BRIGADIER GENERAL JAMES W. WOLD

Brigadier General James W. Wold is defense and air attache, American Embassy, Moscow, U.S.S.R.

General Wold was born on April 18, 1932, in Minneapolis, Minn. He graduated from Hillcrest Academy, Fergus Falls, Minn. He received a bachelor of science degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Michigan, 1958, and a master of science degree in aerospace engineering from the Air Force Institute of Technology, 1966. He is a 1971 graduate of the Harvard Advanced Management Program, Harvard University Graduate School of Business Administration.

General Wold entered active military duty in February 1951 and was commissioned in the U.S. Air Force in September 1953 following completion of pilot training as an aviation cadet. He then was assigned duties as a tactical reconnaissance pilot in England and the United States. In June 1956 he entered the University of Michigan.

In October 1958 General Wold went to Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, as aircraft maintenance officer for the 9th Bombardment Wing, and in February 1961 became missile maintenance staff officer at Fifteenth Air Force Headquarters, March Air Force Base, Calif. He entered the Air Force Institute of Technology as a graduate student in aerospace engineering in June 1964.

General Wold was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in the office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans and Operations, from April 1966 to July 1969. During that Air Staff tour of duty, he served in both the Test Requirements and Acquisitions Test Branches of the Directorate of Operations.

He next was transferred to Southeast Asia where he commanded detachments of the 56th Special Operations Wing at Pleiku and Da Nang, Republic of Vietnam. During that tour of duty, General Wold flew 241 combat missions in the A-lH aircraft.

In August 1970 he was assigned to Headquarters Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., where he became chief of the Test Support Division, Deputy Chief of Staff, Plans. A year later, General Wold was assigned to a second tour of duty at Headquarters U.S. Air Force and served as the deputy assistant and then assistant for Colonel Assignments, in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Personnel.

General Wold entered the Defense Language Institute in September 1974, and upon completion of his studies assumed duty as defense and air attache, Moscow, U.S.S.R., in June 1975.

His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross with five oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with 16 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal. He has an aeronautical rating of command pilot with more than 4,200 hours of flying time, and has been awarded the Master Missileman Badge.

General Wold grew up in Minneapolis, Minn.

General Wold was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective Oct. 1, 1974, with date of rank Sept. 29, 1974.

(Current as of July 1, 1975)