BRIGADIER GENERAL WILLIAM L. LEE
Died March 01, 1976
William Lecel Lee was born in 1903 in
Weatherford, Texas and received his formal education in the schools of Texas,
graduating from Texas A&M in 1927 with a bachelor of science degree, and
commissioned a second lieutenant in the Reserve on May 23, 1927.
Ordered to active duty at Brooks Field, San Antonio, Texas in March 1928, upon
graduation from primary and basic flight training he received his commission in
the Regular Army on June 1, 1929.
First assigned at Fort Crockett,
Galveston, Texas with the Third Attack Group, when the Air Force's "West Point
of the Air" was opened at Randolph Field, Texas in 1931, General Lee was one of
the first officers to be stationed there.
Going to the Philippines in
1935 the general was charged with organizing and training the first Philippines
Air Force. After leaving the Philippines in 1938, he was assigned as operations
officer at Kelly Field, Texas. In October 1940 he transferred to the Second
Bombardment Group at Langley Field, Va., where he served as squadron operations
officer until reassigned to the 22nd Bombardment Group, also at Langley.
Soon after World War II began General Lee was named supervisor of
training for B-26 groups at MacDill Field, Tampa, Florida. Then, in Early 1943 he
was given the task of training B-25 groups at Greenville, South Carolina. In April of that
year General Lee assumed command of the 49th Bombardment Wing until the cessation of
hostilities, when he was named deputy director of the Air Force Sub-Commission
in Rome.
Returning from overseas General Lee became commander of the
97th Bomb Wing at Smoky Hill Air Force Base, Salina, Kansas. He was transferred to
Turner Air Force Base in Albany, Georgia, in September 1947 where he activated the
31st Strategic Fighter Wing and became commander of the wing.
Attending
the National War College in Washington, D.C., the general graduated in 1949 and
then was named commander of the 22nd Bomb Wing and the First Fighter Wing. In
January 1950 he was reassigned to Ellington Air Force Base, Houston, Texas where
he commanded the 3605th Navigation Training Wing.
Going to the
Philippines in August 1952 General Lee was selected to be vice commander of the
Thirteenth Air Force, assuming command a year later.
On Sept. 1, 1956 the
general was appointed commander of the 3320th Technical Training Wing, Air
Training Command, Amarillo Air Force Base, Texas.
His decorations
include the Distinguished Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal
with two oak leaf clusters, Philippine Distinguished Service Star, French Legion
of Honor (rank of chevalier) and Croix de Guerre, the Italian Order of Saints
Maurice and Lazarus, War Cross for Merit and the War Cross of Valor. He is
rated a command pilot and aircraft observer.