William L. “Billy” Mitchell - Milwaukee, WI - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Billy Mitchell was born into an affluent family of bankers, politicians and railroad magnates (his father would end up serving a term as Senator from Wisconsin). With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War, he joined the army and, through personal initiative, strong leadership skills and his father’s political influence, quickly rose through the ranks. During World War I, Mitchell, who had become fascinated with airplanes and who learned to fly largely on his own, was appointed Chief of Air Service.

After the war, Billy Mitchell became a tireless promoter of air power, especially as a separate military unit from the army and navy. He conducted several demonstrations of how air power alone could attack and sink battleships. With these widely publicized displays and a lot of public criticism of the defense departments, Mitchell often found himself at odds with the military leadership at that time who wanted their funding spent on conventional ground and sea forces.

Flamboyant and outspoken (and crazy, according to his first wife), Billy Mitchell so antagonized his superiors in the military that he was eventually court-martialed in 1925. But when you’re right, you’re right. Mitchell never bought into the idea that World War I was the “war to end all wars.” In the 1920s, he made the uncanny prediction that Japan would attack Pearl Harbor but didn’t live long enough to witness his prediction come true. And his importunity regarding the development of air power in the military eventually led to the creation of the U.S. Air Force. Today, Billy Mitchell is known as the “father of the U.S. Air Force.”

In 1999, Billy Mitchell appeared on a U.S. postage stamp along with his personal airplane: a French-built, two-seat SPAD XVI. This plane now belongs to the National Air and Space Museum and is displayed at the Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia. And for those who are interested, Mitchell was not the first court-martialed military officer to be honored on a postage stamp. In 1988, Navy Lt. Charles Wilkes, who was one of the first men to see the continent of Antarctica, was featured on a stamp. Wilkes was court-martialed not once but twice: first for mistreatment of his sailors, and later for his involvement in the notorious “Trent Affair.” (Source: Army.mil)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 12/29/1879 Date of death: 02/19/1936 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Monument Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: 7:30 am - 7:00 pm Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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