Harold Roth Maddux was born in Ludlow, Ky., in 1909. He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy June 13, 1933 and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Infantry.
Entering Primary Flying School that October, General Maddux graduated from Advanced Flying School a year later. On Jan. 31, 1945 he was transferred to the Air Corps. Assigned to the 20th Pursuit Group at Barksdale Field, La., in April 1937 he joined the 18th Pursuit Group at Wheeler Field, Hawaii. Two years later he became adjutant of the 10th Air Bass Group at Chanute Field, Ill; assumed command of the 99th Pursuit Group there in March 1941; was named commander of the Headquarters and Headquarters Squadron the following January; and in March 1942 became operations officer there. That May he was appointed executive officer of Seymour-Johnson Field, N.C.
Moving to Army Air Force Technical Headquarters at Knollwood, N.C., in December 1942, General Maddux was named assistant operations officer. Joining the War Department General Staff at Washington, D.C., the next June, he was assigned to the Liaison Section of the Theater Group. In May 1945 he was named executive officer to the deputy commander of the Army Air Force in the Pacific Ocean Area, and the following July assumed that position with the U.S. Strategic Air Force in the Pacific.
Joining the Air Transport Command in August 1945, General Maddux was assigned to ATC Headquarters, Washington, D.C., and the following month was named acting chief of staff of the Atlantic Division, ATC, with station at Fort Totten, N.Y. Going to Paris, France in July 1946, he was designated chief of staff of the European Division, ATC. In April 1947, he was named secretary of the general staff in the Office of the Military Government of the United States at Berlin, Germany.
The following February General Maddux became secretary of the Air Staff at Air Force headquarters, Washington, D.C. He was named assistant for air bases in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations there in December 1950, and in January 1952 was designated chief of the Air Base Division in that office.
Transferred to the Military Air Transport Service in August 1952, the general became deputy commander of the Pacific Division, NATO, with station at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii, with additional duty as commander of the U.S. Air Force in the Pacific, being relieved of this additional duty on July 1, 1954.
Ordered to Washington, D.C., on July 31, 1955, General Maddux was appointed director, Office of Manpower Requirements, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense (Manpower and Personnel), with additional duty on June 4, 1956 as staff director of the Defense Advisory Committee on Professional and Technical Competition (Cordiner Committee).
His decorations include the Legion of Merit and Bronze Star Medal. He is rated a command pilot.