Ralph Royce Ralph Royce ( 28 June 1890 – 7 August 1965 ) was a United States Army Air Forces general during World War II . A West Point graduate who learned to fly in 1915 – 16 , he served with the 1st Aero Squadron in the Pancho Villa Expedition and later led it on the Western Front . During World War II as a brigadier general , he led the Royce special mission to Mindanao , in which a small force of bombers flew from Australia to attack Japanese targets in the Philippines . Later he was Deputy Commander of the Ninth Air Force and commanded the 1st Provisional Tactical Air Force . Early life . Ralph Royce was born in Marquette , Michigan on 28 June 1890 and attended school at Hancock , Michigan . He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point on 1 March 1910 . Royce graduated 12 June 1914 , ranked 89th in merit in a class of 107 cadets , and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 26th Infantry . In 1915 , he was detailed to the Aviation Section , U . S . Signal Corps ( ASSC ) and sent to the Signal Corps Aviation School at Rockwell Field , California , for pilot training . On graduation on 16 May 1916 , he was rated a Junior Military Aviator and promoted to temporary first lieutenant in the ASSC . World War I . Royce was posted to the 1st Aero Squadron , which was then serving on the Mexican border in support of the Pancho Villa Expedition . He briefly commanded the squadron in March 1917 , before being promoted to captain in May 1917 . In August 1917 , he assumed command of the squadron again , taking it to the Western Front . There , he was promoted to major in June 1918 and lieutenant colonel in August as commander of the 1st Observation Group . For his service in France , he was awarded the Croix de Guerre with the citation : " Commanding the 1st American Observation Escadrille , he insisted on making the first reconnaissance above the enemy lines himself . Gives to his pilots generally an example of admirable dash and intrepidity . " Between the wars . Royce experienced the chaotic ups and downs in rank common to Regular officers in 1920 , when the National Defense Act of 1920 reorganized the military . He first reverted to his permanent rank of captain of Infantry 1 March 1920 when his temporary ranks expired . On 1 July 1920 , when the Air Service became a combatant arm of the line , he formally transferred to the branch , with promotion to major by virtue of a provision in the Act that allowed officers who earned their rank in service with the AEF to retain it . On 18 December 1922 he was discharged when Congress set a new ceiling on the number of majors authorized the Air Service , and reappointed as a captain , then promoted again to major on 11 July 1923 . From 1920 to 1926 he was commanding officer of the primary flying school at Carlstrom Field , Arcadia , Florida . In 1926 he was transferred to Langley for duty as a student at the Air Corps Tactical School . He then became commandant of Brooks Field , San Antonio , Texas . He the went to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas as a student in the Command and General Staff College . From 1928 to 1930 , he commanded the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field . Michigan . In January 1930 Royce commanded the 1st Pursuit Group in a flight across the northern United States from Selfridge Field to Spokane , Washington and back in what became known as the " Arctic Patrol " flight , in order to put " pursuit tactics to the acid test under extremely rigorous weather conditions , and to afford a very broad opportunity for testing flying equipment in zero temperatures " . For this , Royce won the Mackay Trophy . In July and August 1934 , he piloted one of ten Martin B - 10 bombers from Washington , DC to Fairbanks , Alaska and back , as Operations Officer for an expedition led by Henry H . Arnold , for which Arnold won the Mackay trophy . In February 1935 he led the 1st Pursuit Group in a series of a cold weather flights through the northern states where the airmen encountered blizzards , and subzero temperatures . He attended the Army War College from 1933 to 1934 , after which he resumed command of the 1st Pursuit Group . He was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1935 . From 1937 to 1939 , he served as Air Officer of the Philippine Department . On returning to the United States in 1939 he assumed command of the 7th Bombardment Group at Hamilton Field CA . World War II . Royce was promoted to colonel on 1 March 1940 . He assumed command of the 20th Bombardment Wing at Fort Douglas , Utah in March 1941 and was promoted to brigadier general in April . In May 1941 he became Assistant Military Attaché at the American Embassy in London . In July 1941 he became Military Attaché for Air . Special mission in the Philippines . In January 1942 , Royce was posted to Australia as Chief of the Air Staff , US Army Forces in Australia ( USAFIA ) . In March 1942 , the commander of US Forces in the Philippines , Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright , asked that a squadron of bombers be sent to the Philippines to break the Japanese blockade and allow supplies to be moved from Cebu to Corregidor . A conference was held in Melbourne on 7 April and plans were drawn up . Royce commanded the mission in person , which consisted of ten B - 25 Mitchell medium bombers of the 3rd Bomb Group and three B - 17 Flying Fortress heavy bombers of the 19th Bomb Group . The force took off from Darwin on 11 April and flew to Del Monte Airfield on Mindanao . All the planes arrived safely and the B - 25s were dispersed to concealed P - 40 Warhawk airstrips at Valencia and Maramag . Royce inexplicably declined to disperse the B - 17s , and one was damaged by an air attack on Del Monte during the subsequent mission after it had been left behind for repairs . After the other two B - 17s returned from the mission , they too were caught in the open on the ground and damaged , while the original bomber was destroyed . During missions on April 12 and 13 , the force carried out a series of small air strikes against shipping and harbor facilities at Cebu , the harbor and airstrips at Davao , and Nichols Field on Luzon , the B - 17s flying only two sortie s while the B - 25s conducted more than twenty . They then returned safely to Australia with evacuees , including U . S . Navy Lieutenant John D . Bulkeley . For leading the mission , Royce was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross . Subsequent war service . In the May 1942 organization of South West Pacific Area , Royce became senior air staff officer , Allied Air Forces . He was promoted to major general in June 1942 . Royce returned to the United States in September 1942 and assumed command South Eastern Training Center at Maxwell Field in Montgomery , Alabama . He commanded the First Air Force from April to September 1943 . From September 1943 to March 1944 , he was commander of U . S . Army Forces in the Middle East . On March 1944 , Royce returned to the United Kingdom as Deputy Commander of the Ninth Air Force to Lieutenant General Lewis H . Brereton and later Major General Hoyt Vandenberg . He commanded the 1st Provisional Tactical Air Force from October 1944 to January 1945 , operating in support of the Sixth Army Group . He then commanded the Personnel Distribution Command at Louisville , Kentucky until August 1945 . Royce was married again in Detroit in February 1945 , this time to Agnes Berges an ex - Manhattan hotel executive and overseas Red Cross worker . Post - war . Royce received a disability retirement from the military in July 1946 . He died of leukemia on 7 August 1965 at the Homestead Air Force Base Hospital in Miami - Dade County , Florida .