![]() ![]() General Gerard joined the New Jersey Air National Guard in April 1947. His professional military education includes Command and Staff College in 1956, National War College Defense Strategy Seminar in 19, Air War College orientation course in 19, National Security Management Course in 1971 and the ANG/USAFR Senior Officer Professional Military Education Course in 1980. He passed the New Jersey Bar examination the same year. By the end of the war, he shot down a total of eight aircraft, which earned him the Silver Star.Īfter the war, the General attended Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., and received his certificate of graduation from New Jersey’s John Marshall Law College in 1949. 11, 1944, Gerard fought and shot down four German fighters and damaged another fighter in a furious 12 minute dogfight that confirmed his Ace status. It was during a mission over Annaberg Germany on Sept. ![]() On August 30 of that year, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant and received his pilot’s rating at Craig Field, Selma, Ala.ĭuring World War II, he flew the P-51 Mustang while serving with the 8th Air Force and completed two combat tours.īy the end of the war and before he was 21, he had logged 420 combat hours in 91 missions. In October 1942, he enlisted in the United States Army Air Corps at 18 and on January 1, 1943, entered the Aviation Cadet Program. ![]() General Gerard was born on July 11, 1924, in Belleville, N.J., and graduated from Lyndhurst High School in 1941. Gerard commanded the New Jersey Army and Air National Guard from January 1982 to January 1990 during the administration of Governor Thomas Kean Jr. Gerard, the former Adjutant General of New Jersey, died on Saturday, Nov. ![]()
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