Edwin Eugene Aldrin Sr.

Edwin Eugene "Gene" Aldrin Sr. (12 April 1896 – 28 December 1974) was an aviator and officer in the United States Army during World War I and World War II. He was assistant commandant of the Army's first test pilot school at McCook Field, Ohio, from 1919 to 1922, and founded the engineering school there that later became the Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) at Wright-Patterson AFB. The Edwin E. Aldrin Sr. Award is presented to an AFIT graduate for leadership and accomplishing AFIT's educational objectives in an outstanding manner. He was the father of astronaut Buzz Aldrin.

Early life Edwin Eugene (Gene) Aldrin Sr., was born in Worcester, Massachusetts, on 12 April 1896. His mother, Anna Nilsdotter (1858–1916), was born in nearby in Ekshärad, but the family had emigrated to Worcester in 1892. The surname Aldrin was adopted by Aldrin Sr.'s great-great-great-grandfather Göran Andersson Aldrin (1709–1772).

World War I On 16 November 1917, with the United States at war during World War I, he was commissioned in the United States Army as a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps. After training at the Coast Artillery School at Fort Monroe, Virginia, he was posted to the 11th Coast Artillery Company at Fort McKinley, Maine, in April 1918, and then to the 72nd Coast Artillery Company at Fort Preble, Maine, in May 1918.

In June 1918, Aldrin went to the School of Aeronautical Engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT),

Between the wars Aldrin completed flight training in February 1919, and was transferred to the United States Army Air Service on 1 July 1920. On 22 March 1924, he married Marion G. Moon,

Now a captain, Aldrin resigned his commission in the Air Corps on 12 November 1928. On 15 February 1929, he became a major in the United States Army Air Corps Reserve. and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. He was survived by his sister, two daughters, and son, Buzz Aldrin.

He is commemorated by the Edwin E. Aldrin Sr. Award, which is presented to an Air Force Institute of Technology (AFIT) graduate who displays leadership and accomplished AFIT's educational objectives in an outstanding manner.