Freddie L. Poston

Who is Freddie L. Poston?

Freddie Lee Poston was an American lieutenant general who was chief of staff, United States Pacific Command, Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii. Poston is responsible to the commander in chief Pacific for management of key military staff activities requiring coordinated Air Force, Navy, Army and Marine Corps operations throughout the Pacific Command. The Pacific Command is the United States' largest unified command, encompassing some 100 million square miles from the West Coast of the Americas to the east coast of Africa and from the arctic to the Antarctic.

Poston was born in 1925, in Jacksonville, Florida. He graduated from the Air Command and Staff College at Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama, in 1962 and the National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in 1970.

His military service began in February 1943 when he enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Forces as an aviation cadet. He received his pilot wings and commission as a second lieutenant in March 1945. He then attended combat crew fighter and gunnery training at Victoria, Texas, until his release from active duty in October 1945.

He was recalled to active duty in October 1950, and in March 1951 was sent to Korea where he flew 100 combat missions with the 8th Fighter-Bomber Wing.