Sponsored by:

Navy Federal Credit Union
Oscar
Westover
DNB (1938)
July 23, 1883

–

September 21, 1938

Cemetery:

Arlington National Cemetery

Oscar Westover graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, Class of 1906. As a Major General, he was named Chief of the Army Air Corps on December 22, 1935. He spent the next two-and-a-half years flying to bases around the country to step up pilot training and increase the emphasis on aviation which would be important during World War II. On September 21, 1938, he was killed in an airplane accident near the Lockheed plant at Burbank, California, while serving as an Army Air Corps Major General.

Awards Received

  • Army Distinguished Service Medal

    Service:

    United States Army Air Service

    Rank:

    Lieutenant Colonel (Air Service)

    Regiment:

    Storage and Traffic Division

    Division:

    Bureau of Aeronautical Production

    Action Date:

    World War I
    War Department, General Orders No. 14 (1923)

    The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Colonel (Air Service) Oscar Westover, United States Army Air Service, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. Lieutenant Colonel Westover served in turn as Signal Officer, Port of Embarkation, Hoboken, New Jersey, Chief of Storage Department, Signal Corps, and Chief of Storage and Traffic Division, Bureau of Aeronautical Production, Air Service. By his great initiative, painstaking attention to details, exceptional ability, and untiring efforts he installed and developed with conspicuous success at all ports of embarkation a complete system of keeping records of shipment of Signal Corps and Air Service property for overseas. His services were of inestimable value to the Government in a position of great responsibility.