BRIGADIER GENERAL KENNETH H. GIBSON Kenneth Hodder Gibson was born at Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1911. He graduated from the Collegiate Institute (high school) in Salt Lake City in 1928. Later he attended Westminister College as an engineering student for three years. General Gibson enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Corps on Dec. 5, 1933. Fourteen months later he was appointed an aviation cadet. In 1936, he was awarded his pilot wings at the conclusion of the Army's advanced flying school at Kelly Field, Texas. His specialty: bombardment aviation. From Kelly Field he was ordered to the 49th Bomb Squadron, 2nd Bomb Wing, at Langley Field, Va. His first tour of duty as an aircraft commander lasted from March 1936 to July 1937, at which time he was transferred from Langley to March Field, Calif., as a member of the 19th Bombardment Group. During his stint with the 19th, General Gibson served from June 1941 to December 1941, as a U.S. observer with the British Royal Air Force in England. Upon his return he was transferred to the 30th Bombardment Group, also at March Field, where he was assigned until October 1942. During this latter period a tour of temporary duty took him to the Aleutian Islands, as operations officer of the 11th Bombardment Command. The TDY lasted from June through October 1942. From the West Coast, General Gibson was ordered to Washington for duty with Headquarters Army Air Forces, as chief of tactics and techniques in the Directorate of Bombardment. He was dispatched to the China-Burma-India theatre of war where he remained for five months, returning in July 1943. Upon his return, he was made chief of the B-29 Project Office, OC&R. In May 1944, General Gibson was placed in command of the 6th Bombardment Group (B-29), at Grand Island, Neb. Under his command, this group moved to Tinian Island in the Marianas in December 1944. Until the end of the war in 1945, the group served in combat with the 20th Air Force. In September 1945, the general was recalled to Headquarters Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C., as chief of the Bombardment Section, Policy and Tactical Employment Branch, A/3. In January 1946, he was assigned as headquarters project officer of "Operation Crossroads," the first atomic tests in the Pacific. General Gibson was assigned in August 1946 as deputy chief, Operations Division, A/3, in Washington, becoming chief of that division in December 1946. He remained in that capacity until July 1947, when he attended the Air War College. Upon graduation from the Air War College, General Gibson was retained as a faculty member and served in this capacity until his appointment as chief of Plans and Operations Division of the Air War College faculty in December 1948. In May 1951 General Gibson was reassigned in Washington to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations, where he served until May 1954. His assignment during that time was as chief of the Operations and Commitments Division. In May 1954, the general was placed in command of the 8th Air Division (AEW&Con), McClellan Air Force Base, Calif. I In March 1957, General Gibson received orders transferring him to Ladd Air Force Base, near Fairbanks, as commander of Alaskan Air Command's 11th Air Division. In August of that year he was named commander, Alaskan Air Command. In August 1958, he was named vice commander, Eastern Air Defense Force. The general then took over Command of the Eastern Air Defense Force at Stewart Air Force Base, N.Y., on Aug. 17, 1959, holding that position until he was assigned as commander of the Chicago Air Defense Sector and Chicago NORAD Sector at Truax Field, Madison, Wis., on Oct. 5, 1959. He is rated a command pilot, navigator, bombardier and aerial gunner. General Gibson has been awarded the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster; Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster; Air Medal with three oak leaf clusters; two Distinguished Unit Badges; Army Commendation Ribbon; American Defense Service Medal; American Campaign Medal; Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with three battle stars; World War II Victory Medal; National Defense Service Medal; and Air Force Longevity Service Award Ribbon with five oak leaf clusters. He is rated a command pilot, navigator, bombardier and aerial gunner. (Current as of March 31, 1961)