The Harmon Memorial

HERITAGE MINUTE

Just to the west of the Cadet Chapel, concealed by a stand of pine trees, is a bronze statue honoring Lieutenant General Hubert Harmon, the first superintendent of the United States Air Force Academy. ----more----

The first graduating class — the Class of 1959 — dedicated the statue in 2009 during its 40-year reunion. Character, education and leadership are the values inscribed on the monument, and are meant to inspire future generations of cadets. Harmon was a graduate of the West Point Class of 1915, known as “the class the stars fell on” for its large contingent of general officers – 59 generals, or 36% of the class. Among his classmates were Dwight Eisenhower and Omar Bradley. Harmon served in combat roles during World War II and would spend many years advocating for an air academy. He served on two site selection commissions that would eventually propose Colorado Springs as the permanent site for the institution. Commission members considered 580 sites in 45 states before making their final recommendation. On August 14, 1954, General Harmon was appointed as the first superintendent of the Academy. He would retire from that role on July 27, 1956, and pass away on February 22, 1957, more than two years before the first class would graduate. In 1958, Harmon was the first individual buried in the Academy Cemetery, and the next year the Academy’s administration building was named in his honor. In 2004, as part of the Academy’s fifty-year anniversary, he was officially declared “The Father of the Air Force Academy.”

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