BRIGADIER GENERAL JOHN MAYO TALBOT

Brigadier General John Mayo Talbot is the command surgeon, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, Wiesbaden, Germany.

General Talbot was born in Sebastopol, Calif., in 1913. He graduated from high school in Portland, Ore., in 1931, and began his premedical training at the University of Oregon, Eugene, Ore. He transferred to the University of Oregon Medical School in Portland in 1934 where he received his bachelor of arts degree in 1935, and his doctor of medicine degree in 1938. He completed his internship at the U.S. Marine Hospital in New Orleans, La., in 1939.

He entered on active military duty with a regular commission as first lieutenant in the Army Medical Corps in July 1939. He completed the Aviation Medical Examiner's Course at the School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Field, Texas, and received his rating of Aviation Medical Examiner in 1940; a course in military medicine at the Medical Field Service School, Carlisle Barracks, Pa., in 1941; and the General Staff Course, Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kan., in 1943. His present aeronautical rating is chief flight surgeon.

From July 1939 to June 1943 he had assignments as assistant surgeon, base flight surgeon, group surgeon and wing surgeon at various Army airfields in the United States.

During World War II, General Talbot was sent to England in June 1943 where he served as a heavy bombardment group flight surgeon, deputy surgeon for the Eighth Air Force, and the Surgeon for VIII Fighter Command. He returned to the United States in November 1945.

From January to August 1946, General Talbot was assigned as a radiological safety officer for Operation Crossroads. He was assigned in October 1946 to the School of Aviation Medicine, Randolph Field, Texas, as chief of the Department of Biophysics and assistant director of education. From June 1947 to July 1948 he attended postgraduate training in medical physics at the University of California. He then was reassigned to the School of Aviation Medicine where he was chief of the Department of Biophysics and then chief of the Department of Radiobiology. From February to May 1951 he was with Joint Task Force 3, Operation Greenhouse.

General Talbot was assigned in October 1951 to Headquarters Air Research and Development Command, Baltimore, Md., as chief of aviation medicine and subsequently as chief of the Human Factors Division. In August 1956 he assumed duties as commander, 7112th Central Medical Group, and medical officer, Aviation Medicine, for U.S. Air Forces in Europe. In July 1959 he was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of Defense as Staff Specialist for Bio-Astronautics, Office of Science, Office of the Director of Defense Research and Engineering, and in November 1959 he became chief of the Biological and Medical Sciences Division.

In August 1962 General Talbot was assigned to the Deputate of Manned Space Flight, Headquarters Air Force Systems Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Md., as director of aerospace medicine.

He assumed duties in October 1963 in the Office of the Surgeon General, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as special assistant to the surgeon general for medical research, with additional duty as chief of Aerospace Medicine Division, Directorate of Professional Services; and in February 1967 he was designated assistant surgeon general for staffing and education.

General Talbot was assigned as command surgeon, Strategic Air Command, Offutt Air Force Base, Neb., in August 1969. He became command surgeon, Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe with headquarters at Wiesbaden, Germany, in June 1971.

His military decorations include the Legion of Merit, Soldier's Medal, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal, Army Commendation Medal and Distinguished Unit Citation Emblem. He was certified as a Founder in Aviation Medicine by the American Board of Preventative Medicine in 1954. He is a member of the American Medical Association, Air Force Association, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics and Association of Military Surgeons. He is a past president of the Aerospace Medical Association, and of the Society of the U.S. Air Force Flight Surgeons; and is a fellow of the American College of Preventative Medicine.

General Talbot's hometown is Portland, Ore.

He was promoted to the permanent grade of brigadier general with date of rank May 23, 1964.

(Current as of Oct. 1., 1971)