GENERAL IRA C. EAKER - TYPED LETTER SIGNED 01/03/1977 - HFSID 24148

IRA C. EAKER
Air Force Lieutenant General Ira C. Eaker signed this typed letter in 1977 to express his regret that he can't attend the recipient's 100th birthday. Eaker was 80 years old when he signed this.
Typed Letter signed: "Ira C Eaker". Pencil notations on verso in unknown hand. 1 page, 7¼x10½, on his personalized stationery. Jan. 3, 1977. Addressed to Col. Lucas Shaler, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. In full: "Colonel Shaler: I deeply regret that I was not privileged to join your family and friends in celebrating your One Hundredth Birthday on December 2, 1976. Congratulations on having arrived at this remark-able centennial. I can appreciate your accomplish-ment all the more for on April 13, 1976, I arrived at my eightieth year. So, a junior extends admira-tion and best wishes to a senior. We who were born in an earlier century are rapidly becoming distinc-tive for that fact alone. What remarkable things we have witnessed in our history and the history of the world! Who would ever have thought that we should live to see man walk on the moon! Admiration and every good wish, Sincerely, Ira C. Eaker Lt. Gen., USAF (Ret.)".EAKER (1896-1987) made the first transcontinental flight purely on instruments (1936). During WWII, he personally led the first U. S. B-17 bomber strike against German occupation forces in France, the bombing of Rouen, Aug. 17, 1942. In June 1944, after being transferred to the Mediterranean, he flew the first bombing raid from Italy into Germany, landing in the Soviet Union after striking factory and oil installations and other military targets. In 1944, he was named Commander of the Mediterranean Allied Air Forces. In 1970, Eaker was enshrined in the National Aviation Hall of Fame. Adhesive residue and paper loss along left edge. Folds and creases (not near signature). Otherwise in fine condition.