James T. Callaghan; Gulf War General

Air Force Lt. Gen. James T. Callaghan, 62, who directed allied air operations during the Persian Gulf War. The Chicago native graduated from the University of Detroit, earned a master’s from George Washington University and graduated from the U.S. Naval War College Command and Staff School and the National War College. His military career spanned 34 years and included flying 435 combat missions, holding Pentagon and United Nations appointments and serving as president of the Air Force Institute of Technology at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. During the Gulf War, the three-star general was southern commander of NATO’s allied air forces. He flew an F-16 the night before the war began to ensure his pilots were using safe equipment. He earned the Silver Star, the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Bronze Star. After his military retirement in 1993, Callaghan worked as director of World War II programs at Curtis Publishing Co., consulted for a television station and managed two aviation companies. On Feb. 15 in Indianapolis of complications from a brain tumor.