Leon W . Johnson General Leon William Johnson ( September 13 , 1904 – November 10 , 1997 ) was a United States Air Force 4 - star general and World War II Medal of Honor recipient . Early life . Johnson was born in Columbia , Missouri , in 1904 and moved to Moline , Kansas , as a teenager . He graduated from the United States Military Academy and was commissioned a second lieutenant in June 1926 . He later received a master of science degree in meteorology from the California Institute of Technology . World War II . He was one of the first four flying officers of the Eighth Air Force and served as assistant chief of staff for operations for that command and during its formative period at Savannah , Georgia . He accompanied the Eighth Air Force to England in June 1942 . In January 1943 , he assumed command of the 44th Bombardment Group and , in June of that year , took the group to Africa to assist the Ninth Air Force in the attack on the Ploesti oil fields in Romania . For his part in that raid , he was awarded the Medal of Honor . On his return to England in September 1943 , he organized the 14th Combat Wing and commanded it until the end of the war in Europe . Post World War II . After V - E Day , he was assigned as chief of personnel services , Headquarters Army Air Forces in Washington , later becoming deputy to the assistant chief of air staff for personnel . In April 1947 he was assigned to Strategic Air Command as commanding general of the Fifteenth Air Force at Colorado Springs , Colorado . The Air Force returned to England for the first time since World War II when General Johnson organized the Third Air Division ( later redesignated the Third Air Force ) there in August 1948 , as a separate major command of the U . S . Air Force . The division provided facilities for maintenance and support of Strategic Air Command aircraft on rotational training missions to Europe and for transport aircraft used in the Berlin Airlift . In February 1950 General Johnson was appointed , in addition to his other duties , chief of the Military Assistance Advisory Group for the United Kingdom . In February 1952 , he was named commander of the Continental Air Command at Mitchel Air Force Base , New York . He was appointed in July 1953 , U . S . Air Force Representative , Military Staff Committee , United Nations in addition to his primary duty as Continental Air Command commander . Three years later he was named the U . S . Representative to the North Atlantic Military Committee , Military Representatives Committee and Standing Group of NATO , with duty station in Washington , D . C . General Johnson next assumed duties in May 1958 as air deputy to the supreme allied commander Europe , at SHAPE Headquarters , Paris , France . He was retired July 31 , 1961 with more than 34 years of military service . Six weeks later he was recalled to active duty to become the director , Net Evaluation Subcommittee Staff / National Security Council , with duty station in the Pentagon . After leaving the Air Force , he settled in McLean , Virginia and worked as a consultant . His hobbies included growing flowers , and he was president of the National Capitol Dahlia Society . Awards and decorations . General Johnson was a command pilot and was promoted to general August 31 , 1957 . Death and legacy . He died on November 10 , 1997 in Fairfax , Virginia , and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery next to his wife , Lucille Taylor Johnson , who had died in 1983 . He was survived by two daughters , one of whom married the son of General Hoyt S . Vandenberg . In 2008 , Johnson ' s grandson donated his Medal of Honor to the U . S . Army Heritage and Education Center in Carlisle , Pennsylvania , which holds a large collection of material relating to the 44th Bomb Group . Medal of Honor citation . Rank and organization : Colonel , U . S . Army Air Corps , 44th Bomber Group , 9th Air Force . Place and date : Ploesti Raid , Rumania , August 1 , 1943 . Entered service at : Moline , Kans . Born : September 13 , 1904 , Columbia , Mo . G . O . No . : 54 , September 7 , 1943 . Citation :