Emery Wetzel

Emery Scott "Pinky" Wetzel (born October 21, 1907 in Billings , Yellowstone County , Montana ; † May 4, 1988 ) was an American Lieutenant General in the US Air Force , who last between 1959 and 1961 was Chief of Staff of the US Armed Forces was in South Korea .

Life

Military training and World War II

After attending Billings High School in 1925, Wetzel began officer training at the US Military Academy (USMA) in West Point , which he completed in 1929. Subsequently, he was a lieutenant of field artillery and was initially assistants Officer for operations and statistics on the military airport stationed Rockwell Field 11th Bombardment Squadron of the Army Aviation Corps USAAC ( US Army Air Corps ) , before 1931 the Seventh Bombardment Group at the base March Field . There he later became adjutant to the commandant of the base, Lt. Col. Henry H. Arnold , and in 1935 was transferred as a captain to the 72d Bombardment Squadron at Luke Field Air Base in Hawaii , where he was most recently aviation commander of the 50th Observation Squadron . In 1937 he was transferred to the Mitchel Field military airfield as operations and intelligence officer and aviation commander of the First Bombardment Squadron (medium) . In 1940 he attended a three-month course at the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field and was then an instructor for reserve units of the USAAC in the Second Military Area Headquarters (Second Military Area Headquarters) at Allegheny County Airport.

In March 1941, Wetzel was first assistant chief of the officers' section as a major and then on October 22, 1941, deputy chief of the drafting section of the military personnel department in the office of the chief of USAAC, Major General George Brett . After his promotion to lieutenant colonel on January 5, 1942, he served between January 27 and March 9, 1942, initially as deputy head of the military personnel department in the office of the chief of USAAC. He was then promoted to colonel on March 1, 1942 and was from October 1, 1942 to January 12, 1945 head of the military personnel department at the headquarters of the now US Army Air Forces (USAAF). In this employment he was promoted to brigadier general on November 17, 1944 , after which he was head of the personnel group of the personnel department (G 1) of the General Staff in the US War Department between January 13 and July 15, 1945 . For his services in this use he was first awarded the Legion of Merit .

Post-war period and promotion to lieutenant general

Wetzel then acted between July 25 and August 10 as Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel (A 1) of the US Army Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific . until 18 August 1945 as chief of the Allies connection department as well as acting deputy chief of staff of the Okinawa Prefecture in Japan stationed Make air fleet ( Eighth air Force ) . He was then from August 19 to October 11, 1945, first deputy head of the staff for staff (A 1) and then between October 12 and December 6, 1945, assistant head of staff (A 1) of the Strategic Air Force of the US Army in the Pacific, before he was Assistant Chief of Staff for Personnel (A 1) of the resulting Pacific Air Command US Army from December 15, 1945 to June 1947 .

Afterwards Wetzel between June 1947 and June 24, 1948 was of assistive Chief of Staff for Personnel (A 1) in Japan stationed current Air Force Far East ( Far East Air Forces ) that starting from September 18 in 1947 to the newly established branches of the armed force of the US Air Force (USAF). He served from October 6, 1948 to April 30, 1950 as Chief of Staff of the 15th Air Force (15th Air Force) and then between May 1, 1950 and January 1951, Deputy Commanding General of this 15th Air Force. He then acted briefly from February 10 to February 22, 1951 as special assistant to the Deputy Chief of Staff of the US Air Force for personnel and then from February 23, 1951 to May 1954 as assistant deputy chief of staff of the US Air Force for personnel before he was Commanding General of the Atlantic Division of the Military Air Transport Service between May 1954 and July 1957 . He was then from July 1957 to September 1959, in personal union, Deputy Commanding General and Chief of Staff of the US Air Forces in the Pacific PACAF ( Pacific Air Forces ) and was honored for his services during this time with a second Legion of Merit.

Last time was Lieutenant General Wetzel between September 1959 and 31 August 1961 also in personal union chief of staff of the commands United Nations in Korea (United Nations Command Korea) as well as chief of staff of US forces in South Korea . Because of his services there, he was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal . On August 31, 1961, he retired from active military service after 32 years of service.

His marriage to Catharine Wetzel resulted in the two sons Emery Scott Wetzel, Jr., and Tony Wetzel, who also completed their training as officers at the West Point Military Academy in 1954 and 1956, respectively. Emery Scott Wetzel, Jr., who died in 2003, retired from the US Air Force in 1984 after 30 years of service as a colonel.

Awards

•   Air Force Distinguished Service Medal
•   Legion of Merit (2 ×)

Web links

• Entry in generals.dk
• Entry in the Hall of Valor of the Military Times
• Emery Wetzel in the database of Find a Grave (English)