Austin, Gordon H. (Gordon Harrison), 1913-2010

Gordon Harrison Austin (b. Sept. 1, 1913, Davenport, Iowa), major general in the U.S. Air Force, graduated from West Point in 1936 and completed flying training in 1938. He was in command of the 47th Pursuit Squadron in Hawaii during the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, December 7, 1941, and in 1943 and 1944 was commander of the 325th Fighter Group and the 319th Bombardment Group, active in North Africa and the Mediterranean area. After the World War II, he served at NATO's Southern European Regional Planning Group in France, was assigned to the Office of the Joint Chiefs of Staff as an Air Force member of the Joint Strategic Plans Group, commanded the 11th Air Division in Alaska, and returned to France in 1962 as the senior U.S. Air Force representative at Headquarters Allied Forces Central Europe (NATO). He retired from Air Force service in December 1966.