Thomas D. White
Thomas Dresser White (born August 6, 1901 in Walker , Minnesota , † December 22, 1965 ) was a general in the US Air Force and most recently Chief of Staff of the Air Force from 1957 to 1961 .
Life
Military training and World War II
After attending school, he graduated from the US Military Academy in West Point and was promoted to lieutenant in the infantry on July 2, 1920 , after which he was promoted to first lieutenant shortly thereafter . He then began training at the US Army Infantry School in Fort Benning , completed it in July 1921 and then found employment with the 14th Infantry in Fort Davis in the Panama Canal Zone .
In September 1924 he entered the Primary Flying School in Brooks Field, today's Brooks City Base in Texas and then finished the Advanced Flying School in the Kelly Field Annex in Texas in September 1925. He was then used as an officer in the 99th Observation Squadron in Bolling Field near Washington, DC . In June 1927 he began to study the Chinese language in Beijing and, after his return to the USA in 1931, found employment in the headquarters of the US Army Air Corps in Washington.
In February 1934, White became deputy military attaché and air force attaché at the embassy in the Soviet Union and then in 1935 deputy military attaché and air force attaché at the embassies in Italy and Greece . On his return, he graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field , Alabama and entered the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth after its completion in May 1938 . After graduation, he first worked in the office of the commander of the US Army Air Corps, before becoming a military attaché at the embassy in Brazil in April 1940 and then head of the military air force mission in Brazil in August 1940.
After White returned to the United States in March 1942, he was first deputy chief of staff in the Third Air Force for operations in Tampa and shortly afterwards chief of staff. In January 1944 he was appointed deputy chief of staff of the US Army Air Forces (USAAF) for intelligence services . During the Pacific War , he became deputy commander of the Thirteenth Air Force responsible for the Southwest Pacific in September 1944 and subsequently took part in battles in New Guinea , the Philippines and Borneo .
Promotion to Chief of Staff of the Air Force
In June 1945 he was appointed commander of the Seventh Air Force in the Mariana Islands and shortly thereafter moved them to the Okinawa Islands . After Japan's surrender on August 15, 1945, he returned to the base in Hawaii as commander of the Seventh Air Force in January 1946 , but took over the post of Chief of Staff of the Pacific Air Forces (PACAF) in Tokyo in October 1946 . In October 1947, he became Commander of the Fifth Air Force at Yokota Air Base .
In October 1948 he returned to Washington and became director of legislation and liaison in the office of the US Secretary of the Air Force and then in May 1950 representative of the air force on the Joint Strategic Survey Committee of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . In February 1951 he was first director of planning at US Air Force Headquarters and then in July 1951 deputy chief of staff of the US Air Force for operations.
On June 30, 1953, he was promoted to general and took over as such the office of Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force (VCSAF).
On July 1, 1957, Thomas D. White succeeded General Nathan F. Twining as Chief of Staff of the Air Force (CSAF). He held this position until his retirement on June 30, 1961 and his replacement by the previous VCSAF, General Curtis E. LeMay . In this role, White was administratively involved in Operation Deep Freeze in Antarctica, which was taking place during this period . In recognition of this, the White Glacier in Marie Byrd Land was named after him at the suggestion of the American polar explorer Richard Evelyn Byrd .
Awards
Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of the Military Awards:
Web links
| predecessor | Office | successor |
|---|---|---|
| Nathan F. Twining |
Vice Chief of Staff of the Air Force 1953-1957 |
Curtis E. LeMay |
Vandenberg | Fairchild | Twining | White | LeMay | Smith | McKee | McConnell | Blanchard | Holloway | Ryan | Meyer | Calf | Ellis | McBride | Allen | Hill | Mathis | O'Malley | Skantze | Which | Piotrowski | Hatch | Tan | Carns | Moorman | Eberhart | Lyles | Mobile phone | Foglesong | Moseley | Corley | McNabb | Fraser | Chandler | Breedlove | Spencer | Gold fine | Wilson
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | White, Thomas D. |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | White, Thomas Dresser (full name) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | American general in the United States Air Force |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 6, 1901 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Walker , Minnesota |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 22, 1965 |