Major General CLYDE BOX

Maj. Gen. Clyde Box is the deputy inspector general, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, in Washington, D.C.

General Box was born in Nevada, Texas, in 1912. He graduated from Nevada High School in 1929 and then attended premedical courses at North Texas State College, Denton, Texas. In February 1936 he entered flying training at Randolph Field, Texas. After completing advanced flying school at Kelly Field, Texas, in 1937, he was awarded his pilot wings and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps.

His next assignment was at March Field, Calif., with the 17th Attack Group, where he served as assistant squadron operations officer and operations officer. In 1940 he joined the 19th Bombardment Group to fly the B-17 Flying Fortress. In 1941 he was transferred to the Ferrying Command at Long Beach, Calif., from which point he ferried Lockheed Hudson bombers to Canada. In September 1941 he rejoined the 19th Bombardment Group at Albuquerque, N.M., shortly before the Group left for the Philippine Islands.

When the Japanese attacked Clark Field, General Box was a squadron operations officer. On Christmas Day 1941 he withdrew to Bataan and on Dec. 29 sailed to Mindanao. In a patched-up B-18 he and other officers flew to Darwin, Australia, and then to Java. While he was assisting in surveying airdromes in China, India and Burma to determine the feasibility of their use as bases for counterattacks against the enemy, Java fell, and he joined other personnel from Java to organize the Tenth Air Force in India.

In 1942 General Box was assigned as deputy chief of staff for the newly activated Tenth Air Force in New Delhi, India. While there he assisted in early surveys for initiation of "The Hump" operations. He assumed command of a B-24 squadron and participated in 13 bombing raids against the Japanese.

He returned to the United States in October 1943 and was assigned to the Asiatic Theater Section in the War Department General Staff. He attended the 1st Command Class at the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in 1945, and remained there as an instructor in the 2nd Command Class. In August 1946 he was again assigned to duty in Washington, D.C. This time he served as chief of the Manpower Division, and later was named chief of the Budget and Legislative Division, both in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel, Headquarters U.S. Air Force.

General Box attended the Air War College and graduated in 1949. His next assignment was at Albuquerque, N.M., as deputy chief of staff for operations for the Special Weapons Command; and, after three years there, he was selected to attend the National War College, graduating in 1953. For the next two years he served as assistant executive to the secretary of the Air Force, and then as commander of the 60th Troop Carrier Wing at Rhein Main Air Base, Germany.

In March 1956 he became commander of the 322d Air Division, with headquarters at Evreux-Fauville Air Base, France. In July 1959 he assumed command of the 464th Troop Carrier Wing at Pope Air Force Base, N.C. In October 1960 General Box attended an airborne jump school conducted by the 82d Airborne Division at Fort Bragg, N.C., and qualified as a paratrooper.

In October 1961 General Box became assistant chief of staff, J-5, Headquarters U.S. Strike Command, and in July 1964 became commander of the Sixth Allied Tactical Air Force, a North Atlantic Treaty Organization unit with headquarters at Izmir, Turkey.

In October 1966 he assumed command of the Third Air Force, U.S. Air Forces in Europe, with headquarters at South Ruislip, Middlesex, England.

In August 1968 General Box became the deputy inspector general at Headquarters U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C.

He is a command pilot. His military decorations include the Legion of Merit with four oak leaf clusters, the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Army Commendation Medal with oak leaf cluster, and the Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem with three oak leaf clusters.

(Current as of Jan. 1, 1969)