General Gilbert Meyers entered military service in 1936. He completed his pilot training in 1938 and was assigned to the Eighth Pursuit Group at Langley Field, Virginia. His distinguished career contained many firsts.
During the early part of World War II he accepted the first P-47 Thunderbolt fighter for use by the Army Air Corps. Serving with the 386th Fighter Group in England, his was the first Air Corps unit to land in France after Normandy. After the German surrender, General Meyers served with the Fifth Air Force in the Far East and landed at Tachikawa Air Base, Japan, only days after the unofficial Japanese surrender. In 1946, he assumed command of the First Fighter Group when it was the first jet fighter unit in the Air Corps.
In 1950, General Meyers went to Korea for two years as Fifth Air Force director of operations during the Korean conflict. His other post-war assignments included acting as deputy chief of staff operations, Headquarters, Tactical Air Command; vice commander of the Ninth Air Force; deputy director for requirements, Headquarters, United States Air Force; and commander of the 27th Tactical Fighter Wing. He was commander of the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing from 1960 to 1963.
Among his awards and decorations are the Distinguished
Service Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal with seven Oak leaf clusters, Bronze Star and the Croix de Guerre.
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