Three people were inducted into the Air Force Communications and Information Hall of Fame, with special designation as "Foundation Setters," at a ceremony and dinner April 10, 2002 at the Andrews Officers' Club. Lt. Gen. John L. Woodward Jr., Air Force deputy chief of staff for communications and information, officiated.
Hall of Fame members are recognized for exemplary service in the public and private sectors, and for their vision in helping to deliver world-class communications and information capabilities to the Air Force.
The new inductees include three former leaders whose contributions to the Air Force communications and information community deem them worthy of recognition as "Foundation Setters." They are Lt. Gen. Richard P. Klocko, Lt. Gen. Gordon T. Gould Jr., and Maj. Gen. Paul R. Stoney. Generals Gould and Stoney are deceased, and General Klocko was unable to attend. General Klocko spoke to the assembly through a live telephone feed.
"Military services have kept astride the great advances in communications and information processing," General Klocko said. "People here tonight and Air Force people around the world should be proud of the job they've done and are doing now. I congratulate you on your work and only say I'm happy to have been a member of the team which has done so much."
Lt. Gen. Richard P. Klocko
fter graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in 1937, General Klocko completed flying training and took his first Army Air Corps assignment with the 36th Pursuit Squadron, Langley Field, Va. He served with the 36th Pursuit Group in Puerto Rico before being assigned to England, in the Headquarters European Theater of Operations, and as commander of the 350th Fighter Group then being formed. He readied the group, equipped with P-39 fighters, for combat and moved it to North Africa to support the invasion. In 1943, while on a special mission over enemy lines, dropping messages to isolated units, he was captured by German forces and remained a prisoner of war until 1945.
After World War II, General Klocko served with the War Department General Staff until his appointment as chief of the Supplemental Research Branch, Director of Intelligence. He served two years on the faculty of the Air War College, and two years with AWC's Graduate Study Group developing Air Force operations doctrine. He was deputy chief of staff for operations, and then chief of staff, U.S. Air Force Security Service, Kelly AFB, Texas, before becoming commander of the 6900th Security Wing, Frankfurt, Germany. After serving as deputy commander and commander, U.S. Air Force Security Service, he became director of the Defense Communications Agency, Washington, until he retired in 1971.
Lt. Gen. Gordon T. Gould Jr.
A 1941 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy, General Gould was assigned to the 312th Fighter Wing in China, where he was communications officer, and established much of the communications and control system for the first B-29 operations. After Japan's surrender at the end of World War II, he directed re-establishment of airways systems and communications in formerly occupied areas of China.
After an assignment as chief of the Communications-Electronics Division for Strategic Air Command, he was appointed deputy commander of Air Force Communications Service. He moved to Headquarters U.S. Air Force as director of Command Control and Communications. His final assignment before retiring in 1974 was as director of the Defense Communications Agency.
Maj. Gen. Paul R. Stoney
General Stoney graduated from Emory University in Atlanta in 1941, and enlisted as an aviation cadet. After pilot training in 1942, he was a flying instructor at Columbus Field, Miss. He was assigned to a new Instrument Flying Evaluation Group, where his study of instrument approach and landing systems helped formulate Air Force standard instrument flying techniques. After serving in an overseas training and processing center for the Airways and Air Communications Service, he became assistant for plans, 7th AACS Wing, in Tokyo, where his duties included rehabilitating World War II communications in the Pacific. As deputy director for operations, 1810th AACS Group, Hickam AFB, Hawaii, he was responsible for all communications facilities in the Southern Pacific area.
While assigned to Headquarters AACS in Washington, he planned a major update of worldwide AACS facilities, and ground-air and global communications. He was then sent to the Air War College with the Advanced Studies Group assessing airpower as an instrument of national policy. While assigned to Air Force headquarters, he developed communications programming and budget procedures for new Air Force communications equipment. Serving in the office of the director of Defense Research and Engineering, he participated in development of the National Military Command System, and helped devise the Consolidated Command Control Communications Program used throughout the Department of Defense.
After serving as vice commander and commander of the Air Force Communications Service, Scott AFB, Ill., he retired in 1973.