Aviation pioneer Carl A. Spaatz graduated from West Point in 1914 and served as a pilot in France in World War I. He rose to brigadier general in 1940 and to general in 1945. During World War II he commanded the US 8th Air Force and the US Strategic Air Forces in Europe, facilitating the ground invasion and liberation of western Europe. He was the first Chief of Staff of the newly independent US Air Force from 1947-48. Boyertown was his home.