Theodore R. Milton

General Theodore Ross Milton (December 29, 1915 – August 24, 2010) was born at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in 1915. He enlisted in the Regular Army in 1934 and subsequently entered the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1940. Following graduation, he entered United States Army Air Corps flying training and earned his pilot wings in March 1941.

From 1943 to the end of hostilities in Europe, he served in B-17 aircraft with the Eighth Air Force in England.

He returned to the United States in 1945, and remained until 1948 when he was reassigned to Europe as chief of staff for the Combined Airlift Task Force, the command that directed operations for the Berlin Airlift.

Between 1949 and 1957, he was assigned to the Military Air Transport Service for two years as director of operations; attended Air War College; and served three years as executive assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force.

He was promoted to brigadier general in October 1957, and was named commander, 41st Air Division, Fifth Air Force, Japan, a tactical fighter-bomber command.

In 1961 he was promoted to major general and reassigned to Clark Air Base in the Philippines as commander, Thirteenth Air Force, the parent command to all United States air bases in Southeast Asia.

Milton commanded Thirteenth Air Force until 1963, at which time he was selected as deputy chief of staff, plans and operations, to the commander-in-chief Pacific, with headquarters at Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii.

He returned to the continental United States in 1965, and served for the next 18 months as chief of staff, Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia. In February 1967 he was promoted to lieutenant general and assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as inspector general, a position he held until August 1967 when he was named comptroller of the Air Force.

In March 1969 Milton assumed duties at NATO Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, as the deputy chairman, NATO Military Committee.

Milton assumed duties as the United States Representative to the NATO Military Committee on August 1, 1971. He was promoted to the grade of general effective August 1, 1971, with date of rank July 31, 1971.

His military decorations and awards included the Distinguished Service Cross, Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star Medal, Air Medal with four oak leaf cluster, Purple Heart, Honorary Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire, British Distinguished Flying Cross, French Croix de Guerre with palm and various World War II campaign medals.

Milton retired from the Air Force on July 31, 1974. He died of a stroke on August 24, 2010. The Secretary of the Air Force authorized the U.S. flag to be flown at half staff on January 21, 2011, the day of his interment at Arlington National Cemetery.