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Pennsylvania House of Representatives
https://www.legis.state.pa.us/cfdocs/Legis/CSM/showMemoPublic.cfm?chamber=H&SPick=20170&cosponId=21785
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House of Representatives
Session of 2017 - 2018 Regular Session

MEMORANDUM

Posted: January 5, 2017 12:25 PM
From: Representative David M. Maloney, Sr.
To: All House members
Subject: Designating a portion of State Route 562 in Berks County as the General Carl A. Spaatz Memorial Highway.
 
Carl Andrew Spaatz was born in Boyertown, Berks County on June 28, 1891. Drawn to aviation after graduating from West Point in 1914 and being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the infantry, he studied at the Aviation School at San Diego, California.
Mr. Spaatz served with the 1st Aero Squadron as a first lieutenant under General John “Black Jack” Pershing during the Punitive Expedition into Mexico. He was promoted to captain in May 1917. He served in France with the American Expeditionary Forces during World War I and as a fighter pilot shot down three German Pokker planes behind enemy lines which earned him the Distinguished Service Cross. He was promoted to Major on July 1, 1920. During inter – war years he proceeded up the ranks of a peacetime Air Corps. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for commanding the refueling endurance flight of the Question Mark plane from January 1 through 7, 1929. During that time the plane broke a record for sustained flight. After the US entered into World War II in 1942 he was named Chief of the Air Force Combat Command and was sent to England to initiate the planning stages for the US Army Air Force in Europe. In 1943 he commanded the Twelfth Air Force in North Africa where his forces played a pivotal role in reducing Erwin Rommel’s Afrika Korps. In 1944 he returned to England and was named the commanding general of the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe. He played a key role in Operation Overlord, more commonly known as D-Day. He also commanded the strategic bombing of Germany. On March 11, 1945 he received a temporary promotion to general and later named commander of the US Air Force Strategic Air Forces in the Pacific where he supervised the final strategic bombing of Japan, including two atomic bomb missions. He was the only man of general rank or equivalent to attend all three surrender ceremonies that ended Word War ll. In 1946 he was named commander-in-chief of the Army Air Force and in 1947 he was named the first chief of staff of the newly independent US Air Force. He retired from the military in 1948 and passed away on July 14, 1974.
Designating the portion of State Route 562 in Berks County from the intersection with State Route 73 in the Borough of Boyertown to the intersection with State Route 662 at the township line between Amity Township and Oley Township is hereby designated the General Carl A. Spaatz Memorial Highway.







Introduced as HB555