“The issue is not war and peace, rather, how best to preserve our freedom.”

General Russell Elliott Dougherty (1920 to 2007)

Born in Glasgow, Kentucky, US Air Force General Dougherty was a graduate of Western Kentucky University and the Law School of the University of Louisville. After working for the FBI and serving in the Kentucky National Guard’s 123rd Cavalry, he entered active military service as an aviation cadet in the US Army Air Corps at the outbreak of WWII. In 1947, he served as a unit instructor with the Air Force Reserve at Standiford Field, Louisville, Ky.

A judge advocate in the late 1940s, he moved from the legal world to fly bombers and refuelers. His post-WWII assignments encompassed Air Force, joint and international operations, maintenance and administration as well as political/military and command duties. He retired from the Air Force 01 October 1977.