissions were revoked “by telephone” after an Army personnel office realized that LeMay was holding officer and enlisted status simultaneously and called him to discuss the matter.

On October 12, 1929, LeMay finished his flight training and accepted a commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Air Corps Reserve of the United States Army. This was the third time he had been appointed a Second Lieutenant in just under two years. He held this reserve commission until June of 1930 when he was at last appointed as an officer of the Regular Army attached to the Air Corps.

LeMay had a slow career throughout the 1930s, much like many officers of the then underfunded and stagnated Regular Army. By 1940, he was only a Captain but, beginning in 1941, he began to receive temporary ranks in the Army of the United States. LeMay advanced from Captain to Brigadier General in three years and by 1944 was a Major General. When World War II ended, he was appointed a Brigadier General in the Regular Army but held his temporary rank as a Major General until promotion to Lieutenant General in the United States Air Force in 1948. He then was promoted to full General in 1951 and held this rank until he retired in 1965.

[edit] Dates of rank

Lemay was also considered for the rank of General of the Air Force but was not promoted to this rank since it was felt that such a promotion would lessen the prestige of this rank which was seen as a wartime rank only to be held in times of extreme national emergency.

[edit] Awards and decorations

LeMay received recognition for his work from thirteen countries, receiving twenty-two medals and decorations.

  Command pilot

Distinguished Service Cross
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Distinguished Service Medal plus 2 oak leaf clusters
Silver Star
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Distinguished Flying Cross plus 2 oak leaf clusters
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Air Medal plus 3 oak leaf clusters
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Presidential Unit Citation plus oak leaf cluster
American Defense Service Medal
American Campaign Medal
Bronze service star
Bronze service star
Bronze service star
 European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal plus three bronze campaign stars
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
Occupation Ribbon with Airlift Device
Medal for Humane Action
National Defense Service Medal
Silver oak leaf cluster
Bronze oak leaf cluster
 Air Force Longevity Service Award, 6 oak leaf clusters
Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)
Croix de Guerre with Palm (France)
  • Argentina – Order of Aeronautical Merit — Grades of Grand Official and Grand Cross
  • 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)
  • Japan – The First Class of the Order of the Rising Sun (Presented 7 December 1964) for his contribution to the reestablishment of the Air Force and Air Defense. The award was met with significant domestic protest due to his role in WWII. Hirohito, who led Japan when it waged war against the US, did not personally present this award.
  • Morocco – Oissam Alaouite
  • Sweden – Commander of the Grand Cross of the Royal Order of the Sword
  • Uruguay – Aviador Militar Honoris Causa (Piloto Commandante)
  • U.S.S.R – Order of the Patriotic War — 1st Degree

[edit] Works

[edit] Books

  • (with MacKinlay Kantor) Mission with LeMay: My Story (Doubleday, 1965) ISBN B00005WGR2
  • (with Dale O. Smith) America is in Danger (Funk & Wagnalls, 1968) ISBN B00005VCVX
  • (with Bill Yenne) Superfortress: The Story of the B-29 and American Air Power (McGraw-Hill, 1988) ISBN 0-07-037160-1

[edit] Film

[edit] As himself

[edit] Fictional references

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ [1] March 1944 and Berlin
  2. ^ John Toland, The Rising Sun: The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire 1936–1945, Random House, 1970, p. 671.
  3. ^ [2] Surfin': More Hamming at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
  4. ^ [3]Amateur Radio and the Rise of SSB
  5. ^ Robert Coram, “Boyd, Back Bay Books/Little, Brown, and Company, 2002, p. 59.
  6. ^ [4]gravesite photo
  7. ^ http://www.scca.com/News/News.asp?Ref=729[dead link]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
Preceded by
Gen. George C. Kenney		 Commander, Strategic Air Command
1948—1957		 Succeeded by
Gen. Thomas S. Power
Preceded by
Gen. Thomas D. White		 Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
1961—1965		 Succeeded by
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Preceded by
'''(none)'''		 American Independent Party Vice Presidential Candidate
1968 (3rd)		 Succeeded by
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v • d • e
Chiefs of Staff of the United States Air Force
Spaatz • Vandenberg • Twining • White • LeMay • McConnell • Ryan • Brown • Jones • Allen • Gabriel • Welch • Dugan • Loh (acting) • McPeak • Fogleman • Ryan • Jumper • Moseley
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