Since 1999, the Air Force Communications and Information Hall of fame has recognized the achievements of past military leaders and civil servants who have laid the foundation that supports today's dominant, modern Air Force. Lt. Gen. Tom Hobbins, Air Force Chief of Warfighting Integration and Chief Information Officer, inducted retired Lt. Gen. Albert J. Edmonds, retired Lt. Gen. Carl G. O'Berry and and the late Mr. Thomas J. Yium into the Hall of Fame during a ceremony and dinner May 12 at Andrews AFB, Md.
Lt. Gen. Albert J. Edmonds
By the time General Edmonds retired after nearly 33 years in Air Force communications, he had become the only officer to serve as senior communications officer in the Air Staff, Joint Staff, and Defense Information Systems Agency. A graduate of Officer Training School at Lackland AFB, Texas, in 1964, he held many critical C4I positions, including deputy chief of staff for communications-computer systems, Tactical Air Command (dual-hatted as commander, Air Force Communication Command's Tactical Communications Division); assistant chief of staff, systems for command, control, communications and computers, Air Force headquarters; and director for Command, Control, Communications and Computer Systems Directorate (J-6), the Joint Staff. As Defense Information Systems Agency director, General Edmonds "fathered" the Global Command Control System that eliminated the 30-year "workhorse" known as the World Wide Military Command and Control System. This modernized the DoD's global command and control. He was also a strong advocate for interoperability and joint operations and guided transition to commercial satellite communications.
Lt. Gen. Carl G. O'Berry
General O'Berry enlisted in January 1957 as a communications specialist. The Michigan native served at several bases before being commissioned through Officer Candidate School in 1961. His career as an officer began at the 1914th Communications Squadron at Holloman AFB, N.M., where he served as an operations and maintenance officer from 1962 to 1965. His experience in the communications field grew and was recognized with assignments of even greater importance. He was director, command, control and communications systems in Germany; director, command, control, systems and logistics for U.S. Space Command, and deputy chief of staff, systems integration and logistics and support at Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. By the time his final assignment ended as deputy chief of staff, command, control, communications, and computers at Air Force headquarters, General O'Berry had contributed to the future development of Air Force systems, formulated Air Force communications and computer doctrine, policies and plans, and provided high-level management of $16 billion in C4 systems.He retired after serving his country and the Air Force for more than 38 years.
Mr. Thomas J. Yium
Following his enlistment from 1955 to 1959, Thomas J. Yium spent the next 36 years in civil service in a variety of technical positions which helped establish many of the sophisticated systems, architectures and configurations of communications seen today. His first civil service assignment was as a mechanical and electrical engineer working with the 4925th Test Group (Atomic), the Air Force Special Weapons Center, then Air Force Weapons Lab at Kirtland AFB, N.M. Mr. Yium spent the next 20 years in the St. Louis area and at Scott AFB, Ill., using his technical expertise at the Aeronautical Chart & Information Center, and then at Headquarters Air Force Communications Command as director, Operations Research and Analysis (later Studies and Analysis). In this capacity, he was a technical liaison between AFCC and scientific/industrial communities exploring vulnerabilities of Air Force communications systems to electronic countermeasures, environmental disruption, and battle damage. When Mr. Yium retired in 1995, he continued to share his knowledge working as a consultant to major space and communications companies.Mr. Yium passed away in January 2004.