Basil Lee Curtis
World War II-Army Air Corps.

Lee Curtis was born on April Fools Day in 1923 at Rockport, Ky. He was the son of Arvin "Buck" and Abba Merle Miller Curtis. Lee graduated from Rockport High School in 1941. Most young graduates in 1941 realized that it would just be a matter of time before they were drafted into the Armed Services as a big war was going on in Europe. Lee entered the Army Air Corps and attended Officers Training School. He graduated as a second lieutenant in 1944 and received his Air Force Wings.

The US Army Air Service was created in 1917, during World war I, as an entity of the Army. Where a Signal Corps existed, airplanes were beginning to replace balloons and dirigibles, and the start of our modern day Air Force was initiated. As a combatant arm of the Army, the US Army Air Service witnessed some turbulent times due to political differences between our leaders. A big problem was in the assignment of the power of the US AAS. The uncertainty was made more positive in June of 1941 when Congress created the Army Air Corps from the Army Air Service. It was now a branch of the Army instead of "Whipping Boy" where blame had always been given with no praise. Turbulent times still existed, although not to the extent of earlier years, until 1947 when Congress created the Air Force to replace the Army Air Corps. The Department Of Defense now contained three equal branches of service, the Army, the Navy, and the Air Force.

Lee Curtis was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1944 and trained as a fighter pilot. In World War II he became a triple-rated fighter pilot. After the war, he opted to continue his service in the newly formed Air Force and learned to fly the big cargo planes. He logged more than 4,000 hours flying C-97s and C-124s making the rank of Lieutenant Colonel before retirement. During his military career he became an Aircraft Commander of the Strategic Air Command, better know as SAC. His crews were responsible for carrying the atomic bomb and later on, the hydrogen bomb. At the end of his career, Lee was proud that he had logged more that 7,500 hours of flying time. He served with the Air Force Reserve in Owensboro and the Tennessee Air National Guard.

After Lee's military career, he wore many work hats. His love of farming kept him busy for several years and he ventured into several farms and different types of farming from raising row crops, like cucumbers, to being a livestock farmer. After his farming adventures, he bought "Ohio County Recycling and Auto Crushing", finally retiring in December of 2014.

Thanks Lee. Thanks for a distinguished and lenghtily service career in helping protect out country.

jerry

; ~ )