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NEW YORK HERALD TRIBUNE, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1954

IN FATHER'S FOOTSTEPS

FIRST NEGRO NAMED GENERAL OF AIR FORCE BY PRESIDENT

WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 -- President Eisenhower today named the first Negro Air Force general. He is Benjamin Oliver Davis jr., a forty-one-year-old native of Washington now serving as director of operations and training of the Far East Air Forces. 

Gen. Davis, who is the son of Brig. Gen. Benjamin O. Davis, a retired Army officer, was promoted from the rank of colonel to the temporary rank of brigadier general under the President's directive. His father was the first man of his race to become an Army general. 

A 1936 graduate of West Point, the new Air Force general flew sixty combat missions as a World War II pilot serving in Italy as commander of the 332d Fighter Group.

Born in Washington Dec. 18, 1912, he was graduated from high school in Cleveland and attended Western Reserve University and the University of Chicago before going to West Point. Since then he has held a number of high position, including the post of commander of the Lockbourne Army Air Base in Columbus, Ohio.

His citations include the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters.

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Associate Press

Col. Davis