Curtis LeMay — the man who directed the air assault on Japan in the final days of World War II, the man who commanded the Berlin Airlift and the man who built the Strategic Air Command during the Cold War — was born the son of an itinerant ironworker on N. 20th Street in Columbus on Nov. 15, 1906.
Gen. LeMay, called the “Iron Eagle,” was known for speaking his mind.
LeMay, the eldest of six children, graduated from South High School in 1924, earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering from Ohio State University and joined the Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the Air Force.
In 1942, he was given command of a bomber group, personally leading several bombing missions on Germany.
Eighteen months later, he was promoted to major general and transferred to the Pacific Theater. There, he pioneered low-altitude nighttime incendiary bombing, which caused massive destruction in Japan. In 1945, he commanded the bomber group that dropped the first atomic bomb on Japan (but he did not fly on the mission).
After the war, he oversaw organizing the airlift of food and fuel to West Berlin during the Soviet blockade and reorganized the Strategic Air Command — the bombers and intercontinental missiles designed to counter a nuclear attack — into an effective fighting force.
LeMay resigned as Air Force chief of staff in 1965. In 1968, he ran for vice president on segregationist George Wallace’s American Independent Party ticket.
When he died on Oct. 1, 1990, The Dispatch reported: “LeMay was known as a man who was tough, but fair. Not all of his views were popular, but this notable son of Columbus served his country with dedication and distinction.”