Henry A. Byroade

General Henry Alfred Byroade (July 24, 1913 – December 31, 1993) was an American military engineer and later a career diplomat. Over the course of his career, he served in Egypt (1955–1956), South Africa (1956–1959), Afghanistan (1959–1962), Burma (1963–1968), the Philippines (1969–1973), and Pakistan (1973–1977). A 1937 graduate of West Point, he served in the China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, and oversaw the construction of airfields in India and in China for the Fourteenth Air Force and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers of the Twentieth Air Force as part of Operation Matterhorn. After the war he was chief of staff to George C. Marshall with the Marshall Mission to China.

Early life

Henry Alfred Byroade was born in Maumee Township, Allen County, Indiana, on July 24, 1913, the son of Ernest C. and Carrie Byroade. He grew up on a farm. He had a brother and a sister. The family could not afford a college education, so he attempted to secure a scholarship to Yale University, but was unsuccessful. He then secured an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, which he entered on July 1, 1933. He played American football and basketball but his football career ended when he broke his leg as a second classman. As a first classman he participated in showjumping.

Military career Byroade graduated from West Point on June 12, 1937, ranked 56th in his class, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. On graduation day he married Mary Richard of Monroeville, Indiana. They had three sons: Gene, Alan and John. He was promoted to captain on 9 September 1940. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II, the battalion of the 21st Engineer (Aviation) Regiment that he commanded was sent to Mitchel Field on Long Island, New York, to develop it into a wartime air base. He also received the Chinese Order of the Cloud and Banner (third and fourth class) for his services in China.

In January 1947, Byroade became a student officer at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. His appointment as a brigadier general in the Army of the United States was terminated on January 17, and he reverted to his substantive rank for first lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He was promoted to captain on June 12. In August he returned to duty with the War Department General Staff as chief of the International Affairs Group, and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 15, 1948.

Foreign service career

On March 1, 1949, Byroade was seconded to the U.S. Department of State as deputy director of the Office of German Affairs. He became its director on November 1. He expressed a preference for the division of Germany, with West Germany tightly integrated with its neighbors.

Although he wished to remain in the Army, President Harry S. Truman persuaded him to resign his commission so he could be appointed Assistant Secretary of State for Middle East, South Asia, and Africa on April 10, 1952. He held this post until January 25, 1955. He died from cardiopulmonary arrest at Suburban Hospital in Bethesda, Maryland on December 31, 1993, at the age of 80, and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.