William Hull "Bud" Forster Sr. (born 24 June 1939) is a retired lieutenant general in the United States Army who served as military deputy to the U.S. Assistant Secretary of the Army for Research, Development and Acquisition from 1992 until his retirement from active duty in 1995. He previously served as commanding general of the Army Operational Test and Evaluation Command from August 1991 to August 1992.

Early life and education

Born in

Shelby, Mississippi Shelby is a city in Bolivar County, Mississippi, United States. The population was 2,229 at the 2010 census, down from 2,926 in 2000. The town of Shelby was established in 1853 by Tom Shelby, who had purchased a block of land there from the feder ...

, Forster graduated from University of Alabama in 1960 with a B.S. degree in chemistry. He was commissioned through the Army ROTC program and assigned to the 91st Division while attending graduate school. Forster earned an Ph.D. degree in nuclear chemistry from the University of California, Davis in 1965. His doctoral thesis was entitled ''Cross section ratios of isobars from spallation reactions under varying conditions''. He is also a graduate of the Armed Forces Staff College, the

U.S. Naval Test Pilot School The United States Naval Test Pilot School (USNTPS), located at Naval Air Station (NAS) Patuxent River in Patuxent River, Maryland, provides instruction to experienced United States Navy, Marine Corps, Army, Air Force, and foreign military experi ...

and the Air War College.

Military career

Forster served two combat tours in Vietnam, where he commanded the 173rd Assault Helicopter Company and an air defense artillery unit. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, two

Bronze Star Medal The Bronze Star Medal (BSM) is a United States Armed Forces decoration awarded to members of the United States Armed Forces for either heroic achievement, heroic service, meritorious achievement, or meritorious service in a combat zone. Wh ...

s and sixteen Air Medals. After graduating from the Naval Test Pilot School, Forster became the first Army officer selected as an astronaut candidate.

Robert L. Stewart Robert Lee Stewart (born August 13, 1942) is a retired brigadier general of the United States Army and a former NASA astronaut. Personal Stewart was born August 13, 1942, in Washington, D.C. He graduated from Hattiesburg High School in Hattie ...

eventually became the first Army astronaut, but Forster received the NASA Award for Outstanding Service after his time at the

Johnson Space Center The Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (JSC) is NASA's center for human spaceflight (originally named the Manned Spacecraft Center), where human spaceflight training, research, and flight control are conducted. It was renamed in honor of the late U ...

. After commanding the 10th Combat Aviation Battalion, Forster took on a series of aviation administration assignments. He served as program manager for both the Kiowa and

Apache The Apache () are a group of culturally related Native American tribes in the Southwestern United States, which include the Chiricahua, Jicarilla, Lipan, Mescalero, Mimbreño, Ndendahe (Bedonkohe or Mogollon and Nednhi or Carrizaleño an ...

helicopters. Forster was designated the first Program Executive Officer Aviation from 1987 to 1988. He later served as Director of Army Aviation at the Pentagon from 1989 to 1990.

Additional awards

Forster received the Secretary of Defense Superior Management Award for his work in support of the Army helicopter improvement program. He was elected to the

Russian Academy of Natural Sciences The Russian Academy of Natural Sciences (Russian: Российская академия естественных наук) is a Russian non-governmental organization founded on August 31 1990 in Moscow in the former Soviet Union, following a dec ...

in 1992 while still serving as an American Army officer. Forster was designated a Technical Fellow of the

American Helicopter Society American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

in 1997. He was elected to the Army Aviation Association of America Hall of Fame in 2010.

Personal

Forster is the son of William O. H. "Bill" Forster (11 October 1904 – 23 January 1994) and Amy Hull Forster (2 June 1910 – 30 December 1983). He has a brother and a sister. Forster was married to Belle Fair (Brown) Forster (4 February 1940 – 25 January 2021). They had two sons and two grandsons. After his first marriage ended in divorce on 31 January 1995, Forster married Francine M. Forster.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Forster, William Hull 1939 births Living people People from Shelby, Mississippi University of Alabama alumni University of California, Davis alumni American Senior Army Aviators United States Army personnel of the Vietnam War Recipients of the Air Medal Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Joint Forces Staff College alumni United States Naval Test Pilot School alumni Air War College alumni Recipients of the Meritorious Service Medal (United States) Recipients of the Legion of Merit United States Army generals Recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (US Army) Foreign Members of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences