Nathan Bedford Forrest III

Nathan Bedford Forrest III (April 6, 1905 – June 13, 1943) was an American brigadier general of the United States Army Air Forces who was the first American general to be killed in action in the European Theater of World War II. Forrest was a great-grandson of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest and an early officer of the United States Army Air Corps in 1929. Forrest was killed in action when his plane was shot down during a raid over Nazi Germany in June 1943.

Early life and education

thumb|left|150px|Forrest at West Point in 1928.

Nathan Bedford Forrest III was born on April 6, 1905 in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Nathan Bedford Forrest II and Mattie Patterson (Patton).

His paternal great-grandfather was Nathan Bedford Forrest, the famed Confederate general and leader of the Ku Klux Klan. On November 22, 1930, he married Frances Brassler. According to the Arlington National Cemetery website, he did not have any children, making him the final male Forrest in his great-grandfather's legitimate direct line.

Career

Forrest graduated from West Point in 1928 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the cavalry of the United States Army. In 1929, he transferred to the Air Corps, gaining rank rapidly and graduating from the Air Corps Tactical School in December 1939. Promoted to brigadier general in 1942, Forrest was serving as chief of staff of the Second Air Force when he flew missions as an observer with the Eighth Air Force in England.

Death

On June 13, 1943, Forrest was reported missing in action while leading a bombing raid on the German submarine yards at Kiel when his B-17 Flying Fortress was shot down by anti-aircraft fire. The other squadron members reported seeing parachutes and hoped the general had survived. However, on September 23, 1943, Forrest's corpse washed up near a seaplane base on the island of Rügen in Germany. He was buried on September 28, 1943, in a small cemetery near Wiek.</blockquote>

Legacy

In 1947, two years after the war ended, his widow requested that he be returned to the United States and buried in Arlington National Cemetery. He was buried in Section 11 at Arlington on November 15, 1949.

Dates of rank

June 9, 1928 second lieutenant
February 4, 1934, first lieutenant
June 9, 1938, captain
January 31, 1941, major
January 5, 1942, lieutenant colonel
March 1, 1942, colonel
November 2, 1942, brigadier general

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In popular culture

Alternate history novelist Harry Turtledove makes Forrest III a significant character in the Southern Victory series, and a minor character in the standalone novel Joe Steele. The Southern Victory version is an officer of a still-extant Confederacy in the 1940s.