Retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. John E. Taylor Jr., 95,
lived about seven years in the Terre Haute area when he was stationed at the
Indiana Air National Guard base at Hulman Field after World War II.
He met and married wife Barbara Bronson Taylor in Terre
Haute, and he stayed connected to the community through the years. His
daughter, son and grandson said a final farewell Monday afternoon during a
committal service in the chapel at Highland Lawn.
“We’re honored that all of the Air Force people came and we
received such a nice honor guard, and my father received the respect we believe
he deserves after serving his country for 41 years,” Elaine Greenwood said
after the service.
She said her father was interested in auto racing and
“anything that goes fast,” so being close to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway
and the Terre Haute Action Track was a bonus for him. His nickname “Jet” was
more than a reference to his initials or his profession as a pilot.
Taylor’s legacy in Indiana is well known, said Brig. Gen.
Kip Clark, commander of the Indiana Air National Guard former commander of the
181st Intelligence Wing at Hulman Field.
“I believe General Taylor epitomizes the Air Force core
values,” Clark said, noting Taylor was an especially talented aviator.
Taylor attended flight school and began his Air Force career
in 1943 in Honington, Suffolk, England, flying P-51 Mustangs in World War II,
according to his biography. The missions ranged from escorting bombers and
dive-bombing and strafing targets to area patrol missions across a swath of
Europe.
After the war, he also few P-51s in the Indiana Air National
Guard. When activated for duty during the Korean War, he flew the P-51, F-84
(Thunderjet) and F-86 (Sabre), completing 250 combat missions.
At the end of the Korean War, he returned to Indiana, eventually
transferring to an Air National Guard unit in Ohio to fly F-100 Super Sabres.
As a lieutenant colonel, Taylor was appointed commander at Kunsan Air Base in
Korea. He also few F-100 combat missions in South Vietnam.
He later transferred to the Air Force Reserve as commander
at Tinker Air Force Base in Oklahoma, and later was promoted to colonel,
serving at Carswell, Tinker and Hill Air Force Bases. He achieved the rank of
brigadier general and was later appointed major general.
His medals and awards include Air Force Distinguished
Service Award, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters,
Distinguished Flying Cross with three oak clusters, Airman’s Medal with two
silver and three bronze oak leave clusters, Bronze Star, Purple Heart, and Air
Medal with 13 oak leaf clusters.
Taylor retired to his farm in Bluffdale, Texas in 1984. His
daughter said he occasionally visited Terre Haute and the grave of his late
wife.
Presiding over the committal service was pastor Larry Spear,
who recalled his own service as a pilot and an air traffic controller in
Vietnam.
“The F-100 pilots were some of the best pilots,” Spear said
of Taylor, noting that his dates of service in Vietnam coincided with Taylor,
so they may have communicated at some point.
Spear said the number of service members and veterans who
answered a community call-out and attended the committal service was large and
impressive.
General Clark said the respect paid to Taylor was
well-deserved.
“He left quite a legacy,” Clark said
SOURCE: Rushville Republican