Thomas J. Hanley Jr.

Early life Thomas Hanley was born, in Coshocton, Ohio, the third of six children of Thoms Hanley Sr, an Irish immigrant, and Mary (O'Connor) Hanley.

Military service Hanley graduated from the United States Military Academy with the Class of 1915 Following a short transfer to the Primary Flying School, Hanley became an instructor at the Command and General Staff School in 1932.

Hanley went on to be named the chief of the First Air Force and the base commander for that unit in June 1941. By the following January he had been assigned to the Army Air Force headquarters in Washington, where he later became the chief of staff. In May 1943 Hanley was given command of the Southeast Air Force Training Center at Maxwell Field in Alabama. A year later, he again left the United States, this time as the commanding general of the China-Burma-India Air Service Command. By July 1945, he had assumed command of all Army Air Forces in India and Burma, this in addition to his duties with the Air Service Command.

Hanley returned to Army Air Force headquarters in the United States in January 1946 and was given command of the 11th Air Force in June of the same year. He retired from the Air Force in 1952 at the rank of major general.

He was also awarded the Legion of Merit while serving as the Deputy Chief of Staff for the Headquarters of the U.S. Army Air Force. Hanley went on to earn a Bronze Oak Leaf Cluster in lieu of a second Legion of Merit.