A Matter of Destiny

This is the story of a man who falls in love three weeks before leaving for flight training, the struggles of separation, and the Korean War -- all of which seem insurmountable odds for this young couple.

Gene Baldwin was born in Alabama and grew up in the small college town of Montevallo. He left Montevallo to attend High School at Gordon Military College, Barnesville, Georgia. Later he attended Montevallo University and Auburn University. He received his B.S. degree from Mississippi State University, his MBA degree from the University of Alabama. During these years he experienced the last of the great depression, the frenzy of World War 2, and the naivete of the 1950's.

He joined the United States Air Force in October 1950. His first assignment was as an Aviation Cadet, assigned to basic flight training at Perrin Air Force Base, Sherman, Texas. He completed Air Force advanced flight training and received his pilot wings at Vance Air Force Base, Oklahoma. Immediately after graduation, he completed jet transition at Moody Air Force Base in Valdosta, Georgia. At Moody, he flew the Air Force's first operational jet fighter, soloing in the F-80 "Shooting Star." Following jet transition he reported to all-weather intercept training at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida. There, he checked out in the F-94, the Air Force's first all-weather jet fighter. His orders, following training, took him to the 68th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at Itazuke, Japan. This squadron had the distinction of downing the first communist aircraft in the Korean war, flying the first interdiction missions of the war, and being the first all-weather jet squadron committed to combat. He spent twenty-five months in Korea and Japan flying missions as a fighter pilot during the Korean war.

When the Viet-Nam war was still in its initial phase, he served a short tour in Viet-Nam flying air assault missions in support of Special Forces. Operating out of Danang, his unit was the primary support of all Special Forces and American advisors assigned to the ARVN forces in the I Corps area. Other assignments in his twenty-one year career included tours of duty as Aide-de-Camp to the Commanding General of the 20th Air Division; Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies at Mississippi State University; Forward Air Controller with the 82nd Airborne Division; and Air Force Liaison Officer and instructor with the United States Army Infantry School, Fort Benning,Georgia. His final assignment was Base Executive Officer at Charleston Air Force Base, South Carolina.

Following retirement from the Air Force, he was the Curriculum and Instructional Standards Director at the Navy Supply Corps School. As the Academic Advisor with the Navy Supply Corps School, he developed and maintained training standards for twenty-seven courses taught at the school. These courses included officer and enlisted courses, and courses for foreign officers. He succeeded in getting the school accredited with the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. When measured against the required standards for accreditation, it was the first military school to attain the distinction of full accreditation with no recommendations made for improvements by the Commission on Occupational and Educational Institutions.

While assigned as Air Force Liaison Officer at Fort Benning, he wrote the Forward Air Controller Manual for the United States Army Infantry School, which was adopted as an Infantry field manual for close air support of ground forces. He has written curriculum for training students in three different services; three articles published in professional journals; and several contributed newspaper columns. Recently he contributed two vignettes for a book that chronicles growing up in a small Alabama town during the 1940's through the 1950's.

Gene, now retired in Athens, Georgia, with his wife Martha and his dog Nikko, spends his time gardening and writing.