1. Melvin Joseph Maas was a US Representative from Minnesota and decorated Major General of the United States Marine Corps Reserve during World War II.
22 Facts About Melvin Maas
1. 2.
Melvin Joseph Maas was born in Duluth, Minnesota, on May 14,1898.
3.
Melvin Maas moved with his parents to St Paul, Minnesota, in 1898.
4.
Melvin Maas underwent flight training and was designated a Naval aviator in the Marine Corps.
5.
Melvin Maas served briefly in Haiti and, during World War I, flew reconnaissance missions over the Atlantic Ocean while stationed in the Azores.
6.
Melvin Maas later attended the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis and subsequently joined his brothers in the insurance business.
7.
Melvin Maas subsequently ran for Congress in 1926 and defeated incumbent Oscar Keller.
8.
Melvin Maas became the youngest member of Congress at age twenty-eight on November 2,1926.
9.
Melvin Maas was elected as a Republican to the 70th, 71st, and 72nd Congresses.
10.
Melvin Maas was re-elected to the 74th, 75th, 76th, 77th, and 78th Congresses.
11.
Melvin Maas was later transferred to the staff of Vice Admiral Frank J Fletcher, commander of Task Force 17.
12.
Melvin Maas later participated in the Solomon Islands campaign with that unit.
13.
Melvin Maas was later transferred to the staff of the South West Pacific Area Commander, General Douglas MacArthur, where he was appointed Marine Corps observer.
14.
Melvin Maas served under MacArthur in Australia and later participated in the New Guinea campaign.
15.
Melvin Maas continued to serve in the South Pacific until the fall of 1942, when he was ordered back to the United States for further duty in Congress.
16.
Melvin Maas was an unsuccessful candidate for reelection in 1944 to the 79th Congress and returned to active duty with the Marine Corps.
17.
Melvin Maas later participated in the Battle of Okinawa and was appointed commander of Awasa Air Base in May 1945.
18.
Melvin Maas was wounded by an enemy bomb in the face.
19.
Melvin Maas was a special advisor to the House Naval Affairs Committee in 1946.
20.
Melvin Maas retired from the Marine Corps on August 1,1952, at the rank of major general.
21.
Melvin Maas had been stricken with total blindness in August 1951.
22.
Melvin Maas was a resident of Chevy Chase, Maryland, until his death in Bethesda, Maryland, on April 13,1964.