William Ord Ryan was born in San Antonio, Texas, on August 10, 1891. He was graduated from the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York, with a Bachelor of Science degree, and was commissioned a second lieutenant of Cavalry in June 1914.
SERVICE
In September 1914, he was assigned to the 9th Cavalry for duty at Hachita, New Mexico. He served with the 9th Cavalry and 7th Cavalry on the Mexican border until March 1916 when he entered Mexico with the Punitive Expedition under command of General Pershing. He remained in Mexico with the 7th Cavalry until July 1, 1916, when he was promoted to first lieutenant and sent to El Paso, Texas, to help in the organization of the 17th Cavalry. During the Punitive Expedition he received the Silver Star citation “for gallantry in action against Cervantes’ Band of Villistas at Tomochic, Mexico, April 22, 1916.”
In September 1916, he was detailed to the Aviation Section of the Signal Corps and sent to North Island, San Diego, California, where he was taught to fly and received the rating of Junior Military Aviator in May 1917. He was assigned to the 1st Aero Squadron at Columbus, New Mexico, and remained with that organization until it left for Europe in August 1917.
Upon arrival in Europe, he was sent to Foggia, Italy in command of the 8th Aviation Instructor Center which was a school giving basic flying training and advanced bombardment training. He left Italy in July 1918 and was assigned as Commanding Officer of the Aerial Gunnery School at Cazaux, France, with later duty as Executive Officer of the American Aerial Gunnery School at St. Jean de Monts, France. After the Armistice the American Aerial Gunnery School closed in February 1919 and he was sent to Germany where he served first as Air Inspector of the Third Army at Koblenz, followed by duty with the VII Corps as Air Officer, in command of the Trier Airdrome, where he remained until May 1919 when he returned to the United States.
Upon arrival in the United States and after a period of leave and Air Service Recruiting duty at Hazelhurst Field, Long Island, New York, he was sent to Panama where he was assigned as Commanding Officer of the 7th Aero Squadron based at France Field. He remained on this duty from August 1919 until October 1920. While on a joint military and civilian expedition surveying the old Spanish Trail through the jungle from the Caribbean to the Pacific Ocean, he became seriously ill with malaria and found he was physically disqualified for flying duty. This condition caused him to resign from the Army on October 5, 1920. He returned to the Northeast part of the United States to live and work as a bond salesman with Halsey, Stuart & Company, financial bankers.
He was re-appointed as a major, Field Artillery, on May 17, 1921, and served with the Field Artillery until 1927. During this period, he completed duty as a student at the Battery Officers and Advanced Courses at the Field Artillery School, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, and graduated from the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in June 1927.
Immediately after finishing the Command and General Staff School—and having passed a flying physical—he was detailed again with the Air Corps. He was sent to San Antonio, Texas, to attend the Air Corps Primary Flying School at Brooks Field and the Air Corps Advanced Flying School, Pursuit Course, at Kelly Field, completing both courses in March 1928 and June 1928, respectively, and was rated an Airplane Pilot. From San Antonio he was sent to Headquarters, Second Corps Area, New York City, and placed in charge of the Air Corps Reserves of the Metropolitan area of New York and in addition was assigned as Acting Air Officer of the Second Corps Area. This duty lasted until July 1929 when he was transferred to Mitchel Field, New York, where he remained until June 1932. During the period of his duty at Mitchel Field he acted as Operations Officer, Commanding Officer of the 9th Observation Group and Commanding Officer of Mitchel Field. He reported for duty as a student at the Air Corps Tactical School, Maxwell Field, Alabama, in August 1932. Upon graduation in June 1933, he remained at Maxwell Field until January 1936 in various capacities including Executive Officer of the Air Corps Tactical School and Director of the Air Corps Board. He next transferred to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C., where he was named Commanding Officer, remaining in that duty until June 1938. Following three months leave, in September 1938 he was ordered to duty as a student at the Army War College, Washington, D.C. Upon graduation in June 1939, he was assigned to the Army War College as an air instructor where he remained until June 1940.
In July 1940, he was transferred to Hawaii where he was first assigned as Inspector of the 18th Wing and later as Executive Officer upon which duty he remained until detailed as Chief of Staff of the Hawaiian Air Force in November 1940.
After returning to the United States in June 1941, he was named Commanding General of the 10th Pursuit Wing at Hamilton Field, California, which position he held until August 1941 when he became Commanding General of the IV Interceptor Command, Riverside, California. In February 1942, he assumed duties in the Office of the Commanding General of the Army Air Forces, Washington, D.C., in connection with the activities of the Royal Air Force in the United States. In June 1942, he was appointed Commanding General of the Army Air Forces Foreign Service Concentration Command in Washington, D.C. In August 1942, his command was redesignated the Army Air Forces I Concentration Command and moved to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he continued to organize and expand its mission of the combat equipping and familiarization of newly trained aircrews with new operational aircraft and training the crews for flight across the North Atlantic to England. In January 1943, he was made Commanding General of the Pacific Wing (elevated to Division status in July 1944) of the Air Transport Command at Hickam Field, Hawaii. The Wing, and later Division, was responsible for operating the vast air cargo and passenger routes from the United States West Coast throughout the Pacific Ocean and Southwest Pacific Areas.
Following the surrender of Japan in August 1945, General Ryan planned and supervised the execution of “Mission 75,” the largest aerial mass movement of troops in the Pacific war. Utilizing every available transport aircraft, including over 200 C-54s, the Pacific Division of Air Transport Command airlifted the 11th Airborne Division and 27th Infantry Division from Kadena, Okinawa to Atsugi, Japan as the initial occupation force in the country. The returning flights brought back liberated Allied prisoners of war. He was later awarded the Legion of Merit for his role in the successful airlift operation. After relinquishing his command in January 1946, he returned to the United States to await retirement for physical disability in the rank of Major General on September 30, 1946.
He was rated a Command Pilot, Combat Observer, and Aircraft Observer.
On June 7, 1919, he married Mary Caroline deRaismes, the widow of his West Point classmate, Joseph Webster Allison Jr., who had died from pneumonia in the Mexican campaign. He adopted his wife’s daughter, Mary Amanda Allison. A member of the Order of Daedalians and the Quiet Birdmen, in his personal time he enjoyed golf, hunting, fishing, and “home-shop” wood working.
PROMOTIONS
Cadet, U.S. Military Academy, March 1, 1910; Additional Second Lieutenant, Cavalry, June 12, 1914; Second Lieutenant, June 16, 1914; First Lieutenant, July 1, 1916; Aviation Section, Signal Corps, May 3, 1917, to October 5, 1920; Captain, June 15, 1917; Major, N.A., June 17, 1918, to March 26, 1920; transferred to Air Service, August 6, 1920; resigned, October 5, 1920; Major, Field Artillery, May 17, 1921; discharged as Major and appointed Captain, November 4, 1922; Major, September 13, 1923; Air Corps, July 1, 1927; transferred to Air Corps, August 15, 1928; Lieutenant Colonel (temporary), March 11, 1935, to January 15, 1936; Lieutenant Colonel (temporary), January 30, 1936; Lieutenant Colonel, February 1, 1936; Colonel (temporary), March 1, 1940; Brigadier General, A.U.S., April 7, 1941; Colonel, March 1, 1943; Major General, A.U.S., January 1, 1945; retired, disability in line of duty, with rank of Major General on September 30, 1946.
DECORATIONS
Silver Star, Legion of Merit, Air Medal, Mexican Service Medal, World War I Victory Medal, Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, American Defense Service Medal with Foreign Service Clasp, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with five Bronze Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Italian War Medal 1915-1918.
In August 1944 he was awarded the Air Medal with the following citation:
“Brigadier General William Ord Ryan, O-14590, United States Army. For meritorious achievement while participating in aerial flight from 3 March 1944 to 27 March 1944.”
“Between 3-27 March 1944 General Ryan made a twenty-one thousand mile trip through the Central, South and Southwest Pacific. On this flight he made a complete swing of the Australian perimeter and visited all of the new island bases recently retaken from the Japanese. He conferred with General MacArthur, Admiral Halsey, ranking officers of the RAAF and many personages of the island commands. Since General Ryan assumed command of the Pacific Wing, Air Transport Command in January 1943, he has flown, in round numbers 130,000 miles in the course of constant inspections of the 10,000-odd mile route between the West Coast and New Zealand. His flying hours in this connection total 725.”
In January 1946 he was awarded the Legion of Merit with the following citation:
“Major General William Ord Ryan, charged with the execution of ‘Project 75’, planned, supervised and completed the mass air-borne movement of the first American occupation troops into Japan during the period 28-31 August 1945. Employing the largest concentration of transport aircraft ever assembled, he enabled the Supreme Allied Commander to complete on schedule and with dispatch the initial military occupation of the Japanese Empire.”
(This biography is based on a compilation of several draft biographies prepared by General Ryan, none of which appear to have been released to or by the War Department during World War II. The draft biographies and other primary source documents, also consulted, are contained in the William Ord Ryan Papers, Call No. 168.7080, IRIS Nos. 1022374-1022464, housed at the Air Force Historical Research Agency, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama.)