Millard Fillmore Harmon, Jr. | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Miff |
Born |
Fort Mason, California, United States |
January 19, 1888
Died | February 26, 1945 Marshall Islands |
(aged 57)
Allegiance | United States of America |
Service/branch | United States Army Air Forces |
Years of service | 1912–1945 |
Rank | Lieutenant General |
Commands held |
20th Pursuit Group 5th Composite Group Second Air Force Air Force Combat Command US Army Forces in the South Pacific Area Army Forces South Pacific Area Army Air Forces Pacific Area |
Battles/wars |
World War I World War II *Pacific Campaign |
Awards |
Army Distinguished Service Medal Navy Distinguished Service Medal Croix de Guerre |
Millard Fillmore Harmon, Jr. (January 19, 1888 – February 26, 1945) was a lieutenant general in the United States Army Air Forces during the Pacific campaign in World War II. He was presumed to have perished in February 1945 on a flight when the plane carrying him disappeared in transit. Harmon, Frank Maxwell Andrews, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. and Lesley J. McNair, all lieutenant generals at the time of their deaths, were the highest-ranking Americans to die in World War II.
He was born in 1888 at Fort Mason, California. He was from a military family; his father Millard F. Harmon. Sr. was a colonel, one brother, Hubert R. Harmon, a lieutenant general and another, Kenneth B. Harmon, a colonel. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1912 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the infantry, serving with the 28th and 9th Infantry Regiments. In 1914 he was ordered to the Philippines, and two years later detailed to the newly organized Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps. That year he accompanied the Mexican Punitive Expedition and did aerial patrol work along the border.
Two weeks before the United States entered World War I, Harmon, then a first lieutenant, was on his way to France. There he attended aviation schools in Paris, served at Allied and American headquarters, and was finally attached to the French 13th Group de Combat as a pilot during the Somme defensive, for which he was awarded the Croix de Guerre.