Willis B. Sawyer

H Company United States Military Academy, 1941 September 1917 ~ April 2010 Willis Bruner "Bill" Sawyer died Sunday, April 11, 2010. He was the eleventh generation of his family in the direct male line in North America, could trace his ancestry through four men in the Civil War, two soldiers in the War of 1812, 36 in the American Revolution and several hundred in the colonial wars to seven passengers on the Mayflower. He was proud to carry the family tradition of service to one''s country into its fourth century. Born to Dr. Willis Frank Sawyer III and to Dr. Leanora Sims Bruner Sawyer in September 1917 in Chicago, Ill., he was reared in Southern California from the age of three. He grew up on a small ranch where he learned the self-reliance and make-do attitudes, which guided him throughout his life. There, too, he learned his love of horses and the habit of hard work, as well as the skills of riding and shooting. At the age of three and a half, he was taught to read from the National Geographic and developed a lifelong eagerness to travel. Much of his early reading was of medical textbooks, as he accompanied his mother on house calls throughout his childhood. At 19, after attending some 38 schools, he graduated from Glendale Junior College in 1937 with an AA in palaeontology. He had already worked as a horse breaker, ranch hand, lumber jack, truck driver, math tutor and movie extra, and had served a year and a half as a private in Company C, 13th Battalion, Fleet Marine Force Reserve. It took him two tries by studying on his own to win the competitive exam for a congressional appointment to U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he reported July 1,1937. Riding, weight lifting, handball, canoeing, fencing, chess and pistol were high on his list of non-academic activities. In the last three years at the Academy, he was on USMA teams and won an intramural monogram and Corps-squad letter as a swordsman. For the "Pointer," he wrote the Corps in Column and several articles. He served as "H" Company guidon sergeant his first class year and was commissioned on June 11, 1941, as 2nd Lieutenant Coast Artillery Corps, USA. His first CAC assignment was to have been Ft. Drum (south of Corregidor), so he was fortunate to have graduated from Army Air Corps flying schools March 15, 1942. After a stint as Commanding Officer of the 2AF Officer Training Corp, Bill entered a varied career: B-24 Instructor Pilot, 2d AF, 1942-43; Commanding Officer 703rd BS with Jimmy Stewart as his Operations Officer summer 1943; Commanding Officer of Troops on a ammunition ship to Naples 1943-44; Commanding Officer 343rd BS, 98th BG (H) B-24 15AF, Italy, 1944. He was decorated (Silver Star) by Major General Nathan Twining, CG 15AF for leading three B-24s to attack ME-109 factory, Steyr, Austria through 38 enemy a/c and heavy flak, Feb 1944. He was wounded February 1944 and awarded the Purple Heart; decorated (Distinguished Service Cross) by Commanding General 15AF for successful attack on Ploesti as Air Wing CO, despite loss of both wingmen to enemy action June 1944. He was decorated (Distinguished Flying Cross) by CG 15AF for leading 98th BG in the night, instrument takeoff over crashed B-24 burning on runway to support invasion of South France in August 1944; decorated by Government of France (Croix de Guerre aves Palme) same mission and by Government Greece (Military Medial) in Fall 1944. He was the Assistant C/S, 60th Troop Carrier Wing and Commanding Officer 1st Prov Troop Carrier Group, Pope Field, Ft. Bragg, N.C., 1945. He qualified as a glider pilot and made two tactical parachute jumps with 82d Airborne. He graduated from the US Army Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kan., Civil Affairs Division, Headquarters US Army on temporary duty in Japan and Korea, 1945-46, student, Department Army Language School, Peiping, China from 1947-49. He transferred to USAF in April 1947 as Lt. Colonel. Stole Air MAAG C-47 to evacuate US military and State Department wives (including his) and children just prior to Chi COM 8th route Army siege of Peiping November, 1948 ''" was not court-martialed. He was decorated (Order of the Tiger) by Major General Fu Tso-yi, CG Nationalist North China Armies, for recon of enemy lines during siege of Peiping in January 1949. He was decorated (2d Distinguished Flying Cross) for flying C-47 into Nanking for US Ambassador as Chi COM forces were occupying the city at the end of April 1949. He was captured and a POW and interrogated for five months in Chinese by Chi COM Secret Police, Shanghai on espionage charges and released as not proven in September 1949. He was Deputy for Plans and Manpower, USAFSS, 1950, graduated Air War College in June 1951, Commanding Officer 6920th Security Group, AFSS and was responsible for AF communications security from San Francisco to Karachi and Aleutians to New Zealand from 1951-4. He was decorated (U1Chi with Silver Star) by DC/SI Republic of Korea Air Force for support to Republic of Korea 1953; (Distinguished Service Medal) by General O.P. Weyland, Commanding General Far East Air Forces (FEAF), for tactics which contributed largely to US 14-1 air-to-air kill ratio in Korean War, 1954; (Legion of Merit) by Vice Com. General FEAF for communication security support to FEAF 1954; (Joint Commendation Medal) by Lieutenant General Ralph Canine, Director of National Security Agency (NSA) for support to NSA; and (Army Commendation Medal) by Major General H.H. Bassett, CG USAFSS. From 1954-58, he was the Chief Departmental Estimates, DI USAF and alternate USAF member Intel Advanced Communication to NSC, and from 1958-61, Air Defense Command Direct Bomarc Missile Operational Testing. He was awarded Wood Badge by Boy Scouts of America (BSA), 1961; 1962-63 Deputy Director and Acting Director, Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, joint Thai-US Combat Development and Test Center, Royal Thai Supreme Command Head Quarters; decorated (Orders Of White Elephant and Royal Crown of Thailand) by Field Marshal Sarit Thanayat, Prime Minister of Thailand. From 1964-69, he was the Deputy Commander for Foreign Activities and Foreign Tech Data and Acting Commander, Foreign Technology Division, AFSC, awarded Order of Silver Beaver by BSA, 1969; decorated (Meritorious Service Medal) by Commander FTD 1969. He retired as Colonel, Regular Air Force, Command Pilot, and Master Missileman, August 1,1969. From 1974-77, he was the archaeological consultant for U S Forest Service, Los Padres National Forest; 1975, Chairman, Horned Moon District, BSA. 1976-91, Field Director, Cal Poly State University Archaeological Field School. From 1977-78, he was the Foreman of the San Luis Obispo County Grand Jury. From 1974 until his second retirement, he was a professional archaeological consultant on the Central Coast. He was a member of Order of Daedalians, Sons of the American Revolution, Loyal Legion, Sons of Union Vets of Civil War, Military Order of the World Wars, Veterans of Foreign Wars, American Legion, Military Order of Purple Heart and Disabled American Veterans, plus various professional societies. On May 30, 1948, in Shanghai, China, he married Virginia Helene Yardley. Their Chinese civil ceremony in Peiping on June 1, 1948, was said to be the first between two foreigners in that city. They served together in Mainland China, Japan, Thailand, as well as in the U.S. Among many careers, Virginia was an actress, model, Special Education Aide, ESL teacher and riding instructor. Five children survive: Willis Frank "Tex" Sawyer V, 1950, San Antonio, Texas, who married Lynne Dunbar, a white-water rafting guide. Tex is a winemaker, MS in oenology. They have two sons, Justin and Aaron; Cassandra Helene Sawyer Wilson, 1954, Johnson AFB, Irumagawa, Japan, retired from the US