BRIGADIER GENERAL ROBERT L. MOELLER

Retired Feb. 1, 1974

Brigadier General Robert L. Moeller is commander of the 437th Military Airlift Wing with headquarters at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C.

General Moeller was born in 1924, in Oskaloosa, Kan. He received his high school diploma at Omaha Tech, Omaha, Neb., and then attended the University of Omaha and Iowa Wesleyan College, Mount Pleasant, Iowa. He enlisted in the U.S. Army as a private in the Corps of Engineers in June 1943, and received his commission as second lieutenant and pilot wings in September 1944 through the aviation cadet program. He was integrated into the Regular Army in July 1946.

He served as a photographic reconnaissance pilot and after completion of a meteorology course was a weather reconnaissance pilot. From July 1946 through August 1949 he served in Europe and was a base weather officer and later a Provost Marshal in Germany. He participated in the Berlin Airlift during this period and flew 126 missions into that city.

General Moeller next served in Hawaii from September 1949 to August 1954. While there he was an active participant in the nuclear tests conducted in the Pacific area and at the Nevada testing site as an aerial nuclear sampling pilot and aircraft maintenance officer.

In February 1955 he was transferred to Washington, D.C., where he served in the maintenance branch of Air Weather Service Headquarters Military Air Transport Service. He returned to Hawaii in September 1958 as chief of maintenance for the 1st Weather Wing at Hickam Air Force Base. General Moeller served at Yokota Air Base, Japan, from April 1960 to July 1962 as a typhoon reconnaissance pilot and chief of maintenance with the 56th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron. He graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College at Norfolk, Va., in January 1963.

He next commanded the 1211th Test Squadron, a nuclear test sampling squadron, at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M. From June 1964 to March 1966, he commanded the 58th Weather Reconnaissance Squadron at Kirtland, a special extreme altitude reconnaissance squadron flying the RB-57F aircraft.

General Moeller next commanded the 53d Weather Reconnaissance Squadron, the famed "Hurricane Hunters," at Ramey Air Force Base, Puerto Rico. He was transferred to Scott Air Force Base, Ill., in August 1968 and served as commander of the 357th Aeromedical Airlift Wing, flying the C-9 "Nightingale." During this period, he was responsible for the airlift of patients throughout the United States, including those wounded in the Vietnam War. In November 1969 was named inspector general for Military Airlift Command at Scott Air Force Base.

General Moeller went to Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., in November 1971 as vice commander of the 437th Military Airlift Wing and became commander of the wing in April 1972.

His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Army Commendation Medal, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award Ribbon. He has logged flying time in several types of military aircraft, including the C-9, C-141, RB-57F, C-130, WB-47, WB-50, and the C-5A.

He was promoted to the grade of brigadier general effective June 5, 1972, with date of rank June 5, 1972,

(Current as of Sept. 1, 1972)