Evening star., 1961-06-25
AIR FORCES NEW TOP MAN
LeMaV A Man Who Gets Things Done

-
land girl he had met while sta
toned at Selfridge Field, Michigan.
-Four years later their only child,
Patricia Jane, was born. She is
now % and engaged to an Army
doctor-Capt. James Lodge. .r.r
BY March, 1941, LeMay was q.
major. Just before World War II
began he was a lieutenant colonel.
In March, 1943, he was appointed
brigadier general. Thus, for II Of
his 81 years as an officer, LeMay
has held general rank-a record
no other active duty Air Force Of
ficer can match.
Gen. LeMay devised the 1S-plane
box formation used by bombers
throughout the European theater
in World War II, a formation
which enabled the numbering air.
craft to bring most of their guns
to bear on German fighters and
ended the need for violent evasive
action which broke up formations
and resulted in haphazard bomb
drops. -afr
One insight into Gen. LeMay's
thinking on strategy can be found
in his testimony March 80, 1860,
before q subcommittee Of the.
House Committee on Government
Operations. The subject was Civil
Defense and the wisdom Of fall
out shelters. Before he touched on
shelters, Gen. LeMay argued for
more hard" missile sites in the
United States, saying: e-s.
N deterrence should fail ..
these hardened sites will serve to
reduce the number Of casualties
they will draw some Of the
enemy intercontinental missiles,
away from our population CEN
terS tsff
l.S
DepIoying Missiles
1T has been suggested from
time to time that we deploy our
missiles outside the United states.
There are several seasons why
this is not a prudent course of
action. First, most such loca-
tionS are within range OF
the much more numerous short
range forces of our potential
enemies, including non-nuclear
forces. Deployment of our mis-
siles in this manner would &C.
tually increase the potential dan
ger to our civilian population
by permitting more enemy long
range weapons to be targeted
against our urban industrial
"a second consideration is the,
fact that there would be Sc
rious problems with regard to uni
lateral control of our nuclear
forces
Perhaps the most important
reason is the impact that
this could have on our deterrent
posture. The effectiveness Of
deterrence hinges a great deal
on the credibility Of our re-
sponse to an attack on our forces.
For example, there is no
doubt in the minds of the Soviets
that an attack on our military
forces deployed Within the
United States will bring a sure
automatic response on the
other hand, the Soviets may not
be convinced that our response
would necessarily be automatic
if a significant portion or our
strategic forces were based in
open areas outside the United
States. In such a case, the en-
emy might be tempted to attack
them piecemeal ="
While he has indicated need
for fallout shelters, Gen. LeMay
said that he would object to spend-
ing the estimated SIT billion to
$40 billion needed to provide
civilian protection.
THE question:" he said, comes
to what will give you the most
defense. Building holes in the
ground to crawl into, or build
ing something to fight with that \.
will add to your deterrent force"
Between the two, the new air F.
force Chief of Staff obviously pre-.
fers force. '>rt