MAJOR GENERAL SHERMAN F. MARTIN

Major General Sherman F. Martin is assistant deputy chief of staff for programs and resources, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C.

General Martin was born in Murchison, Texas, in 1918. He graduated from high school in Tyler, Texas, in June 1935, and from Federal Institute College, Inc., at Tyler, in June 1936. He began his military career as an aviation cadet in April 1942 at Kelly Field, Texas. He completed pilot training and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in May 1943 at Ellington, Texas.

During World War II, he served as a pilot and operations officer at Moses Lake, Wash.; Scottsbluff, Neb.; and Pocatello, Idaho, from May 1943 until he went overseas in February 1944. General Martin flew 63 combat missions as a B-24 bomber pilot with Fifteenth Air Force units operating from North Africa and Italy. He was commander of the 464th Bombardment Group when he returned to the United States in June 1945.

In October 1945 he went to Flying Training Command, Randolph Field, Texas, where he became assistant deputy chief of staff for operations. In April 1946 he was assigned as commander of the New Orleans Army Air Base, and from May to December 1947 he was commander of a flying training group at Barksdale Field, La.

General Martin went to Okinawa in February 1948 where he was first chief of training for the 1st Air Division, and later assistant deputy chief of staff for operations, Thirteenth Air Force. He returned to the United States in June 1949 to attend the Air Command and Staff School, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala.

In December 1949 he was transferred to Walker Air Force Base, N.M., where he subsequently became commander, 509th Air Refueling Squadron; then director of operations and, in January 1952, deputy commander of the 509th Bombardment Wing. Three months later he became director of operations for the 47th Air Division, also at Walker Air Force Base. In this position, he also served as deputy commander of the task force for Operation Ivy, a series of nuclear tests in the Pacific area, including the first hydrogen bomb test.

In March 1954 General Martin became deputy inspector general for inspection of Strategic Air Command, and in August 1956 he entered the Air War College at Maxwell Air Force Base. Upon graduation in June 1957, he was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as deputy chief, Manpower Programming and Requirements Division, Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations. In August 1958 he became chief, Atomic Operations Division, Directorate of Operations, J-3, in the Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

General Martin entered the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., in August 1960, and upon graduation in July 1961, he went to Goose Bay, Labrador, as vice commander, 4082d Strategic Wing, an organization of the Strategic Air Command. In November 1961 he became wing commander.

He returned to the United States in July 1963 and went to Little Rock Air Force Base, Ark., as commander of the 384th Bombardment Wing, and in July 1964 became commander of the 42d Air Division at Blytheville Air Force Base, Ark. In July 1965 he was transferred to Second Air Force at Barksdale Air Force Base, La., where he served as director of operations, for four months, then as chief of staff.

General Martin was assigned to Headquarters Strategic Air Command in July 1966 as assistant deputy chief of staff, plans, and in July 1968 became deputy chief of staff, plans. In December 1966 he was assigned additional duties as the commander in chief, Strategic Air Command, representative to the Joint Strategic Target Planning Staff.

In August 1970, General Martin was transferred to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., where he assumed duties as assistant deputy chief of staff for programs and resources.

His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, Purple Heart, and the Presidential Unit Citation Emblem with oak leaf cluster.

General Martin's hometown is Tyler, Texas.

He was promoted to the temporary grade of major general effective Aug. 1, 1968, with date of rank Aug. 7, 1964.

(Current as of Aug. 1, 1971)