United States Air Force General. He was the father and architect of the Air Force's space and missile programs. Born in Bremen, Germany, he emigrated to the United States at age 7. Commissioned a second lieutenant in the Army Air Corps in 1933, he served in the Pacific during World War II with the 19th Bomb Group, taking part in the Bismarck Archipelago, Leyte, Luzon, Papua, North Solomon, South Philippine and Ryukyu Island campaigns. Toward the end of World War II he was commanding officer of Far East Air Service Command's advanced headquarters supporting theater operations from bases in Hollandia, New Guinea, the Philippines and Okinawa. After the war he was assigned as Chief of the Scientific Liaison Section under the Deputy Chief of Staff for Materiel, Army Air Force headquarters where he linked ongoing research and development efforts with long-range military planning. In 1957, the same year the Soviet Union launched the Sputnik satellite, his research and development experience led to an appointment as commander of the Western Development Division and the task of developing the intercontinental ballistic missile. The Air Force responded to Sputnik by launching Discovery One into orbit February 28, 1959. With his handpicked military and industrial team he developed and deployed the Atlas, Thor, Titan and Minuteman ballistic missile systems, considered by many to be an incredible achievement that led directly to the United States mastery of space; it brought him broad public recognition and the cover of "Time" magazine's April 1, 1957, issue. Became commander of the Air Force Research & Development Command in 1957 (later Air Force Systems Command) and retired in 1966 from that assignment as a four-star general. Subsequently continued his service to the government as a member of the President's Foreign Intelligence Advisory Board, the Defense Science Board, and the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Advisory Committee. In 1999 he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal. He is the only person to have a military installation named after him during his lifetime, Schriever Air Force Base, near Colorado Springs, Colorado.