1. Bernard Adolph "Bennie" Schriever was a United States Air Force general who played a major role in the Air Force's space and ballistic missile programs.
64 Facts About Bernard Schriever
1. 2.
Bernard Schriever transferred to the United States Army Air Corps and was awarded his wings and a commission as a reservist second lieutenant in 1933.
3.
Bernard Schriever remained in Australia as chief of the maintenance and engineering division of the Fifth Air Force Service Command until the end of the war.
4.
In 1954, Bernard Schriever became head of the Western Development Division, a special agency created to manage the intercontinental ballistic missile development effort.
5.
Bernard Adolph Schriever was born in Bremen, Germany, on 14 September 1910, the son of Adolf Schriever, a mariner, and his wife Elizabeth Milch.
6.
Bernard Schriever spoke English fluently, having lived in Lower Manhattan as a girl, but the two boys could only speak German.
7.
Bernard Schriever's father died on 17 September 1918, as a result of an industrial accident, leaving Schriever and his brother in the care of his great uncle, Magnus Klattenhoff, a rancher in Slaton, Texas.
8.
Bernard Schriever's mother found work as a housekeeper for a wealthy banker, Edward Chandler, supervising the half dozen or so staff that worked in his mansion.
9.
Bernard Schriever managed to earn enough money working to take the boys back from the orphanage.
10.
The boys became proficient at the sport, and Bernard Schriever made the semifinals of the Texas junior championships in June 1927, winning a pair of golf shoes.
11.
Bernard Schriever entered the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas in 1927.
12.
Bernard Schriever's mother paid his $1,000 annual tuition from her sandwich stand profits.
13.
Bernard Schriever was captain of the golf team in his senior year, and in 1931, the year he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in structural engineering, he won the Texas junior state championship and the San Antonio city championship.
14.
Bernard Schriever was offered a position as a professional golf player in Bryan, Texas, at a salary of $2,400 a year, more than he could earn doing anything else during the Great Depression years, but professional golf did not have the social respectability or the prize money that it carries today, and he turned it down.
15.
Bernard Schriever served in an artillery battery in the Corps, so upon graduation he received a reservist commission as a second lieutenant in the Field Artillery Branch.
16.
Bernard Schriever applied for flight training, and on 1 July 1932, he reported to Randolph Field in San Antonio.
17.
Bernard Schriever completed this successfully and went on to advanced training at Kelly Field.
18.
Bernard Schriever graduated on 29 June 1933, and was awarded his wings and a commission as a reservist second lieutenant in the United States Army Air Corps.
19.
Bernard Schriever won a couple of golf tournaments at the nearby Victoria Country Club in Riverside.
20.
However, in the wake of the Air Mail scandal, President Franklin D Roosevelt called on the Air Corps to deliver the mail, and Schriever flew mail deliveries in Douglas O-38 and Keystone B-4 aircraft.
21.
The air mail delivery allowed Bernard Schriever to extend his active service by eight months, but he was still a reservist.
22.
Bernard Schriever left active duty in March 1935 and returned to San Antonio.
23.
Bernard Schriever applied for a regular commission, but was unsuccessful.
24.
Bernard Schriever was able to return to active duty in October 1936, but he had to revert to the rank of second lieutenant.
25.
Bernard Schriever accepted; it was a good career opportunity, and it paid an extra $10 a month.
26.
Bernard Schriever again applied for a regular commission, and was turned down.
27.
Bernard Schriever married Dora in a ceremony at Arnold's house in Washington, DC, on 3 January 1938.
28.
Arnold urged Bernard Schriever to apply for a regular commission one more time, because war was approaching and skilled pilots were needed.
29.
Bernard Schriever did so, although it meant a cut in pay and reverting to the rank of second lieutenant.
30.
Bernard Schriever was assigned to Hamilton Field, California, as a Douglas B-18 Bolo instrument flying instructor with the 7th Bombardment Group.
31.
Bernard Schriever had told his father in law of his ambition to attend the Air Corps Engineering School there, and Brett arranged for Bernard Schriever to enter in July 1940.
32.
Bernard Schriever graduated from it in July 1941, and received a Master of Arts in aeronautical engineering from Stanford University in June 1942, receiving a promotion to the rank of major.
33.
Bernard Schriever flew ten combat missions with the 19th Bombardment Group before it returned to the United States in 1943; around this time he received the Purple Heart.
34.
Bernard Schriever remained behind as chief of the maintenance and engineering division of the Fifth Air Force Service Command.
35.
Bernard Schriever was promoted to lieutenant colonel in March 1943, and in August became chief of staff of the Fifth Air Force Service Command.
36.
Bernard Schriever was promoted to colonel on 21 December 1943.
37.
Bernard Schriever worked closely with the USAAF Scientific Advisory Board, which was headed by Theodore von Karman.
38.
Bernard Schriever was serving there when the United States Air Force became independent from the Army in July 1947.
39.
Bernard Schriever became an advocate of increased research and development, and instituted a systems engineering approach to the introduction of new technology.
40.
Bernard Schriever instituted a system of Development Planning Objectives that attempted to match promising new technologies with major Air Force missions rather than merely attempting to improve existing capabilities.
41.
Bernard Schriever thought that the increase in altitude and speed would not save it from surface-to-air missiles.
42.
Bernard Schriever was promoted to brigadier general on 23 June 1953.
43.
In March 1953, Bernard Schriever attended a meeting of the Scientific Advisory Board at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama.
44.
On his own initiative, Bernard Schriever went to see von Neumann at the Institute for Advanced Study on 8 May 1953.
45.
Von Neumann explained the process by which smaller and lighter hydrogen bombs of lesser yield would be developed in the future, and Bernard Schriever left the meeting convinced.
46.
Bernard Schriever found an ally in the incoming Eisenhower administration in Trevor Gardner, the Secretary of the Air Force's special assistant for research and development.
47.
White initially intended for the WDD to be headed by his special assistant for research and development, Major General James McCormack, but McCormack suffered from health problems, so Bernard Schriever succeeded him as White's special assistant and assumed command of the WDD on 2 August 1954.
48.
Bernard Schriever made a point of keeping Power informed with weekly progress reports and frequently travelled to Baltimore to meet with him.
49.
Bernard Schriever eventually won Power over, and he recommended Bernard Schriever for promotion.
50.
On 13 September 1955, President Dwight Eisenhower gave the ICBM program the highest national priority, and Bernard Schriever was promoted to major general in December.
51.
Bernard Schriever instituted a system of monthly meetings known as "Black Saturdays".
52.
Bernard Schriever initially resisted providing cost estimates, but was eventually obliged to do so in November 1956 as project costs rose above the allocated funding.
53.
On 25 April 1959, Bernard Schriever left WDD to succeed Power as commander of ARDC and was promoted to lieutenant general.
54.
Bernard Schriever became commander of the new organization, one of the responsibilities of which was acquiring missiles.
55.
Bernard Schriever hoped to succeed LeMay as Chief of Staff, but when LeMay retired in 1965, the Vietnam War was ramping up, and a combat commander was called for.
56.
LeMay was succeeded by General John P McConnell, and Schriever retired on 31 August 1966, two weeks before his 56th birthday.
57.
In 1965, Bernard Schriever received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.
58.
In retirement, Bernard Schriever became a consultant to various corporate and government clients.
59.
Bernard Schriever served on company boards, and was a member of the President's Intelligence Advisory Board under President Ronald Reagan.
60.
Bernard Schriever's marriage deteriorated after 1968 when he began an affair with another woman, and he and his wife separated but did not divorce, as she was a devout Roman Catholic.
61.
Bernard Schriever finally obtained a divorce and they married on 5 October 1997.
62.
In honor of his service, Bernard Schriever was inducted into the National Aviation Hall of Fame in 1980.
63.
Bernard Schriever was awarded the Delmer S Fahrney Medal in 1982, and on 5 June 1998, Schriever Air Force Base was named for him.
64.
Bernard Schriever died at his home in Washington, DC, on 20 June 2005 at the age of 94 from complications of pneumonia.