caption serviceyears branch birth_place allegiance awards placeofburial_label battles birth_date rank image article_title name
general , united states european command george j. eade , deputy commander in chief 1942 -- 1975 united states air force lockney , texas , u.s. united states of america legion of merit place of burial world war ii 27 october 1921 general gen jpeg eade , george james -lrb- 1 -rrb- . george j. eade
 george j. eade
george j. eade

george james eade -lrb- born october 27 , 1921 -rrb- is a retired united states air force four-star general who served as deputy commander in chief , united states european command -lrb- dcinceur -rrb- from 1973 to 1975 .
eade was born in lockney , texas , in 1921 .
he graduated from york high school in elmhurst , illinois , and attended the illinois institute of technology .
he entered military service as an aviation cadet in january 1942 from chicago , illinois , and , that september was awarded his pilot wings and a commission as a second lieutenant in the army air corps .
he flew 37 combat missions in the european theater of operations , where he served almost four years as a pilot , flight commander and operations officer .
eade began a long tour of duty with the strategic air command in august 1946 , when he joined the 43d bombardment wing at davis-monthan army air field , arizona , as a pilot of b-29 aircraft .
in september 1947 he was assigned as operations officer and , later , commander of the 1st strategic support squadron , which provided sac with close airlift support for its global operations .
in may 1952 he went to sac headquarters , where he was chief of the current operations branch , directorate of operations .
from 1956 through 1958 , he was the deputy director of operations at sac 's 7th air division in england .
after he returned to the united states in november 1958 , he served as deputy commander for operations and then commander of the 4238th strategic wing -lrb- redesignated 2d bombardment wing -rrb- at barksdale air force base , louisiana .
from june 1961 to july 1963 , he commanded the 7th bombardment wing at carswell air force base , texas .
in july 1963 general eade returned to sac headquarters as chief of the safety division .
it was during this assignment that sac was awarded the daedalian flying safety trophy for 1964 .
in january 1965 he was assigned as chief of the control division , and in july 1967 he assumed duties as director of operations plans , deputy chief of staff for operations , with additional duties as chief , single integrated operational plans division , joint strategic target planning staff , of the organization of the joint chiefs of staff .
eade was assigned to headquarters u.s. air force in february 1970 as director of plans , office of the deputy chief of staff , plans and operations .
in january 1971 he assumed duties as the assistant deputy chief of staff , plans and operations , and in april he became the deputy chief of staff , plans and operations .
he assumed duties as deputy commander in chief of the u.s. european command april 20 , 1973 .
he retired from the air force on september 1 , 1975 .
