Francis Hopkinson Griswold (November 5, 1904 – April 11, 1989) was an American

Air Force An air force – in the broadest sense – is the national military branch that primarily conducts aerial warfare. More specifically, it is the branch of a nation's armed services that is responsible for aerial warfare as distinct from an a ...

lieutenant general who was commandant of the

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in Washington, D.C. and vice commander in chief, Strategic Air Command.

Early life

Griswold was born in

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, in 1904. He attended

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and

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

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, before entering military service as an aviation cadet in September 1928. He completed flying training at

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, Texas, in October 1929. He spent the next several years as a pilot performing normal squadron duties with various air units in

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and

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World War II

Shortly after the U.S. entered World War II, he was named as chief of the Training Section, Headquarters Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C. He was transferred in July 1943 to the

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where he served successively as chief of staff of the 8th Fighter Command, the 2nd Bomb Division, and the

. He went to the Pacific in July 1945 as commanding general of the

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on Okinawa, and the following October returned to the United States.

Cold War

From December 1945 until July 1946 he was deputy assistant chief of the Air Staff for operations, Headquarters Army Air Forces. He then assumed command of the

20th Air Force The Twentieth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) (20th AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Francis E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyoming. 20 AF's primary mission is Interc ...

on Guam until September 1948 when he returned to Headquarters U.S. Air force as assistant deputy chief of staff for materiel. He was named Air Force staff member of the Munitions Board in December 1950, and in May 1952 was reassigned to the United Kingdom to command the U.S.

Third Air Force The Third Air Force (Air Forces Europe) (3 AF) is a numbered air force of the United States Air Forces in Europe - Air Forces Africa (USAFE-AFAFRICA). Its headquarters is Ramstein Air Base, Germany. It is responsible for all U.S. air forces in E ...

. He became vice commander in chief of the

Strategic Air Command Strategic Air Command (SAC) was both a United States Department of Defense Specified Command and a United States Air Force (USAF) Major Command responsible for command and control of the strategic bomber and intercontinental ballistic missile ...

(SAC) in April 1954, where he remained until July 1, 1961, when he was named commandant, the

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Retirement

He retired August 1, 1964. Lieutenant General Griswold died of heart failure at Saddleback Community Hospital in

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, California; he was 84 years old.

Awards and decorations

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griswold Columbia University alumni United States Army Air Forces personnel of World War II United States Air Force generals Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France) Amateur radio people 1904 births 1989 deaths United States Army Air Forces officers