Stratemeyer, George Edward.

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Stratemeyer, George Edward, 20-11-1890 in Cincinnati, Ohio, graduated, age 25 from the United States Military Academy in June 1915, “the class the stars fell on” as a second lieutenant of Infantry. Inhis class were Dwight “Ike” Eisenhower and Omar “Brad” Bradley two five stars Generals and James Van Fleet   a 4 stars General. George served with the 7th  and 34th  Infantry divisions in Texas and Arizona until September 1916 when he was detailed to the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps, for flying training at Rockwell Field, San Diego, California. Stratemeyer became a first lieutenant in June 1916. He became commanding officer of the United States Army Air Service Flying and Technical Schools at Kelly Field, Texas in May 1917. He became a captain in August 1917, assigned as school commandant of the School of Military Aeronautics Division ground school at Ohio State University, and later commanding officer of Chanute Field, Illinois. Stratemeyer was promoted to major in August 1918. With official transfer to the Air Corps from the Infantry in 1920 he went to Luke Field, Hawaii as commanding officer of the 10th Air Park. He returned to West Point in August 1924 as instructor in tactics. He graduated from the Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field, Virginia, in June 1930 and from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1932. He remained at Leavenworth as an instructor for the next four years. Stratemeyer was promoted to lieutenant colonel in June 1936 and assigned to command the 7th Bomb Group  at Hamilton Field, California. He graduated from the Army War College in 1939 and went to the office of the Chief of the United States Army Air Corps as head of the Training and Operations Division, with promotion to colonel in March 1940. General Stratemeyer went to the China-Burma-India Theater in mid-1943, appointed Commanding General of the Army Air Forces in the theater and as Air Commander of the Allied Eastern Air Command. Although officially air adviser to General Joseph Stilwell, his status was comparable to that of Stilwell. One of Stratemeyer’s favorite cartoons showed him sitting at his desk surrounded by pictures of his six bosses, all of whom could give him orders in one or another of his capacities. AAF-IV-p438c Part of Stratemeyer’s command, the Tenth Air Force , had been integrated with the RAF Third Tactical Air Force in India in December 1943 and was operating under Louis Mountbatten

South East Asia Command (SEAC). Another part of it, the Fourteenth Air Force  in China, was at least technically under the jurisdiction of Chiang Kai shek as theater commander. And although the India-China Wing, Air Transport Command received its assignments of tonnage from Stratemeyer as Stilwell’s deputy, control actually stemmed from Washington. Stratemeyer was promoted to Lieutenant General in May 1945 and from April 1944 until March 1946 was commander of the Army Air Forces in the China Theater with headquarters at Chungking. After the war, General Stratemeyer commanded the Air Defense Command at Mitchel Field, New York, and the Continental Air Command which was organized there in November 1948. At both positions, Stratemeyer tried to improve America’s warning system. He went to Tokyo in April 1949 as Commanding General of Far East Air Forces, which he led through the first year of the Korean War. His units responded rapidly to the North Koreans’ invasion of the South and provided South Korea and General Douglas MacArthur  with the vital air arm. General Stratemeyer had a serious heart attack in Tokyo in May 1951 and was confined to the Air Force hospital at nearby Tachikawa Air Base.

Death and burial ground of Stratemeyer, George Edward.

General Stratemeyer retired 31-01-1952 and died 11-08-1969, age 78, in Orange, Ohio and is buried on the United States Air Force Academy Cemetery, Colorado Springs, El Paso, County Colorado. Close by the graves of  General, who directed the development of the United States’ original jet engine and jet aircraft. Benjamin Wiley Chidlaw, Air Force Lieutenant General. Commander 5th Bombardment Wing , Joseph Harris Atkinson, General Lieutenant, Commander Sixth Air Force , Hubert Reilly Harmon, General, Commander 15th Air Force , Emmet “Rosie” O’Donnel Jr., Emmet “Rosie” and Navy Bomber Squadron  Leader, Clarence Wade McClusky.

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