Richard Ellis; Retired General Headed SAC

Retired Gen. Richard H. Ellis, a former head of the Strategic Air Command who also served as the Air Force’s vice chief of staff, has died of cancer.

Ellis, 69, died Tuesday at Andrews Air Force Base, Md.

After retiring from the Air Force in 1981, Ellis was named chief U.S. delegate to the U.S.-Soviet commission monitoring compliance with arms control agreements.

He had joined the military in September, 1941, as an aviation cadet at Maxwell Field, Ala., and received his commission and pilot wings in April, 1942. In World War II, he was assigned to the 3rd Bombardment Group in Australia, New Guinea and the Philippines, flying more than 200 combat missions.

After the war, he earned a law degree from the Dickinson School of Law in 1949, practicing in Wilmington, Del.

He was recalled to active duty in October, 1950, after the outbreak of the Korean War, and spent the next 31 years with the Air Force.

At the time of his retirement, Ellis had served four years (1977-81) as the commander-in-chief of the Strategic Air Command, the organization responsible for America’s land-based nuclear missile and bomber forces.

Before assuming that command, he worked as the commander-in-chief of U.S. Air Forces in Europe and before that, from November, 1973, to August, 1974, as the Air Force’s vice chief of staff.

He earned his fourth star and the rank of full general on Sept. 30, 1973.

A 1980 recipient of the Air Force Assn.’s highest honor, the H.H. Arnold Award, Ellis also had earned the Distinguished Service Cross; the Distinguished Service Medal with three oak leaf clusters; the Silver Star; the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters; the Distinguished Flying Cross; the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters, and the Purple Heart.