Theodore R. Milton

T. R. Milton
KBE
T. R. Milton KBE
	US Air Force photo of Lt Gen Milton
Born	Theodore Ross Milton; 29 December 1915; Schofield Barracks; Territory of Hawaii, US
Died	24 Aug 2010 (aged 94)
Burial place	Arlington Nat Cemetery
Education	B.S., US Military Acad.
Spouse	Grace Elizabeth Bailey (m. 1942)
Military career
Branches	Thirteenth Air Force;
Conflicts	World War II

Theodore Ross Milton

KBE (29 December 1915 – 24 August 2010) was a United States Army and Air Force

(USAF) officer and pilot.

Personal life

On 29 December 1915, Theodore Ross Milton was born at Schofield Barracks in the US Territory of Hawaii^[1] to United States Army cavalryman, Colonel Alexander Mortimer Milton (United States Military Academy class of 1903). While the Milton family was stationed at Fort Riley, they were friends with future-General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold; it was a friendly flight with Arnold that put the twelve-year-old Milton on the path to aviation.^[2]

While he himself was at the US Military Academy, Milton met his future wife: Grace Elizabeth Bailey^[2] (1920–2010); they married in 1942. The Miltons had three children (Patricia Morgan, Theodore Ross Milton Jr., and Barbara Bayley Milton), seven grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren. T. R. Milton died on 24 August 2010, followed by Grace Elizabeth on 20 December; they were both interred at Arlington National Cemetery on 21 January 2011.^[3]

US military

Milton enlisted in the United States Army in 1934 as a private.^[2] After graduating from the US Military Academy in 1940, he entered United States Army Air Corps pilot training and earned his aviator badge in March 1941.^[4]

World War II

398th BG

over Europe (13 April 1945)

From 1943 to 1945 during World War II, Milton served in the Eighth Air Force in England aboard Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses.^[4]

The

351st Bomb Group's operations officer, on 12 August 1943, Major Milton found himself and Major Clark Gable aboard Ain't It Gruesome, a B-17F flown by Captain John B. Carraway. Milton was leading 330 B-17Fs and 329 Republic P-47 Thunderbolts out of the United Kingdom to attack the well-defended Nazi synthetic oil production facilities at Gelsenkirchen. The weather forced Milton to divert to bombing Bochum as a target of opportunity; the bombing was successful at the cost of 25 shot-down B-17s. Ain't It Gruesome itself was shot plenty, and Gable lost a boot heel to an unexploded 20-millimetre (0.79 in) shell. For his actions, Milton received a Silver Star.^[2]

Five months later, Milton was commander of the 91st Bombardment Group and copilot of a B-17 over Nazi Germany when he was "painfully wounded" by an enemy interceptor. Milton refused aid and remained at his post through the mission's completion, and did not step down until every plane in the large formation had successfully landed at diversion airports. For this action, Milton received a Distinguished Service Cross.^[1]

On 24 October 1944, Milton assumed command of the

384th Bomb Group and led bombing runs until 14 April 1945.^[2]