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| Information > Biographies > MAJOR GENERAL DONALD PHILIP GRAUL |
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MAJOR GENERAL DONALD PHILIP GRAUL
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Retired April 1, 1963.
Died April 1, 1979.
Donald Philip Graul, deputy commander of the Air Force Communications Service, Scott Air Force Base, Ill., was born at Lehighton, Pa., in 1906. He attended local schools in Lehighton, and graduated from Lehighton High School in 1923. After spending the next two years at Pennsylvania State University, studying electrical engineering, General Graul entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point.
He received his commission at West Point as a second lieutenant June 13, 1929, and was assigned to duty with the First Signal Company at Fort Monmouth, N.J. In the next few years Lieutenant Graul attended the Company Officer's Course at the Signal Corps School and held various assignments in that branch of the Army, including command of the Philippine Signal Depot in 1934.
In 1936-7 General Graul, than a captain, attended the California Institute of Technology, receiving the degree of master of science in meteorology. Upon completion of this course he was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, for a four-year tour of duty. In 1941, as a major, General Graul assumed command of the 226th Signal Operations Company at Fort Meade, Md.
After a short period at Air Force Headquarters in Washington, D.C. he was appointed, in 1942, Signal Officer for the Eighth Fighter Command in England. Reassignment in 1944 found him with the same duties but with a different organization - the Ninth Bombardment Division in France. A short three months later, however, he was assigned as director of communications for the Eighth Air Force. It was during his European tour that General Graul rose to the rank of colonel.
After the war and until 1948, General Graul served in various research and development assignments, including command of Watson Laboratories, Red Bank, N.J., and deputy chief of the Electronics Subdivision, Air Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio.
After graduating from the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in 1949, General Graul became chief of the Electronic Division in the Directorate of Research and Development at Air Force Headquarters, Washington, D.C. Later he was assigned as chief of the Supporting Services Group in the same directorate.
The Far East was his next overseas assignment and there, in 1953, he took command of the 1808th Airways and Air Communications Service Wing, Military Air Transport Service, at Tokyo, Japan. It was while he was serving in Japan that he was promoted to brigadier general.
In January 1957, wing headquarters was transferred to Wheeler Air Force Base, Hawaii. Six months later, on July 1, 1957, General Graul was assigned as commander of the Rome Air Development Center at Griffiss Air Force Base, N.Y., and served in that capacity until July 9, 1961 when he became deputy commander of Air Force Communications Service, headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill. The Air Force Communications Service is a major air command established to provide adequate, reliable and secure communications, flight facilities and air traffic control service primarily to the U.S. Air Force, and to other agencies, government or civil, national or foreign, as designated by the chief of staff, U.S. Air Force.
General Graul has received the following decorations: the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, the bronze star with oak leaf cluster, the Croix de Guerre with Palm (France), the Croix de Guerre with Palm (Belgium), and the Air Force Longevity Service Award with seven oak leaf clusters.
(Current as of March 20, 1962)
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