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One of the most active and brilliant members of the Class of 1909 was <em>Delos C. Emmons</em>. We roomed together as Plebes and served together several times after graduation. I was privileged to command a wing and a bomber command under him in 1939, 1940, and 1941.</p>
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Delos C. Emmons was born in Huntington, West Virginia, on 17 January 1889. He attended public schools until 1904 when he entered a preparatory school, which would eventually make it possible for him to enter West Point as one of the youngest cadets of the Class of 1909.</p>
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Upon graduation he was assigned to the 30th Infantry. During his seven and one-half years with the Infantry, he served at the Presidio of San Francisco, Alaska, Plattsburg Barracks, New York, and had two short tours on the Mexican Border, in 1911 and 1916.</p>
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He began his aviation training at the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, earning his wings in June 1917. After serving a few months as Air Officer of the Western Department he was ordered to Washington, D.C., and served as assistant executive of the Aviation Section, Signal Corps, until June 1918, when he took command of Mather Field in California. Soon thereafter he was assigned to the Engineering Division at Dayton where he served until 1924. Two of these four years were spent as a student at the Harvard School of Business Administration. For the next three years he was commanding officer of Crissy Field at the Presidio of San Francisco, one of the fields where observation squadrons of the Air Service were assigned.</p>
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He returned to Washington, D.C., as executive of the Air Service for one year and as executive for the Assistant Secretary of War for Air. During this period he worked closely with many of the officers who later held important positions. From 1931 to 1934, he attended the Air Corps Tactical School at Maxwell Field, Alabama, and the two-year course at the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.</p>
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The next two years he spent as Air Officer and Commanding Officer of the 18th Composite Wing in the Hawaiian Department. He was made a wing commander and brigadier general in June 1936 and took command of the First Wing of the General Headquarters Air Force at March Field, California. In March 1939 he was advanced to major general and took command of the General Headquarters Air Force at Langley Field, Virginia. That year he participated in a flight of B-17’s to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Brazil as a Republic. He was awarded the Order of Military Merit and the Order of the Southern Cross by the President of Brazil.</p>
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At this time he kept himself and his staff busy planning for the future, and in June 1940, Delos was ordered to England as the air member of a joint planning committee. The work of this committee aided in many important decisions and provided channels for future planning.</p>
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In October 1940, he was promoted to lieutenant general and moved his headquarters to Bolling Field, Washington, D.C. Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor, he was directed by General Marshall to proceed to Hawaii where he took command on 17 December. He had previously recommended the principle of unity of command in each theatre of operations. This policy was now put into cffect in Hawaii—General Emmons became the Military Governor General as well as Commanding General of the Hawaiian Department. In order to reestablish the pre-war degree of normality in Hawaii and in the course of coordinating his efforts with Central MacArthur, a considerable amount of flying over hostile Pacific waters was necessary. For these flights he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal. He also established close contact with Admiral Nimitz who proved to be a very understanding and cooperative commander as well as one of the great naval leaders of all time.</p>
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The General’s service during this period resuited in awards of the Distinguished Service Medal of the Army and of the Navy, and both Houses of the Legislature of Hawaii passed resolutions praising the conduct of his tours.</p>
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He was also instrumental in arranging for men of Japanese descent to be organized into units which eventually served in Europe with such distinction.</p>
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Upon his return from Hawaii, Emmons was ordered to conduct a series of inspections in Alaska, and of the Eighth Air Force in England. He also conferred with Generals Eisenhower, Spaatz, and Brereton in Africa. Following this assignment he was given command of the Western Defense Command on 1 September 1943. One of his major concerns here was the return to the West Coast of those people of Japanese, Italian, and German decent who were then being held in detention camps. For his service in this command he received the Legion of Merit.</p>
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In June 1944, he assumed command of the Alaskan Department, and for his two-year tour in Alaska he was awarded a second Distinguished Service Medal and another Legion of Merit.</p>
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In June 1946, he was directed to organize the Armed Forces Staff College, and opened it in 1947 with a staff of officers recruited from all over the world, he retired, for physical disability in line of duty, on 30 June 1948.</p>
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General Emmons’s research and planning during his earlier years paid handsome dividends and undoubtedly contributed to his rapid rise in the service of his country. Delos was a cautious operator and when not under pressure was a fine golf opponent and companion. His military specialties included duty as a command pilot, aircraft observer, and technical observer. He was also an expert with the rifle and pistol. The Air Force awarded him his fourth Distinguished Service Medal just before his retirement, forty-three years after donning his cadet uniform in 1905.</p>
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He is survived by his wife, Elena, and their daughter, Mrs. Hillyer Brown Jr., of Los Angeles. Elena’s current address in, Hillsborough, California, where the Emmonses lived since Delos’s retirement.</p>
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<em>—Arnold N. Krogstad '09</em></p>