Vermont Garrison Military person
Vermont Garrison (October 29, 1915 — February 14, 1994) was a career officer in the United States Air Force, and an ace with 17.33 credited victories in aerial combat. He was one of only seven Americans to achieve ace status during World War II, then again against jet fighter opposition during the Korean War. In 1966, Garrison participated in his third war, as vice commander of the 8th Tactical Fighter Wing, and flew a full tour of bombing and fighter missions over North Vietnam.During all three of his combat tours, Garrison was consistently older than his peers, becoming an ace in World War II at the age of 28, in Korea at the age of 37, and flying Rolling Thunder missions at the age of 51. For this and his renown as a gunnery expert, Garrison was known in the service as "The Gray Eagle".U.S. Air Force historian and author Walter J. Boyne described Garrison as a "first-rate combat unit leader." Col. Robin Olds, commanding the 8th TFW in Thailand, said of his vice commander: "Of the many hundreds I've served with, Garry was one of the greatest—as pilot, as gentleman, as officer, and as friend."
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Military person
allegiance | United States |
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award | |
military operations | |
military branch | |
military command | 25px 4780th Air Defense Wing 30px 335th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron 30px 405th Fighter Wing 30px408th Fighter Group |
service start | 1943 |
service end | 1973 |
Vermont Garrison on Wikipedia
External resources
- http://www.4thfightergroupassociation.org
- http://www.afhra.af.mil/shared/media/document/AFD-090601-121.pdf
- http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=64784164
- http://www.nytimes.com/1994/02/16/obituaries/vermont-garrison-78-fighter-pilot-in-3-wars.html
- http://www.veterantributes.org/TributeDetail.asp?ID=121