BRIGADIER GENERAL LOUIS B. GROSSMITH JR.

Brigadier General Louis B. Grossmith Jr., was born in Chicago, Ill., in 1917. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Infantry Reserve on July 21, 1938. He entered the Army Air Corps flying school, Class 40B, in August 1939, and graduated in May 1940.

General Grossmith's first Air Corps assignment was with the 12th Bomb Squadron, Puerto Rico, and later Aruba, Dutch West Indies. He then went to MacDill Field, Fla., where he served as operations officer for the 21st Bomb Group and 55th Bomb Operations Training Wing. After one year's service at that station he was transferred to the 1lth Air Force, Alaska, where he served as executive officer and then commander, 1st Provisional Troop Carrier, and commander of the 54th Troop Carrier Squadron. In October 1946, he was assigned as deputy commander of the Alaskan Air Command.

Returning to the United States in December 1946, General Grossmith was assigned to the 4127th Army Air Forces Base Unit, McClellan Field, Calif. Later he served as chief, Military Training Section, Headquarters Air Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Field, Ohio. In April 1947, he was assigned as deputy chief of the Military Personnel Division, Headquarters Air Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Field.

From June 1948 to September 1949, General Grossmith was a student at the University of California, Los Angeles, and upon graduation was assigned to Fairfield-Suisan Air Force Base, Calif., and later Travis Air Force Base, as comptroller, 9th Bombardment Wing.

In January 1951, General Grossmith was again ordered to foreign duty, this time to Rabat, Morocco, where he served as comptroller of the 5th Air Division. From January 1953 to July 1954, he served as comptroller of 17th Air Force, at Rabat.

Upon returning to the United States in July 1954, General Grossmith was assigned to duty as chief of the Plans Group, Directorate of Budget, Deputy Chief of Staff/Comptroller, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, in Washington, D.C. He served in this capacity until August 1957, at which time he was assigned to the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., as a student. Upon completion of the course the following June, the general was assigned as chief, Budget Division, Deputy Chief of Staff/Comptroller, Headquarters Air Materiel Command, Wright Patterson Air Force Base, later being assigned as deputy comptroller of that base.

General Grossmith returned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force in June 1961, for assignment as director of data systems and statistics, later redesignated the Directorate of Data Services and Statistics, in the Office of the Comptroller of the Air Force. On June 22, 1962, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general. On Sept. 10, the general was assigned as director of data automation with the Directorate of Data Services and Statistics and the Office of the Assistant for Data Automation were consolidated into the Directorate of Data Automation.

The general was assigned to Headquarters, Tactical Air Command as deputy for comptroller July 1, 1964.

General Grossmith's awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Air Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, American Defense Service Medal, and Air Force Longevity Service Award with four oak leaf clusters.

(Current as of December 1964)