(USAF Bio)

Major General Thomas M. Sadler is commander, 21st Air Force, with headquarters at McGuire Air Force Base, N.J. It is one of three numbered air forces in the Military Airlift Command. The 21st Air Force exercises operational control of a geographical area from the Mississippi River east to Europe and ending on the western borders of Afghanistan and Pakistan.



General Sadler was born in 1925, in Canton, Ohio. His family later moved to Montgomery, Ala., where he graduated from high school in 1943. The general earned a bachelor of science degree from Syracuse (N.Y.) University in 1965, and a master's degree from The George Washington University, Washington, D.C., in 1970. He also completed Squadron Officer School at Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and the National War College, Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C.



He entered the Army Air Corps in August 1943 and was assigned in the European theater of operations as a B-17 nose gunner. General Sadler flew 35 combat missions with the 8th Air Force's 92nd Bombardment Group. He was discharged in December 1945 and attended the University of Alabama until August 1948.



Returning to active duty in October 1948, the general entered the aviation cadet program at Waco, Texas. He graduated from advanced flying school and was commissioned a second lieutenant in September 1949. His first operational assignment was with Tactical Air Command's 50th Troop Carrier Squadron at Sewart Air Force Base, Tenn., as a C-119 pilot. From June 1950 to August 1951, General Sadler served in South Korea where he flew 300 combat missions. He then returned to the 50th Troop Carrier Squadron at Sewart Air Force Base. In 1955 he transferred to Evreux Air Base, France, where he served with the 317th Troop Carrier Wing. While there he was commander of the 317th Tactical Command Post.



General Sadler again returned to Sewart Air Force Base in April 1959 where he served as a C-130 flight commander with the 774th Troop Carrier Squadron. In May 1961 he transferred to Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., as an instructor in the Tactical Air Command Joint Air Ground Operations School. During the Cuban crisis in 1962, General Sadler was assigned to the Tactical Air Command advanced echelon at Homestead Air Force Base, Fla.



From December 1962 to January 1965, he was assigned to Headquarters Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., as an operations staff officer. During 1965 he attended the University of Syracuse under the Bootstrap program. Following graduation in October 1965, General Sadler again was assigned to the 317th Troop Carrier Wing, which was at Lockbourne Air Force Base, Ohio.



The general went to the Republic of Vietnam in January 1966 and served for a year with the 1st Cavalry Division (Airmobile) as an air liaison officer and forward air controller, flying 0-1s. He spent another six months in the Republic of Vietnam as an air liaison officer with the 834th Air Division where he developed and organized the emergency airlift system and tactical airlift liaison officer operations for 7th Air Force.



In August 1967 General Sadler returned to the United States and was assigned to Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C., as chief of the Special Air Force Branch, Tactical and Airlift Forces Division, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Plans and Operations. From July 1969 to July 1970, he was a student at the National War College. While there he also obtained his master's degree from The George Washington University. After graduation he returned to Lockbourne Air Force Base as vice commander of the 317th Tactical Airlift Wing.



General Sadler transferred to Rhein-Main Air Base, Germany, in August 1971 as commander of the 322nd Tactical Airlift Wing until January 1974. He was then named commander of the 437th Military Airlift Wing at Charleston Air Force Base, S.C., where he remained until March 1975 when he become chief of security police at Air Force headquarters. General Sadler assumed his present command in August 1977.



A command pilot with more than 9,360 flying hours, he is credited with more than 400 combat missions in World War II, Korea and Southeast Asia. His military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Medal, Silver Star, Legion of Merit with oak leaf cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Air Medal with 15 oak leaf clusters, Air Force Commendation Medal, Purple Heart and the Italian Solidarity Star, 1st degree.



He was promoted to major general July 1, 1975, with date of rank Oct. 1, 1972.



General Sadler retired from the USAF in 1983

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When he retired an Air Force major general in 1983, Tom Sadler had spent 37 years in the military and was the country’s only active duty general who’d flown more than 400 combat missions in three wars – during World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars.



That earned him a chestful of medals.



Sadler came to Charlotte in 1983 to run an aviation company, which he left after five years. In 1991, he became something of a local folk hero during the first Persian Gulf War, analyzing war tactics – and spouting his conservative views – in his Alabama twang for listeners of a popular morning radio show hosted by Johnny “John Boy” Isley and his sidekick Billy James.



But where he perhaps found his greatest joy and passion was running for nearly 25 years the Speedway Children’s Charities, a charity based at Speedway Motorsports Inc.’s eight tracks that has raised millions since 1982 and helped more than 300,000 needy children.



Monday, Sadler, who fought his first war as a teenaged nose gunner on a B-17 bomber during World War II, died in Mount Pleasant, S.C., at an assisted living facility. He was 90. Funeral services are scheduled for Monday at Charlotte’s Calvary Church.



“He had more medals than (Gen. Douglas) MacArthur, but he never bragged about it,” said Humpy Wheeler, former president of Speedway Motorsports. “We’d be at dinner and I’d say, ‘Come on, Tom, you got to tell us some war stories,’ and he’d refuse to embellish anything.”



“Tom was just a fabulous, very generous, man with a big human heart.”



According to the U.S. Air Force website, Sadler was born in 1925 in Canton, Ohio, but his family moved to Montgomery, Ala., where he finished high school in 1943.



World War II was raging when he graduated and Sadler joined the Army Air Corps three months later, assigned to the European theater in a B-17. He flew 35 missions with the 8th Air Force’s 92nd Bombardment Group.



Honorably discharged in December 1945, Sadler enrolled at the University of Alabama, but in October 1948 returned to active duty and became a pilot. In 14 months during the Korean War, he flew 300 combat missions in a P-51 fighter plane. In January 1966, he was sent to Vietnam, where he flew “scout” planes rooting out enemy troops.



That would be his last war, but not the end to his military career. In August, 1971, he was assigned as commander of the 322nd Tactical Air Wing at Rhein-Main Air Base in Germany until 1974, and then commanded an airlift wing in Charleston.



He retired from the Air Force in October 1983, a command pilot with more than 9,300 flying hours.



We’d be at dinner and I’d say, ‘Come on, Tom, you got to tell us some war stories and he’d refuse to embellish anything.’ Tom was just a fabulous, very generous, man with a big human heart.



Humpy Wheeler, former president of Speedway Motorsports Inc.



Soon he and wife Mary, known as “Miss Ken” (she died 2008), were moving their two children to Charlotte where Sadler ran an aviation company and immediately got involved in the city’s civic scene – in Rotary, the Boy Scouts and Operation Christmas Child.



A year before he arrived, Bruton Smith, Speedway Motors executive chairman, and then-wife Bonnie had started the Speedway Children’s Charities at the Charlotte Motor Speedway to honor their infant daughter who died in a crib accident, Wheeler said.



In 1989, Smith persuaded Sadler to grow the charity.



“He did that every day he worked for me,” Smith said. “Gen. Sadler often said, ‘When you look into the eyes of a child in need, you’re looking into the eyes of God.’ He was incredibly dedicated to making a difference for kids who may not have been able to help themselves.”



He was a pilot who became a NASCAR fan, He became a fixture in the garage, respected by many of the drivers who knew his military credentials.



Under Sadler’s guidance, the charity grew to Speedway Motorsports’ other seven tracks. Since its beginning, the charity has raised nearly $50 million, said Don Hawk, the company’s senior vice president for business affairs. “Bruton Smith and Tom Sadler did it because they love kids,” Hawk said.



Much of the money has been raised at the charity’s annual ball on the Thursday before the Coca-Cola 600 race each May in Charlotte.



Sadler always came in his Air Force formal mess dress uniform with the left chest of his jacket dripping in medals.



“On that night, he was the general,” Wheeler said. “I’d say, ‘Boss, you missed one of those medals,’ and he’d just grumble and wave me away. He was a humble man and a complete joy to be with.”