Bernard Adolph Schriever

Bernard Adolph Schriever
General Bernard Adolph Schriever
Nickname(s)	Ben, Bennie
Born	(1910-09-14)September 14, 1910 Bremen, Germany
Died	June 20, 2005(2005-06-20) (aged 94) Washington, D.C.
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States
Service/branch	United States Air Force
Years of service	1931–1966
Rank	General
Commands held	Air Force Systems Command
Battles/wars	Banana Wars World War II

General Bernard Adolph Schriever (September 14, 1910 – June 20, 2005), also known as Bennie Schriever, was a United States Air Force general. He was born in Bremen, Germany, and after immigrating to the United States, played a major role in the U.S. Air Force programs for space and ballistic missile research.

Bernard Adolph Schriever was born in Bremen, Germany. His father was an engineering officer on a German ship which was interned in New York Harbor in 1916. His mother, Elizabeth, was able to get passage for herself and her two sons aboard a Dutch freighter bound for New York so that she could rejoin her husband. The family arrived in January 1917, just before the United States entered the war.

Schriever and his family moved to New Braunfels, Texas, a community with a large German-speaking population, and then later to San Antonio, Texas. His father died in an accident in 1918, leaving Schriever and his brother in foster care until his grandmother was able to come from Germany to take care of them so that their mother could work.

Schriever became a naturalized citizen in 1923. He earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering from Texas A&M University in 1931 while participating in the school's Corps of Cadets. He received a commission in the Army artillery, but in July 1932 began flight training at Randolph Field. He was commissioned into the Army Air Corps in June 1933. He served in Panama where he was an aide to Brigadier General George H. Brett. He met, wooed, and married the General's eldest daughter, Dora Devol Brett.