MAJOR GENERAL LEWIS E. CURTIS
I was born in Biloxi MS in January 1941 and enlisted in the USAF early in September 1960. I went to Tech School and became a radar mechanic on the F105D. That career was cut short when I was selected for the Airman Education and Commissioning Program. The Air Force sent me to the University of Wyoming for an engineering degree and the Air Force sent me off to school again to be a maintenance officer. My first assignment was to the 4080th OMS, and first job was assisting in writing the TOs for the 147G. I worked as the DC-130 maintenance officer, and when the CH-3s came into the wing, I became the CH-3 maintenance officer. I went to OL20 in the late spring of 1966. While there the 4080th became the 100th and I got orders to go back to AFIT for more college. Returning from OL20 in the fall, I became the Lightingbug maintenance officer. I left the 100th in the Spring of 1967 for graduate school and a lot of interesting assignments until I retired on 1 January 1996. Over all those years I learned a lot, but my time in the 4080th/100th was far and away the most intensive learning experience of my career, and the people I served with were some of the most memorable I have met.