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<em>Richard William “Dick” Masson</em> was born in New York City to Carl and Peggy Masson, and he and his sister Laurie spent their childhood in Forest Hills, NY. Greatly influenced by his mother, Dick’s early life was dedicated to art, music, and acting. He took violin lessons in Carnegie Hall, acting and elocution lessons, appeared in Peter Pan, and earned his actor’s equity card. Being of Polish descent, Dick studied the Polish language, folk dances, and other traditions; he could dance a truly great polka.</p>
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Dick’s real passion was baseball, and, much to his mother’s chagrin, his violins mysterious­ly kept breaking. When a broken finger from baseball ended his violin career, the violin was replaced by a trumpet, which was more to Dick’s liking. He still needed encouragement, however, so his mother arranged for him to meet with his baseball heroes if he continued music lessons. The incentive worked, and his autographed picture of the Boston Red Sox remained a prized possession. His devotion to baseball remained firm; he was always ready for a trip to Camden Yards to see the Orioles. A game, a hot dog, a beer, and the sheer joy of being at the ballpark, was a perfect day. He could spout baseball statistics and loved to de­bate the relative merits of great players.</p>
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Dick graduated from Grover Cleveland High School in Glendale, NY, and attended Staunton Preparatory School before entering West Point, where he made many lifelong friendships, participated in the Glee Club, Catholic choir, handball, Spanish, ski, and debate clubs. He also started dating Greta Nilsson, who would later become his wife and loving partner for life.</p>
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After graduation, Dick traded West Point gray for Air Force blue—he longed to fly airplanes. He completed basic pilot training in Malden, MO, and had just five days to return to New York to marry Greta before re­porting to Laredo, TX, for basic jet training. Greta pinned on his wings and they went to James Connally AFB. There, Dick flew T-29s and earned his master’s degree from Baylor University. Children Richard William Jr. and Lisa Anne were born in Texas. Dick was then selected to teach at the Air Force Academy.</p>
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Dick found military life with a new fam­ily challenging and exciting. He loved the demands and was delighted to teach politi­cal science at the Academy. He was a natural leader and enjoyed interacting with the ca­dets. He also served as the Superintendent’s personal pilot, accumulating hundreds of flying hours. Dick and Greta taught their children to ski and bought a condominium in Breckenridge. They spent many happy weekends, winter and summer, in the beauti­ful mountains. In 1999, a year before Dick died, the family returned for a memorable week with three generations skiing together on the slopes.</p>
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In 1967, while serving as a C-130 in­structor pilot with the 346th Tactical Airlift Squadron, Dick received orders for Southeast Asia. He flew combat missions and served as chief airlift controller, supporting Marines near the DMZ following the Tet Offensive. In 1969, he reported to the Pentagon as a plans and policy action officer, and attended the Naval War College.</p>
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At the War College, Dick participated in the Advanced Research Program. His work was highly praised by War College president, ADM Stansfield Turner, who sent Dick’s work to all departments and military services of DOD and named Dick a distin­guished graduate.</p>
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Next, Dick commanded the 40th TAS Squadron at Pope AFB, unified the squad­ron and attained his command pilot status. He chaired two U.S.-Greece committees for the State Department Bureau of Political-Military Affairs in Washington, DC, negoti­ating U.S. military operating rights in Greece and subsequently served as the division chief of Middle East plans and policy, where he developed U.S. aircraft sales to Saudi Arabia, Iran, Jordan, Egypt, and Israel. At the National War College, he taught national se­curity studies and was department chairman of domestic studies. Dick was selected as chief of the Soviet Union division, directorate of estimates, Defense Intelligent Agency before his last active duty assignment as executive of­ficer to the deputy chief of staff for operations and plans, and senior U.S. Air Force planner for the chief of national security matters. In 1985, he retired after 30 years of service.</p>
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Dick received two Legions of Merit, a Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Three Meritorious Service Medals, Air Medal, two Air Force Commendation Medals, an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal, and Viet Nam Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters.</p>
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In retirement, Dick joined IPAC, a Sears World Trade company, where he developed DOD-financed military sales with foreign governments. He also served as director of government affairs for Lake Aircraft, Inc. In 1994, he retired a second time to spend time with his family and to dote on his children and grandchildren. He was a member of the Army-Navy CC and an avid tennis player. Dick relished weekly tennis matches and the political banter at lunch with former Air Force Academy cohorts.</p>
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Those who knew and loved Dick remem­ber him as a superb Air Force officer and aviator with splendid military and leader­ship skills. To know Dick was to like him; he was never too busy to help someone in need. The world will continue in his absence, but it will be clearly somewhat less as a result of his untimely leaving all of us who knew, cared, and most importantly, loved him. He was an outgoing and loveable son, brother, husband, father, and grandfather. We are grateful to God for allowing us to share Dick’s life while he graced us with his love and generous at­tention to our concerns. We know that Dick now reposes peacefully in the fellowship of the Lord. Dick was laid to rest on a warm, sunny September day, surrounded by his lov­ing family, classmates, friends, and neighbors. Be Thou At Peace.</p>
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<em>Family, friends, and classmates</em></p>