GENERAL NATHAN F. TWINING
Retired
September 30, 1960
Died March 29, 1982
General Nathan Farragut Twining was the
chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Department of Defense, Washington, D.C. In this capacity, he serves as the senior military adviser to the president, the
National Security Council and the secretary of defense.
The general was
born in Monroe, Wis., in 1897. He began his active service in June 1916, with
Company H of the Third Oregon Infantry (National Guard) and served as a corporal
on Mexican border duty until September. In March 1917, he was recalled to active
duty as a sergeant in the same organization and was promoted to first sergeant
the following month. In May 1917, he received an appointment through the Oregon
National Guard and entered the United States Military Academy. He graduated in
November 1918, as a second lieutenant of Infantry and remained assigned to the
Academy as an officer cadet until June 1919.
In July 1919, he joined
the American Forces in Germany as a military ground observer and toured Belgian,
French and Italian battlefields. He entered the Infantry School at Fort Benning,
Ga., in September 1919, graduated the following June, and was assigned to the
29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning. In February 1922, he was assigned as
aide to Brig. Gen. B.A. Poore and served with him at Camp Travis, Texas; Fort
Logan, Colo.; and Fort Sam Houston, Texas.
His air training began in
August 1923, when he entered Primary Flying School at Brooks Field, Texas. He
graduated from Advanced Flying School at Kelly Field, Texas, in September 1924,
and then returned to Brooks Field, Texas, as an instructor. On November 16, 1926, he
was transferred to the Air Service and the following September he was reassigned
to March Field, Calif., where he served as a flying instructor. In February
1929, he joined the 18th Pursuit Group at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii,
where he
served successively as adjutant, personnel officer, headquarters detachment
commander and commander officer of the 26th Attack Squadron.
General
Twining was ordered to Fort Crockett, Texas, in March 1932, and was assigned to
the Third Attack Group as a squadron commander; that August he joined the 90th
Attack Squadron and a month later, the 60th Service Squadron at the same base. He became engineering officer for the Central Zone (U.S. Army Air Mail Service)
in Chicago, in February 1934, and then returned to Fort Crockett in June, where
he became adjutant to the Third Attack Group. In addition to other duties, he
coached the post football team for two years at Fort Crockett. In March 1935, he
became assistant operations officer of the Third Wing at Barksdale Field, La. In August, he entered the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Ala., and
completed the course a year later. In August 1936, he entered the Command and
General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., and graduated the following
June.
He was named Air Corps technical supervisor at San Antonio Air
Depot, Duncan Field, Texas, in July 1937. In August 1940, he was reassigned to
the Office of the Chief of Air Corps in Washington, D.C., as assistant chief of
the Inspection Division. Three months later, he became chief of the Technical
Inspection Section in the same office. He joined the Operations Division in
December 1941, was named assistant executive in the Office of Chief of Air Corps
in February 1942, and three months later was appointed director of War
Organization and Movements in that office.
General Twining was sent to
the South Pacific as chief of staff to Maj. Gen. M.F. Harmon, commanding general
of the U.S. Army Forces in the South Pacific Area in July 1942, and was named
commanding general of the 13th Air Force the following January. On July 25,
1943, he was appointed commander, Aircraft, Solomon Islands and placed in
tactical control of all Army, Navy, Marine and Allied Air Forces in the South
Pacific, one of the first Joint Air Commands in U.S. history.
He
assumed command of the Fifteenth Air Force in Italy in November 1943, and two months
later, in addition to his other duties, became commander of the Mediterranean
Allied Strategic Air Forces. On August 2, 1945, he was appointed commander of the
20th Air Force in the Pacific; a few days later, his command dropped the first
atomic bomb at Hiroshima. He retained this command until the end of the war.
In October 1945, General Twining moved to Continental Air Force
Headquarters at Bolling Field, Washington, D.C.; two months later he was
appointed commanding general of the Air Materiel Command at Wright Field, Ohio.
He remained there until October 1, 1947, when he became commanding general of the
Alaskan Department; three weeks later he was appointed commander in chief of the
Alaskan Command at Fort Richardson.
He returned to Washington in July
1950, as deputy chief of staff for personnel, which position he held until October
10, 1950, when he was appointed vice chief of staff of the Air Force. He was
named chief of staff of the Air Force June 30, 1953.
On March 26, 1957,
President Dwight D. Eisenhower nominated General Twining to succeed Admiral
Radford as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, effective Aug. 15, 1957. The
nomination was approved and from July 1 to August 15, he served as special
assistant to Secretary of Defense Charles E. Wilson. On August 15, 1957, General
Twining was formally sworn in as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by
President Eisenhower in the Cabinet Room of the White House.