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/* Military, 1935-1957 */Spelling/Grammar Check, typos fixed: Reconaissance → Reconnaissance (2), a until → an until
'''David Wade''' (June 15, 1911 - May 11, 1990) was a decorated [[United States|American]] lieutenant general from three wars who after military retirement on March 1, 1967, served in two appointed positions in the state government of his native [[Louisiana]]. The David Wade Correctional Center, a prison in Claiborne Parish in north Louisiana, is named in his honor.
==Background==
Wade was born in [[Minden, Louisiana|Minden]], the seat of Webster Parish, which had been created in 1871 from Claiborne Parish. He was reared in the Holly Springs community, known today primarily for a [[Baptist]] church and a cemetery located off U.S. Highway 79 between Minden and Homer, the seat of Claiborne Parish. He attended the former Harris High School, the former Homer Junior College, and procured the Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from [[Louisiana Tech University]] in Ruston in Lincoln Parish. He entered the [[United States Army]] and served thereafter in [[World War II]], the [[Korean War]], and the [[Vietnam War]].<ref name=exhibit>David Wade exhibit, [[Herbert S. Ford Memorial Museum]], Homer, Louisiana</ref>
==Military, 1935-1957==
In February 1935, Wade launched what became a 32-year military career when he enlisted as a cadet in the United States Army Air Corps, the forerunner of the [[United States Air Force]] . He underwent pilot training at Randolph Field in [[San Antonio]], [[Texas]]. He was a pilot until November 1941, when he was named assistant director and then direcor of training at the U.S. Army base in Big Spring in Howard County in West Texas, a position that he retained until October 1943. For that point forward, Wade was constantly reassigned to different locations by the Army and later the Air Force. In the fall of 1943, he assumed new duties as commanding officer of the 34th Combat Crew Training School and then the 9th Reconaissance Reconnaissance Wing in Blythe, [[California]], and Walla Walla, [[Washington]], respectively, until March 1945. At that time, Wade became deputy commander of the 320th Air Expeditionary Wing in [[Sacramento]], California.<ref name=bio>{{cite web|url=http://www.af.mil/information/bios/bio.asp?bioid=7485|title=Lieutenant General David Wade|publisher=[[United States Air Force]] Military Information Biographies|accessdate=June 10, 2012}}</ref>
In August 1945, Wade began a 26-month tour of duty in the South Pacific Theater. He was the commander of the 9th Reconnaisance Reconnaissance Wing in the Marianas Islands and the [[Philippines]] until April 1947. At that time, for seven months he commanded the 19th Operations Group on [[Guam]]. He returned to the United States in November 1947 and entered the Joint Forces Staff College at [[Norfolk]], [[Virginia]]. He graduated from the staff college in July 1948 and Wade was named the vice commander of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Brooks Air Force Base, once more based in San Antonio, Texas, where he remained until June 1950. Then Wade returned to California to become the deputy commander of the 93d Air-Ground Operations Wing at Castle Air Force Base near [[San Francisco]].<ref name=bio/>
In April 1951, Wade was sent to [[Japan]] to command the 98th Range Wing|98th Bombardment Wing. He selected the targets in the strategic bombing of [[Communism|communist]] [[North Korea]]. He remained in Japan until September 1951, when he assumed the command of the 303d Bombardment Group at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base in [[Tucson]], [[Arizona]]. On February 18, 1952, he was named commander of the 92d Air Refueling Wing at Fairchild Air Force Base near [[Spokane]], Washington. Nine months later he took command of the 57th Air Division at Fairchild AFB. In April 1954, Wade was named commander of the 21st Air Division with headquarters at Forbes Air Force Base near [[Topeka]], [[Kansas]]. He remained there a full year, when he was reassigned as inspector general at the headquarters of the [[Strategic Air Command]] at Offutt Air Force Base near [[Omaha]], [[Nebraska]]. In July 1956, he was promoted to SAC chief of staff.<ref name=bio/>
==Military, 1958-1967==
On January 1, 1958, Wade was assigned as commander of the 1st Missile Division at Vandenberg Air Force Base near Lompoc, California. Here he commanded the first operational missile unit in Air Force history. His commission was two-fold: (1) maintain operational capability with [[intercontinental ballistic missile]]s, and (2) establish operational readiness training for the missile crews of the SAC missile sites. He hence played a role in the development of Discoverer, Samos, and Midas orbiting [[satellite]] programs. From Vandenberg, General Wade was sent in April 1961 to Tórrejon Air Base near [[Madrid]], [[Spain]], where he commanded SAC's 16th Air Expeditionary Task Force.<ref name=bio/>
He received his promotion to lieutenant general on August 1, 1963 and assumed command of SAC's Second Air Force with headquarters then at [[Barksdale Air Force Base]] in Bossier City, some fifty miles west of his hometown of Homer, Louisiana.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.shreveporttimes.com/article/99999999/BARKSDALEWARRIOR/80124016/Barksdale-commanders|title=Barksdale Commanders, January 25, 2008|publisher=''Shreveport Times''|accessdate=June 10, 2012}}</ref>
After three years at Barksdale, Wade on August 1, 1966, assumed the command of the Eighth Air Force at Westover Air Reserve Base near Springfield, [[Massachusetts]]. As the commander at Westover, he was responsiible for bombers, tankers, and missiles located south from Goose Bay in Labrador, Canada, to Ramey Air Force Base in Aguadilla, [[Puerto Rico]], and extending westward from Loring Air Force Base in Aroostook County, [[Maine]], to Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base near Clinton, [[Oklahoma]]. Wade received the Legion of Merit with Oak leaf cluster, [[Distinguished Flying Cross]], Soldier's Medal, Air Medal with oak leaf cluster and the Air Force Commendation Medal.<ref name=bio/> ==Post-military years== After his military retirement, Governor [[John J. McKeithen]] named Wade in 1967 as the director of the Louisiana Department of Public Safety and Corrections, with authority over both state police and prisons. From 1968 to 1972, he was the adjutant general of the Louisiana National Guard.<ref name=exhibit/>
Wade died in 1990 at the age of seventy-eight. He and his wife, Dorothy, who is also since deceased, donated memorabilita to the [[Herbert S. Ford Museum]] in Homer, Louisiana, which he considered to have been his hometown. On display are the general's portrait, flags, medals, and awards as well as various weapons from [[World War I]] to the Vietnam era, including a World War II "Liberator," a rare pistol meant to be discarded after a single use.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.claiborneone.org/ford/exhibits.html|title=The David Wade Military Room|publisher=claiborneone.org|accessdate=June 10, 2012}}</ref>
==References==
