Henry A. Byroade

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Henry A. Byroade
United States Ambassador to Egypt
In office
March 7, 1955 – September 10, 1956
PresidentDwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byJefferson Caffery
Succeeded byRaymond A. Hare
2nd Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs
In office
April 14, 1952 – January 25, 1955
PresidentHarry S. Truman
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Preceded byGeorge C. McGhee
Succeeded byGeorge V. Allen
Military career
BornJuly 24, 1913
Maumee Township, Allen County, Indiana
DiedDecember 31, 1993(1993-12-31) (aged 80)
Bethesda, Maryland
Buried
Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance United States of America
Service/branch United States Army
Years of service1937-1952
RankBrigadier General
Service numberO-20624
UnitCorps of Engineers
Battles/wars
Awards
(third and fourth class) (China)

Henry Alfred Byroade (July 24, 1913 – December 31, 1993) was an American career diplomat. Over the course of his career, he served in

China-Burma-India Theater during World War II, and oversaw the construction of airfields in India and in China for the Fourteenth Air Force and the Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers of the Twentieth Air Force as part of Operation Matterhorn. After the war he was chief of staff to George C. Marshall with the Marshall Mission
to China.

Early life

Henry Alfred Byroade was born in

showjumping.[3]

Military career

Byroade graduated from West Point on June 12, 1937, ranked 56th in his class, and was commissioned as a

Hawaii Territory on November 20, 1937.[1] As was usual for a Corps of Engineers officer, he was then sent to engineering school to further his technical education. The Corps sent him to Cornell University, which he entered as a student officer on September 19, 1939. He was promoted to first lieutenant on June 12, 1940, and received his Master of Science degree in civil engineering on August 15.[1]

After graduation from Cornell, Byroade went to

Mitchel Field on Long Island, New York, to develop it into a wartime air base.[2]

In April 1942 Byroade went to India,

China Burma India Theater (CBI). This section was responsible for logistical activities in Assam.[7] His engineer section initially consisted of two officers and two enlisted men, so it could do little more than supervise the progress of work on the airfields at Chabua, Mohanbari, Dinjan, and Sookerating that would support the aerial supply route to China over the Hump.[8] The work was carried out by the British Royal Engineers and the Central Public Works Department of India,[7] but Byroade found himself drawn into the details of airfield construction. He prevailed on the Royal Engineers to use asphalt instead of concrete for the runways, as the former was available from a local oil refinery.[8] He was promoted to major on May 1, 1942, and lieutenant colonel on January 14, 1943. He was awarded the Legion of Merit for this work,[6] but progress on the airfields lagged behind schedule.[9]

Byroade went to China in August 1943, where he assumed command of Advance Section 4. In this role he was responsible for construction of airfields for use by the Fourteenth Air Force. Local officials expected to receive a share of profits from airfield construction. This was known as "squeeze" in China and was considered a standard business practice there.[9] By autumn, five airfields around Guilin and seven more further east were operational, and Byroade was responsible for twenty-seven airfields in China.[10]

In December 1943 Byroade became the project engineer of the newly-formed 5308th Air Service Area Command, which became responsible for airfield construction in China. His first priority was the development of eight airfields around Kunming for the Fourteenth Air Force, but he was also responsible for the development of new airfields around Chengdu for the Twentieth Air Force as part of Operation Matterhorn, the deployment of Boeing B-29 Superfortress bombers to China.[11] He selected four sites around Chengdu where existing runways could be strengthened and lengthened to accommodate the B-29s, at Xinjin, Guanghan, Qionglai and Pengshan.[12] He assumed the dual role of chief engineer of the Fourteenth Air Force as well as the 5308th Air Service Area Command on 16 March 1944,[13] and he was promoted to colonel on April 1. For his service in China he was awarded the Air Medal and an oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit.[6]

Byroade returned to the United States in September 1944, where he became the deputy chief of the Asiatic Theater Section of the

Army Distinguished Service Medal for his service.[15] He also received the Chinese Order of the Cloud and Banner (third and fourth class) for his services in China.[6]

In January 1947, Byroade became a student officer at the

Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia. His appointment as a brigadier general in the Army of the United States was terminated on January 17, and he reverted to his substantive rank for first lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers. He was promoted to captain on June 12. In August he returned to duty with the War Department General Staff as chief of the International Affairs Group, and he was promoted to lieutenant colonel on July 15, 1948.[6]

Foreign service career

On March 1, 1949, Byroade was seconded to the

division of Germany, with West Germany tightly integrated with its neighbors.[17]

Although he wished to remain in the Army, President

Zionist ideology and its free admission of Jews through the Law of Return as "a legitimate matter of concern both to the Arabs and to the Western countries".[19]

On January 24, 1955, Byroade was appointed

United States Ambassador to Egypt He was considered a friend of Arab causes but unable, during his Egyptian assignment, to prevent an arms deal between Czechoslovakia and Egypt, or to dissuade the Egyptian government of Gamal Abdel Nasser from expanding its campaigns against the West. After the United States refused to finance the construction of the Aswan Dam on the Nile, Nasser turned to the Soviet Union.[14] Criticism of his effectiveness in Cairo in the Eisenhower Administration led to his reassignment to South Africa. Emanuel Neumann, chairman of the executive of the Zionist Organization of America urged that he be removed from Cairo, claiming he had been an apologist for the Egyptian government.[18]

Byroade served as

Army Industrial College. President Richard Nixon appointed him ambassador to the Philippines on July 22, 1969, and he served in that post until May 25, 1973. His final diplomatic appointment was as ambassador to Pakistan from December 5, 1973, to April 23, 1977.[3][16]

Later life

Byroade retired from the Foreign Service in 1977 and then spent two years in Saudi Arabia as a vice president of Northrop Corporation and its representative in Saudi Arabia.[3][14]

He had surgery for cancer in June 1993.

Eisenhower Presidential Library.[20]

Notes

  1. ^ a b c d Cullum 1940, p. 1182.
  2. ^ a b Byroade, Henry (September 19, 1988). "Interview with Henry Byroade" (Interview). The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project. Interviewed by Johnson, Niel M. Potomac, Maryland: Library of Congress. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  3. ^
    ISSN 1041-2581
    . Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  4. ^ Cullum 1950, p. 1182.
  5. ^ "Engineer Aviation Battalions". National Museum of the United States Air Force. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i Cullum 1950, p. 904.
  7. ^ a b Dod 1966, pp. 395–396.
  8. ^ a b Dod 1966, pp. 400–401.
  9. ^ a b Dod 1966, pp. 419–420.
  10. ^ Dod 1966, p. 431.
  11. ^ Dod 1966, pp. 439–440.
  12. ^ Dod 1966, pp. 438–440.
  13. ^ Dod 1966, p. 451.
  14. ^ a b c d Smith, J. Y. (January 2, 1994). "Henry a. Byroade Dies". The Washington Post. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  15. ^ "Henry Byroade - Recipient". Military Times. Retrieved 22 August 2023. Brigadier General Henry Alfred Byroade (ASN: O-20624), United States Army, was awarded the Army Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility as Military Attaché, China, in 1945.
  16. ^ a b c d "Henry Alfred Byroade". Office of the Historian, Foreign Service Institute, United States Department of State. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  17. ^ "Henry Byroade, Acting Deputy Director, Office of German Affairs, to Mr. Rusk [et al.], US CFM Program on Germany". National Security Archive. April 25, 1949. Retrieved 22 August 2023.
  18. ^ a b c Pace, Eric (January 3, 1994). "Henry Byroade, 80, Ambassador To Egypt and 5 Other Countries". The New York Times. p. 24. Retrieved August 21, 2023.
  19. ^ Adelman 2008, p. 103.
  20. ^ "Byroade, Henry A." Eisenhower Presidential Library. Retrieved 21 August 2023.

References

External links

Government offices
Preceded by
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern, South Asian, and African Affairs

April 14, 1952 – January 25, 1955 		Succeeded by
Diplomatic posts
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Egypt

1955-1956 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to South Africa

1956-1959 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Afghanistan

1959-1962 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Burma

1963–1968 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to the Philippines

1969-1973 		Succeeded by
Preceded by
United States Ambassador to Pakistan

1973–1977 		Succeeded by
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