George Griffin Finch, born April 11, 1902, in Dade City, Florida, began his military career during World War I, enlisting in the Aviation Section of the Army’s Signal Corps in 1918. He remained in the Air Reserve Corps after the war, and in 1926, became Commander, 27th Pursuit Squadron, 1st Pursuit Group, at Selfridge Field, Michigan. In 1940, Georgia Governor Ed Rivers commissioned him to form the first flying unit of the Georgia Air National Guard, the 128th Observation Squadron based at Lawson Field, Georgia. The unit was mobilized into the United States Army in September 1941, with Major Finch as commander.
In March 1942, he was named Commanding Officer of the 74th Observation Group at Lawson Field, relinquishing command a month later when he went overseas to the Middle East. He attended the British Middle East Command and General Staff School in Haifa from April to August 1942, before serving as Operations Officer of the Western Desert Task Force and the Ninth Air Force at Cairo, Egypt, from August 1942 to March 1943. He returned to the United States in April 1943, and served as Executive Officer at Northern Field, Tennessee, until November 1943, when he was appointed Commanding Officer of Bartow Army Airfield, Florida. He relinquished that duty in August 1944 and was given command of Thomasville Army Airfield, Georgia. He was relieved from active duty in February 1945 and returned to the practice of law in Atlanta, Georgia.
After World War II, he was a leading critic of efforts to eliminate the air arm of the National Guard during peacetime. In July 1946, having been promoted to brigadier general, he took command of the newly activated 54th Fighter Wing of the Georgia Air National Guard at Marietta Army Airfield, Georgia. The wing comprised three groups and 10 squadrons and their supporting units in Georgia, Florida, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. In October 1948, he became the first Chief of the Air Force Division of the National Guard Bureau in Washington, D.C. Under his leadership, the Air National Guard was built to combat readiness and was among the first components called into service after the outbreak of the Korean War. Following duty as Special Assistant to the Chief of Staff for Reserve Forces, Headquarters United States Air Force, from September 1950 to February 1951, he served as President of the Command Board of Appeals for Continental Air Command at Mitchel AFB, New York. In March 1952, he assumed duties as Deputy for National Guard Affairs, Continental Air Command, Mitchel AFB.
From June-July 1953, General Finch served as the principal Air Force advisor to the United Nations Command negotiating team at the peace talks at Panmunjom, Korea. He received the Legion of Merit for his outstanding service in helping to conclude an equitable and honorable armistice in Korea. On February 1, 1955, he assumed command of the Fourteenth Air Force at Robins AFB, Georgia, becoming the nation’s first Air National Guardsman to head a numbered air force, which position he held until his retirement from the Air Force on July 31, 1957.
A 1923 graduate of the University of Georgia, a lawyer and member of the bar of Georgia for 60 years, a member of the Order of Daedalians and past president of the Georgia Retired Officers Association, General Finch was inducted into the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame on May 18, 1996.
PROMOTIONS
Second Lieutenant, Air Reserve, 1923; First Lieutenant, Air Reserve, July 20, 1928; Major, A.U.S., May 1, 1941; Major, Air Corps-National Guard, June 4, 1941; Lieutenant Colonel, A.U.S., October 1, 1942; Colonel, A.U.S., 1945; Brigadier General, Air National Guard, July 13, 1946; Major General, Air National Guard, November 22, 1948; Brigadier General (temporary), October 13, 1948; Major General (temporary), February 7, 1949; retired in the rank of Major General, July 31, 1957.
DECORATIONS
Legion of Merit, Army Commendation Ribbon, World War I Victory Medal, American Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal with two Bronze Stars, World War II Victory Medal, Korean Service Medal, Armed Forces Reserve Medal, United Nations Service Medal Korea, Georgia National Guard Distinguished Service Medal.
(Adapted from a biography of Maj. Gen. George G. Finch from the Georgia Aviation Hall of Fame website and supplemented by information from USAF Historical Study No. 91: Biographical Data on Air Force General Officers 1917 to 1952.)