Hume Peabody

Brigadier General Hume Peabody (24 November 1893 – 1 January 1984) was an American career aviator and military officer. A graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, with the class of 1915, known as the class the stars fell on, he served with the 3rd Cavalry in the Mexican Expedition. During World War I, he became an aviator, and transferred to United States Army Air Service in 1920. Between the world wars, he was professor of military science and tactics at the University of California, Berkeley. from 1924 to 1928, and attended the Air Corps Tactical School, the Command and General Staff School, and the United States Army War College. During World War II he commanded the II Air Support Command, the Army Air Forces Tactical Center, and the III Tactical Air Command.

Early life George Hume Peabody was born in Shinglehouse, Pennsylvania, on 24 November 1893. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, from which he graduated on 12 June 1915, ranked 63rd in his class. The class of 1915 became known as the class the stars fell on because more than a third of the class eventually became general officers. His classmates included Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley, who became five-star generals.

World War I Peabody was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the 3rd Cavalry, which was stationed at Brownsville, Texas, on border patrol duty. and participated in the Mexican Expedition, and was involved in a skirmish with bandits at Tahuachal and at Villa Verde Ranches, Mexico, on 17 and 18 June 1916. He was promoted to first lieutenant on 1 July. In March 1917, the 3rd Cavalry moved to Fort Sam Houston, Texas, where he was promoted to captain on 3 July 1917.

On 28 August 1917, Peabody became a student officer at Signal Corps Aviation School, at Rockwell Field, near San Diego, California, from which he graduated on 13 December 1917. He remained there, with the rank of major in the Aviation Section, Signal Corps from 16 January 1918, until 2 February 1918, when he moved to Ellington Field, Texas. He then went to Eberts Field, Arkansas, on 19 March. On 10 May, he became a student officer at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In September 1918, he went to Washington, D.C., where he served with the Training Section of the Air Service. He went to France on 7 October, where he joined the American Expeditionary Force. and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

Dates of rank