Earl Maxwell – Brigadier General, United States Air Force

BRIGADIER GENERAL EARL MAXWELL
Retired, Died Jan. 4, 1988

Earl Maxwell was born in Sparta, Illinois, in 1904 where he graduated from high school in 1922. Receiving his doctor of medicine degree from Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri, in June 1928, he was commissioned a First Lieutenant in the Medical Reserves on June 5, 1928 and assigned to active duty. After completing internship
at the station hospital at Fort Sam Houston, Texas, he received his Regular commission as a First Lieutenant in the Medical Corps on August 1, 1929.

General Maxwell graduated from the Army Medical School and the Medical Field Service School in 1930 and from the School of Aviation Medicine in 1932. Rated a flight surgeon on August 11, 1932, he became assistant chief of the eye, ear, nose and throat service at the station hospital at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

Going to the Panama Canal Zone in September 1936, the General joined the staff at Gorgas Hospital as assistant in the eye, ear, nose and throat clinic. Returning to the United States in September 1939, he was assigned as chief of the eye, nose and throat service at the station hospital at Barksdale Field, Lousiana, and the following month assumed command of the station hospital at Savannah Army Air Base, Savannah, Georgia.

In August 1942 General Maxwell became chief theater surgeon for the U.S. Armed Forces in the Pacific Area. Named commanding general of the 332nd Hospital Center on Okinawa in December 1944, the next September he served as chief surgeon of the U.S. Army Service Command at Yokohama, Japan.

Joining Army Air Force headquarters, Washington, D.C., in March 1946, the general was assigned temporary duty in the Office of the Air Surgeon. He joined the staff at Letterman General Hospital in San Francisco, California, in July 1946 to serve as chief of the eye, ear, nose and throat service.

Assigned to Air Force headquarters in September 1950, General Maxwell was designated chief of the Clinical Medical Division and in February 1951 was appointed acting director of professional services in the Office of the Surgeon General of the Air Force, becoming director of professional services the following July.

In August 1953 General Maxwell was transferred to Alaska as surgeon of the Alaskan Air Command. Relieved of this assignment on September 1, 1956, he was assigned duty as chief, Medical Division, director of readiness and materiel inspection, with the 1002nd Inspector General Group, Norton Air Force Base, San Bernardino, California.

His decorations include the Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster and the Air Medal. He is rated a flight surgeon.

Michael Robert Patterson

Michael Robert Patterson was born in Arlington and is the son of a former officer of the US Army. So it was no wonder that sooner or later his interests drew him to American history and especially to American military history. Many of his articles can be found on renowned portals like the New York Times, Washingtonpost or Wikipedia.

Reviewed by: Michael Howard