Major General Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

Jeanne Marjorie Holm (June 23, 1921 – February 15, 2010) was the first female one-star general of the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

and the first female two-star general in any service branch of the United States.United States Air Force Biographies: Holm was a driving force behind the expansion of women's roles in the Air Force.

Early career

Holm was born on June 23, 1921, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. She enlisted in the Army in July 1942, soon after the Women's Army Auxiliary Corps (WAAC) was established by

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of a ...

. She attended Officer Candidate School at Fort Des Moines, Iowa, and in January 1943, received a commission as a "Third Officer," the WAAC equivalent of

Second Lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

World War II

During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

, Holm was assigned to the Women's Army Corps Training Center at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, where she first commanded a basic training company and then a training regiment. At the end of the war, she commanded the 106th WAC Hospital Company at Newton D. Baker General Hospital, West Virginia. She then left active military duty in 1946 and attended Lewis and Clark College for two years, returning in 1956 for her Bachelor of Arts degree. CaptainJeanneMHolm

In October 1948, during the Berlin Blockade, Holm was recalled to active duty with the Army and went to Camp Lee in Virginia, as a company commander within the Women's Army Corps Training Center. The following year she transferred to the Air Force and was sent to

Erding Air Depot Erding Air Base (German: ''Fliegerhorst Erding'', ICAO: ETSE) is a German Air Force airfield near the town of Erding, about northeast of central Munich in Bavaria. It is the home of the 5th Air Defense Missile Squadron and the 1st Air Force M ...

, Germany. There she served as assistant director of plans and operations for the 7200th Air Force Depot Wing, and later was War Plans Officer for the 85th Air Depot Wing, during the

Berlin airlift The Berlin Blockade (24 June 1948 – 12 May 1949) was one of the first major international crises of the Cold War. During the multinational occupation of post–World War II Germany, the Soviet Union blocked the Western Allies' railway, road ...

and the early phases of the

Korean War , date = {{Ubl, 25 June 1950 – 27 July 1953 (''de facto'')({{Age in years, months, weeks and days, month1=6, day1=25, year1=1950, month2=7, day2=27, year2=1953), 25 June 1950 – present (''de jure'')({{Age in years, months, weeks a ...

Cold War

Holm returned from overseas in 1952 and became the first woman to attend the

Air Command and Staff College The Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and is the United States Air Force's intermediate-level Professional Military Education (PME) school. It is a subordinate command of the Air Uni ...

Maxwell Air Force Base Maxwell Air Force Base , officially known as Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base, is a United States Air Force (USAF) installation under the Air Education and Training Command (AETC). The installation is located in Montgomery, Alabama, United States. O ...

in Montgomery, Alabama. She was then assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Washington, DC, as a personnel plans and programs officer in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel. Her next assignment was as chief of manpower in Allied Air Forces Southern Europe, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization headquarters, in Naples, Italy, where she served for four years. She returned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in 1961 and was assigned as congressional staff officer for the director of manpower and organization. For her work in this assignment, she was awarded the

Legion of Merit The Legion of Merit (LOM) is a military award of the United States Armed Forces that is given for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services and achievements. The decoration is issued to members of the eight ...

WAF

In November 1965 Holm was appointed director of

Women in the Air Force (WAF) Women in the Air Force (WAF) was a program which served to bring women into limited roles in the United States Air Force. WAF was formed in 1948 when Harry S. Truman, President Truman signed the Women's Armed Services Integration Act, allowing wo ...

, in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel. Her appointment was extended twice, making her the longest-serving WAF director. She was responsible for overall staff cognizance of and advice on matters concerning military women in the Air Force. During her tenure, policies affecting women were updated, WAF strength more than doubled, job and assignment opportunities greatly expanded, and uniforms modernized. She was an active proponent for expanding the opportunities for women to serve in the Armed Forces and a catalyst for changing their roles and career opportunities within the Air Force. Historian

Walter J. Boyne Walter J. Boyne (February 2, 1929 – January 9, 2020) was a United States Air Force officer, Command Pilot, combat veteran, aviation historian, and author of more than 50 books and over 1,000 magazine articles. He was a director of the National ...

acknowledged her "enormous influence on the role of women in the Air Force". For her exceptionally meritorious service in this assignment, she was awarded the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal.

Air Force leadership

Holm was promoted to the grade of brigadier general July 16, 1971, the first woman to be appointed in this grade in the Air Force. She was promoted to the grade of major general effective June 1, 1973, with date of rank July 1, 1970, and was the first woman in the Armed Forces to serve in that grade. On March 1, 1973, Holm was appointed director of the Secretary of the Air Force Personnel Council. In this position, she was responsible for administration of the council and functioning of its boards and served as president of: the Air Force Discharge Review Board, Personnel Board, Board of Review, Physical Disability Appeal Board, Decorations Board and the Disability Review Board. Holm retired from the Air Force in 1975.

White House

After retiring, Holm consulted for the Defense Manpower Commission. In March 1976 Holm was named special assistant to President

Gerald Ford Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. ( ; born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was an American politician who served as the 38th president of the United States from 1974 to 1977. He was the only president never to have been elected ...

for the Office of Women's Programs. Holm helped Ford attract more female voters by reaching out to women's groups and making note of women's issues. Holm detailed for Ford a plan for presentation to the Justice Department which would authorize a full re-examination of the

United States Code In the law of the United States, the Code of Laws of the United States of America (variously abbreviated to Code of Laws of the United States, United States Code, U.S. Code, U.S.C., or USC) is the official compilation and codification of the ...

to determine whether the wording of any law was sex-based and not justified. Ford directed the attorney general to begin the task and announced it to the public on July 1, 1976. At the polls, women voters favored Ford by a small percentage but were outnumbered by a larger male turnout. Males favored

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

just enough to give him 50.1% of the popular vote.

Awards and recognition

Holm was a member of the Board of Trustees, Air Force Historical Foundation; member of the Board of Directors of

Camp Fire Girls Camp Fire, formerly Camp Fire USA and originally Camp Fire Girls of America, is a co-ed youth development organization. Camp Fire was the first nonsectarian, multicultural organization for girls in America. It is gender inclusive, and its prog ...

; member of Board of Directors of the Pentagon Federal Credit Union; and member of the

Air Force Association The Air & Space Forces Association (AFA) is an independent, 501(c)(3) non-profit, professional military association for the United States Air Force and United States Space Force. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, its declared mission is " ...

. She received the Distinguished Alumni Award from Lewis and Clark College in 1968; Citation of Honor from the Air Force Association in 1971; and the Eugene Zuckert Leadership Award from the Arnold Air Society in 1972. Holm was inducted into the

National Women's Hall of Fame The National Women's Hall of Fame (NWHF) is an American institution incorporated in 1969 by a group of men and women in Seneca Falls, New York, although it did not induct its first enshrinees until 1973. As of 2021, it had 303 inductees. Induc ...

in 2000. In 2003, the

conferred upon her their Lifetime Achievement Award. Holm was inducted into the International Women in Aviation Hall of Fame in 2006. A section of Air University was reorganized in 2008 and renamed the Jeanne M. Holm Officer Accession and Citizen Development Center. ;Military Decorations:

Effective dates of promotion

Author

Holm wrote two books about women in the military, beginning with ''Women in the Military: An Unfinished Revolution'' in 1982. Holm updated the book in 1992–1994, filling in American women's combat and military experiences in the invasions of

Grenada Grenada ( ; Grenadian Creole French: ) is an island country in the West Indies in the Caribbean Sea at the southern end of the Grenadines island chain. Grenada consists of the island of Grenada itself, two smaller islands, Carriacou and Pe ...

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

and in the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. In 1998, Holm published a history of American women serving in

, entitled ''In Defense of a Nation: Servicewomen in World War II'', summarizing the experiences of women serving all of the military arms. In 2003 Holm assisted author Linda Witt in her writing of the book ''A Defense Weapon Known to be of Value: Servicewomen of the Korean War Era'', published in 2005. Holm described for Witt the history of the WAF in the early 1950s and the trials women experienced as they made their way through the male-dominated military.

Personal life

Holm was an accomplished snow and

water skier Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or one ski. The sport requires suffic ...

, student of ancient history,

scuba diver Scuba diving is a mode of underwater diving whereby divers use breathing equipment that is completely independent of a surface air supply. The name "scuba", an acronym for "Self-Contained Underwater Breathing Apparatus", was coined by Chris ...

and skipper of her own power cruiser. Prior to entering military service, she was a professional silversmith. On February 15, 2010 in

Annapolis, Maryland Annapolis ( ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of Maryland and the county seat of, and only incorporated city in, Anne Arundel County. Situated on the Chesapeake Bay at the mouth of the Severn River, south of Baltimore and about east o ...

, Holm died from

pneumonia Pneumonia is an inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of productive or dry cough, chest pain, fever, and difficulty breathing. The severity ...

in both lungs. She was survived by her family members such as a brother, nephews, and nieces. Funeral services for Holm were conducted at

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

on March 29, 2010, with full military honors.