Item:
ONJR22JWTX079

Original U.S. Vietnam War Era US Air Force General Curtis LeMay 14k Gold Sheaffer Fountain Pen With Base

Item Description

Original Item: One-Of-A-Kind. Curtis Emerson LeMay was an American Air Force general who implemented a controversial strategic bombing campaign in the Pacific theater of World War II. He later served as Chief of Staff of the U.S. Air Force, from 1961 to 1965.

LeMay joined the U.S. Army Air Corps, the precursor to the U.S. Air Force, in 1929 while studying civil engineering at Ohio State University. He had risen to the rank of major by the time of Japan's Attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941 and the United States' subsequent entry into World War II. He commanded the 305th Operations Group from October 1942 until September 1943, and the 3rd Air Division in the European theater of World War II until August 1944, when he was transferred to the China Burma India Theater. He was then placed in command of strategic bombing operations against Japan, planning and executing a massive fire bombing campaign against Japanese cities and Operation Starvation, a crippling minelaying campaign in Japan's internal waterways.

After the war, he was assigned to command USAF Europe and coordinated the Berlin airlift. He served as commander of the Strategic Air Command (SAC) from 1948 to 1957, where he presided over the transition to an all-jet aircraft force that had a strong emphasis on the delivery of nuclear weapons in the event of war. As Chief of Staff of the Air Force, he called for the bombing of Cuban missile sites during the Cuban Missile Crisis and sought a sustained bombing campaign against North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

After retiring from the Air Force in 1965, LeMay agreed to serve as Governor George Wallace's running mate on the American Independent Party ticket in the 1968 United States presidential election. The ticket won 13.5% of the popular vote, a strong tally for a third party campaign, but the Wallace campaign came to see LeMay as a liability. After the election, LeMay retired to his home in Newport Beach, California, and died in 1990 at age 83.

During the bank panic of 1873, Walter A. Sheaffer’s father, Jacob, had no alternative but to sell his jewelry store, and faced with virtual poverty, eleven year old Walter went to work. By 1889 Walter had earned enough cash to buy his own jewelry store in Fort Madison, Iowa. Walter moved to Iowa with his wife and two children, altered the history and economy for Fort Madison, and the fountain pen industry forever. In 1907, Walter A. Sheaffer used his jeweler expertise and aimed to create a device which would allow users to fill a pen with ink much easier, cleaner and aesthetically-pleasing. In 1912, Walter A. Sheaffer, dedicated his life savings to his idea of a pen-filling apparatus that initiates a lever system.

By the 1930’s, Sheaffer pens had solidified itself as a leader in the luxury pen market. The fountain pens were advertised as the pen that “fills instantly from any ink-well, with one touch of a finger.” Throughout the years they maintained the desire for excellence and set forth expectations that provided customers with a fine-writing instrument a step above the rest. Instantly, Sheaffer became a household name and a must-have product in American homes.

This Sheaffer fountain pen and base was more than likely presented to General LeMay as a gift, where it would sit on his office desk for many years. The nib on the pen is 14k gold and still in lovely, untarnished condition. The 7 ½” x 4 ⅞” base is black stone and pairs very well with the gold colored pen holder and the gold colored name plate. The name plate reads as GENERAL / CURTIS E. LEMAY with the Air Force crest above.

The condition is exceptional with all details still present. The green felt base on the bottom is still complete, soft and ready to continue doing the job of protecting your desk from scratches!

This is a very unique item that comes ready for display!

LeMay became a pursuit pilot with his first duty station at Selfridge Field with the 27th Pursuit Squadron. After having served in various assignments in fighter operations, LeMay transferred to bomber aircraft in 1937. While stationed in Hawaii, he became one of the first members of the Air Corps to receive specialized training in aerial navigation. In August 1937, as navigator under pilot and commander Caleb V. Haynes on a Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress, he helped locate the battleship Utah despite being given the wrong coordinates by Navy personnel, in exercises held in misty conditions off California, after which the group of B-17s bombed it with water bombs. In March 1938, LeMay as a member of the 2nd Bombardment Group participated in a goodwill flight to Buenos Aires. For this flight, the 2nd Bombardment Group was awarded the Mackay Trophy in 1939. For Haynes again, in May 1938 he navigated three B-17s 620 nmi (710 mi; 1,150 km) over the Atlantic Ocean to intercept the Italian liner SS Rex to illustrate the ability of land-based airpower to defend the American coasts. In 1940 he was navigator for Haynes on the prototype Boeing XB-15 heavy bomber, flying a survey from Panama over the Galapagos islands. By the end of 1940, he was stationed at Westover Air Reserve Base, as the operations officer of the 34th Bombardment Group. War brought rapid promotion and increased responsibility.

When his crews were not flying missions, they were subjected to relentless training, as LeMay believed that training was the key to saving their lives. "You fight as you train" was one of his cardinal rules. It expressed his belief that, in the chaos, stress, and confusion of combat (aerial or otherwise), troops or airmen would perform successfully only if their individual acts were second nature, performed nearly instinctively due to repetitive training. Throughout his career, LeMay was widely and fondly known among his troops as "Old Iron Pants", and the "Big Cigar".

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