Twining Nathan
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Nathan Farragut Twining (TWI-ning) (October 11,1897 - March 29, 1982) was a United States Air Force General, born in Monroe, Wisconsin.[1] He was Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force from 1953 until 1957. As Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1957 to 1960 he was the first member of the Air Force to serve in that role.
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Biography
Nathan Twining came from a rich military background; his forebears had served in the United States Army and Navy since the French and Indian War. His mother was Frances Staver Twining, author of Bird-Watching in the West.[2]
In 1913, Twining moved with his family to Oswego, Oregon, serving in the Oregon National Guard from 1915 to 1917.[2] In 1917, he received an appointment to West Point. Because the program was shortened so as to produce more officers for combat, he spent only two years at the academy and graduated just a few days too late for service in World War I.[3]
After graduating in 1918 and serving in the infantry for three years arriving in Europe in July 1919, he transferred to the Air Service. Over the next 15 years he flew fighter aircraft in Texas, Louisiana, and Hawaii, while also attending the Air Corps Tactical School and the Command and General Staff College. When war broke out in Europe he was assigned to the operations division on the Air Staff; then in 1942 he was sent to the South Pacific where he became chief of staff of the Allied air forces in that area.
In January 1943, he assumed command of the Thirteenth Air Force, and that same November he traveled across the world to take over the Fifteenth Air Force from Jimmy Doolittle. When Germany surrendered, Arnold sent Twining back to the Pacific to command the B-29s of the Twentieth Air Force in the last push against Japan, but he was there only a short time when the atomic strikes ended the war. He returned to the States where he was named commander of the Air Materiel Command, and in 1947 he took over Alaskan Air Command.
After three years there he was set to retire as a Lieutenant General, but when Muir Fairchild, the vice chief of staff, died unexpectedly of a heart attack, Twining was elevated to full General and named his successor.
In 1947, Twining was asked to study UFO reports; he recommended that a formal study of the phenomenon take place; Project Sign was the result.
When Hoyt Vandenberg retired in mid-1953, Twining was selected as chief; during his tenure, massive retaliation based on airpower became the national strategy.
In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Twining Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
General Twining died on March 29, 1982 at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
Awards and decorations
General Twining held the ratings of Command Pilot and Aircraft Observer. In addition, General Twining was awarded numerous personal decorations from the U.S. military and foreign countries including:
- Army Distinguished Service Medal with oak leaf cluster (2 awards)
- Navy Distinguished Service Medal
- Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster (2 awards)
- Distinguished Flying Cross
- Bronze Star
- Air Medal with oak leaf cluster (2 awards)
- Army Commendation Medal
- Mexican Border Service Medal
- World War I Victory Medal (United States)
- Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
- American Defense Service Medal
- American Campaign Medal
- Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
- European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
- Army of Occupation Medal
- Order of the British Empire (Knight Commander, Military Division)
- National Order of the Legion of Honor (Commander), Republic of France
- National Order of Merit (Commander), Republic of France
- Croix de guerre, Republic of France
- Order of George I (Grand Cross), Kingdom of Greece
- Order of the Pheonix with Swords (Grand Cross, Military Division), Republic of Greece
- Order of the Partisan Star (First Class), Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
- Gold Cross of Merit with Swords, Republic of Poland
- Military Order of Italy (Grand Cross), Republic of Italy
- Order of the White Elephant, Kingdom of Thailand
- Order of National Security Merit (Gugseon Medal), Republic of Korea
- Order of Military Merit (Taeguk Cordon with Gold Star), Republic of Korea
- Aviation Cross (First Class), Republic of Peru (not worn)
- Medal of Merit, Republic of Egypt (not worn)
Honors
A city park in Monroe, Wisconsin, Twining's birthplace, and an elementary school on the Air Force base in Grand Forks, North Dakota are named after him.
Family
- Merrill B. Twining, U.S. Marine Corp General, brother of Nathan F. Twining
- Nathan C. Twining, United States Navy admiral, uncle of Nathan F. Twining
References
External links
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