Hans Helmuth Driessnack – Lieutenant General, United States Air Force

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LIEUTENANT GENERAL HANS H. DRIESSNACK
Retired July 1, 1983.   Died Oct. 16, 2006

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Lieutenant General Hans H. Driessnack was Assistant Vice Chief of Staff,  Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. He also serves as senior Air Force  representative, U.S. Delegation to the Military Staff Committee, United Nations.

General Driessnack was born in Yonkers, New York, in 1927, and graduated from  Charles E. Gorton High School in 1945. He received a bachelor of science degree  in civil engineering from Syracuse (New York) University in 1951 and a master’s degree in business administration from the Air Force Institute of Technology, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, in 1959. He graduated from Squadron  Officer School in 1956, and Air Command and Staff College in 1963, both located  at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama; the Naval War College, Newport, Rhode Island, in 1970;  and the advanced management program of the Harvard Graduate School of Business  Administration in 1971.

He entered active duty through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps program and  was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force in March 1951. The General served as base civil engineering officer until October 1952, when he entered pilot training at Goodfellow Air Force Base, Texas.

In March 1953 after completion of combat crew training at Pinecastle (now McCoy)  Air Force Base, Florida, General Driessnack left for South Korea where he served as  a fighter pilot and flight commander with the 428th Fighter-Bomber Squadron, flying 25 combat missions.

From March 1954 to March 1955, General Driessnack was assigned to the 517th  Strategic Fighter Squadron at Malmstrom Air Force Base, Montana, as a fighter pilot. He was reassigned on base to the 407th Strategic Fighter Wing as a pilot  and wing maintenance control officer. While assigned to Malmstrom General  Driessnack performed two three-month periods of temporary duty, the first with  the Far East Air Forces and the other in Alaska.

The General entered the Air Force Institute of Technology in February 1958.  After graduation in September 1959, he remained at Wright-Patterson and worked  as a research and development staff officer and program control officer in the  C-133 and C-141 System Program Offices at the Aeronautical Systems Division. In  September 1962 he entered Air Command and Staff College.

 In July 1963 General Driessnack transferred to Headquarters Air Force Systems  Command, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, and was assigned to the Office of the  Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller, as a research and development officer in the Management Systems Development Division.

From May 1964 to June 1968, he was a management system specialist in the Office  of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force (Financial Management). He then  returned to Air Force Systems Command headquarters as chief, Cost Information  and Management System Division, in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff,  Comptroller.

In August 1969 he entered the Naval War College and after graduation in July  1970 he returned to the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Comptroller,  Headquarters Air Force Systems Command, as director of cost analysis. From  August 1972 to August 1974, General Driessnack served a second tour of duty at  Wright-Patterson Air Force Base as comptroller for the Aeronautical Systems Division.

The general was named deputy chief of staff, comptroller, for Headquarters Air  Force systems Command in August 1974. In May 1976 he become deputy chief of  staff, procurement and production there. He was appointed director of budget,  Office of the Comptroller of the Air Force, Headquarters U.S. Air Force in  December 1976 and in August 1978 he was appointed comptroller of the Air Force. He assumed his last duties in July 1981.

His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with oak leaf cluster, Air Force Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters,  Presidential Unit Citation emblem, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon, Air  Force Organizational Excellence Award ribbon and the Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation emblem.

He was promoted to Lieutenant General August 22, 1978, with same date of rank.

His hometown is Yonkers, New York.

HANS HELMUTH DRIESSNACK (Age 79)
Lieutenant General, USAF (Ret.)

Of Potomac Falls, Virignia, died Monday, October 16, 2006, in Leesburg, Virginia.

Born on August 11, 1927, in Yonkers, New York, he was the son of the late Richard Curt Driessnack and the late Meta Katherine (Dohrmann) Driessnack. General Driessnack is survived by his wife, Gloria Mogel Driessnack, of Potomac Falls, VA; four children, Trina Driessnack Tyrer of Falls Church, VA, Martha Driessnack of Des Moines, IA, ColonelCharles H. Driessnack, US Army, of Huntsville, Alabama, and John D. Driessnack of Woodbridge, Virginia; one brother, Richard Driessnack of Conway, South Carolina; one sister, F. Carolyn Driessnack of Yonkers, New York; and 14 grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Community Lutheran Church on Sunday, October 22, 2006, at 3 p.m. with the Rev. Marcia Cox officiating. Funeral services will be held at the Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, Virginia, on Thursday, December 14, 2006, at 11 a.m. Interment will follow at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA, with Full Military Honors. Donations may be made in his memory to Falcon’s Landing Benevolent Fund (for nursing scholarships), 20522 Falcon’s Landing Circle, Potomac Falls, Virginia 20165.

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