Clayton Lawrence Bissell

Clayton Bissell
Air Service, United States Army 148th Aero Squadron
Commands held	10th Air Force
Battles/wars	World War I World War II
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross Distinguished Service Medal (2) Silver Star Distinguished Flying Cross Distinguished Flying Cross (U.K.) Air Medal
Other work	Commanded U.S. 10th Air Force; Chief of Intelligence

Major General Clayton Lawrence Bissell (July 29, 1896 – December 24, 1972) was an air officer in the United States Army and United States Army Air Forces during World War I and World War II.

World War I service

Bissell graduated from Valparaiso University, Indiana, in 1917 with a degree of doctor of laws.^[2] He enlisted in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve, August 15, 1917, and was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Aviation Section, Signal Reserve, January 12, 1918.^[3]

He began his aviation training at Mohawk, Canada, in September 1917, and was subsequently stationed at

He sailed for England with the 22nd Aero Squadron, and received additional flying training at Salisbury Plain in England and aerial gunnery training in Scotland. He served in the Overseas Ferry Service before he was ordered to duty at the front with the 148th Aero Squadron in July 1918. He served with that unit and with the 41st Aero Squadron until the armistice.^[3] He was credited officially with destroying five enemy planes and driving one down out of control; these six victories qualify him as an ace.^[4] He commanded the 638th Aero Squadron with the American Forces in Germany^[5] until May 1919, when he returned to the United States.^[2]

The interwar years

His first assignment in the United States was Kelly Field, Texas, where he organized and commanded the 27th Aero Squadron. He was promoted to captain (temporary) March 11, 1919. In January 1920, he became education and recreation officer at Kelly Field, and commanded the Air Service Group.^[3]

He was ordered to Washington, D.C., in June 1920, for service as chief of the Tactical Operations Section in the office of Air Service. He was commissioned a first lieutenant in the Air Service, Regular Army, July 1, 1920. In December 1920, he went to

In January 1924, he was detailed as advanced agent for the round-the-world flight in British Columbia, Alaska, the Aleutians, Greenland, Labrador, Newfoundland and the Maritime Provinces. On return to Washington, he was transferred to Langley Field in December 1924 to serve as secretary of the Air Service Board. Between October and December 1925, he served as assistant defense counsel for Mitchell during his court martial, under the direction of lead counsel Congressman Frank R. Reid.^[3]

He was an instructor at the Air Corps Tactical School at Langley Field, from September 1926 to August 1931, when he was assigned to the

In October 1934, he was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, as intelligence and operations officer of the 18th Pursuit Group, becoming commanding officer in October 1937. In July 1938, he went to the Naval War College at Newport, Rhode Island, and graduated in 1939. In July 1939, he became a member of the War Plans Division of the War Department General Staff at Washington, remaining on this duty until the beginning of World War II.^[3]

World War II

In January 1942, he was assigned as principal aviation officer on Major General

A month later he became assistant chief of air staff for intelligence at Air Force Headquarters in Washington. In January 1944, he was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Intelligence on the War Department General Staff, and served in that capacity during the last two years of World War II. He was the Army member of Joint Security Control and on the Joint Intelligence Committee and the U.S. Army member of the Combined Intelligence Committee. He also served as the Army head of psychological warfare and as head of the War Department historical program.[3]

Post World War II

In May 1946, he became military attaché to Great Britain,^[5] and in October 1948, returned to the United States, where he was assigned to the officers' pool at Bolling Air Force Base, D.C.^[3]

The following month he was transferred to Headquarters U.S. Air Forces in Europe, with station at Wiesbaden, Germany, where he remained until he returned to the United States in April 1950, for an assignment to Air Force headquarters in Washington, D.C.^{[citation needed]} He retired in 1950 at the rank of Major General.^[2][5]

Controversies

Bissell taught at the Air Tactical School at the same time as did

In his role as General

Although Bissell claimed he had sent the report to the State Department, State said it never received it, and the Army had no receipt to show that it did.[7] When called to account for his actions before a Congressional Committee investigating Katyn in February 1952, Bissell contended that he was merely carrying out the spirit of the Yalta Conference.^[8] In 1950 Van Vliet recreated his wartime report ^[9] In 2014 a copy of Van Vliet's 1945 Paris disposition was discovered.^[10]

Decorations

Effective dates of promotions

Source: ^[1]

Insignia	Rank	Date
	Major general	March 13, 1943
	Brigadier general	April 21, 1942
	Colonel	January 5, 1942
	Lieutenant colonel	November 16, 1940
	Major	March 12, 1935
	Captain	November 1, 1930
	First lieutenant	August 15, 1917
	Second lieutenant	Skipped this grade

See also

• List of World War I flying aces from the United States
• George Earle, author of another report on Katyn that was suppressed

References

Bibliography

• Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990.
  ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9
  .
• American Aces of World War I. Norman Franks, Harry Dempsey. Osprey Publishing, 2001.
  ISBN 978-1-84176-375-0
  .

• Media related to Clayton Bissell at Wikimedia Commons
• United States Air Force biography at the Wayback Machine (archived February 12, 2004)

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Air Force