Spivey, Delmar T. (Delmar Taft), 1905-1982

Delmar Taft Spivey was born in 1905, graduated from high school in 1922 and attended William and Mary College. He graduated from the U. S. Military Academy in 1928 and entered flying school in 1929. After a series of assignments in Hawaii, Texas, Alabama, and Florida, General Spivey became the materiel officer of the 23rd Composite Group in 1938. He was appointed executive officer of the Air Corps Proving Ground in 1931 and in 1942 was named commander of the Central Instructors School and Flexible Gunnery School at Fort Myers, Florida. Serving with the 8th Air Force in Europe in 1943, General Spivey was shot down, taken as prisoner to Stalag Luft III where he served as the senior officer in the camp until 1944, and remained a prisoner of war until April 1945. After the war, General Spivey attended the National War Colllege and in 1948 was appointed commander for education at the Air University. Spivey was then assigned to Japan, returned to the States in 1953 and retired in June of 1956. General Spivey then became Superintendent of the Culver Military Academy in Indiana in September 1956 and remained in that position until 1976. Major General Spivey died in January of 1982.