Tony F. Schneider

Western Pacific Japanese light cruiser Yahagi under attack by dive bombers during Operation Ten-Go. Schneider became operations officer of Scouting Squadron 11, and earned his first Distinguished Flying Cross leading air strikes out of Henderson Field (Guadalcanal) for three months before returning to the United States to spend a year instructing bomber pilots in Seattle. He then became commanding officer of Bombing Squadron 9 and finished the war flying from and . He received a second Distinguished Flying Cross leading a successful air strike against an aircraft assembly plant near Tokyo, a third Distinguished Flying Cross leading close air support missions during the invasions of Iwo Jima and Okinawa, and a second Navy Cross leading Bombing Squadron 9 against Yahagi during Operation Ten-Go.

Post-war service After the war, Schneider served in Florida with the advanced training command at Naval Air Station Jacksonville and as tactics development officer for an anti-submarine warfare (ASW) development squadron in Key West. He worked at the Pentagon from 1951 to 1953 writing tactical publications for ASW and all weather operations. He subsequently served as operations officer and executive officer of the fleet all-weather training unit flying jet night fighters with the Aerospace Defense Command of the United States west coast. He served as executive officer of the Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps (NROTC) at the University of Louisville before returning to sea as executive officer of . He then attended the Naval War College before serving as naval assistant to the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) from 1962 to 1965 and commanding the NROTC unit at the University of New Mexico from 1965 to 1968. He served as Deputy Commander FleetAir Western Pacific at the Naval Air Station Cubi Point for one year from 1968 to 1969, and then his final year was traveling the world as Inspector General, before retiring from active duty in 1970.

Final years Schneider retired to Albuquerque, New Mexico, where he spent the last decade of his life caring for his wife of 67 years, Jean Ross Schneider, before dying of a stroke at the age of 92.