MAJOR GENERAL UZAL GIRARD ENT Uzal Girard Ent was born on March 3, 1900, in Northumberland, Pa. He enlisted in the infantry from 1917 to 1919, and was commissioned in the Air Service from West Point in 1924. He graduated from the Command and General Staff College in 1938.His assignments include military attaché, American Embassy, Lima, Peru (July 1939 - October 1942); Chief of Staff, U.S. Army Forces in the Middle East (October 1942 - February 1943); Commanding General, 9th Bomber Command, 9th Air Force (February 1943 - December 1943); Chief of Staff and then Commanding General, 2nd Air Force, Colorado Springs, Colo. In October 1944, he was seriously injured in the crash of a B-25 on takeoff at the Fort Worth Army Airfield, Texas. He retired (disability in line of duty) in 1946 with the rank of major general. He died at Fitzsimons General Hospital in Denver, Colo., on March 5, 1948.His decorations include two Distinguished Service Crosses, two Distinguished Service Medals, the Legion of Merit, two Distinguished Flying Crosses and two Air Medals. His foreign decorations include Commander, Order of the British Empire; Bolivian Order of Condor of the Andes; Commander, Peruvian Order of Ayacucho; and the Peruvian Aviation Cross, First Class.During his career, he participated in the National Elimination Balloon Races, 1928 - 1929; acted as the senior neutral military observer on the Peruvian side of a boundary dispute with Ecuador; and on Aug. 1, 1943, led 178 B-24s in the bombing raid on oil fields at Ploesti, Romania.In 1951, an Air Force base opened near Colorado Springs, Colo., and was named in the general's honor. Ent AFB was home to NORAD from 1957 until 1963 when the command center moved to a highly secure facility within Cheyenne Mountain. Ent AFB then became the Ent Annex to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex in 1975, and the facility was subsequently closed in 1976.(Biography compiled from information in the Biographical Dictionary of World War II Generals and Flag Officers by R. Manning Ancell with Christine M. Miller, and USAF Historical Study No. 91: Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers 1917 to 1952.)