AF legend Airey dies at 85 - Air Force News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Air Force Times

AF legend Airey dies at 85

Paul W. Airey touched lives — those of his three children and the thousands of enlisted airmen he looked out for as the first chief master sergeant of the Air Force.

Airey died March 11 in Panama City, Fla., at age 85. The cause of the death was congestive heart failure, though Airey also had prostate cancer and lymphoma, said his daughter, Ellen Reid. Airey is also survived by two sons, Dale Airey and Shawn Airey.

“He had this huge will to fight and he knew a few days before it was time,” Reid said. “He was always a religious man and knew that he was going to fly away.”

Dale Airey was all of 7 when he discovered his father was special.

“I remember him walking down the hall of an old wooden barracks,” Airey said.

“I remember his leather shoes slapping the wooden floor and airmen jumping up to attention,” he said. “They popped up with a ‘Good morning, Sergeant Airey,’ and ‘How are you today, Sergeant Airey?’”

It was respect — not fear — that motivated the junior airmen to square their corners in the presence of Airey, said Dale Airey, who followed his father’s footsteps and became an Air Force chief master sergeant.

“He inspired confidence, he inspired pride,” Dale Airey said. “He made people feel good about themselves.”

First of his kind

Paul Airey became the first chief master sergeant of the Air Force on April 3, 1967, and held the job until July 31, 1969.

“Chief Airey is the most respected enlisted airman in the history of the Air Force,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Rodney J. McKinley said in a statement. “When we speak of today’s airmen standing upon the shoulders of giants as they reach for the sky and stars, it was upon Paul Airey’s shoulders they stood. We will truly miss his leadership, counsel and friendship.”

Reid, the oldest of Airey’s children, remembered her father as an ethical man who taught her and her brothers to value decency.

“He didn’t have a prejudiced bone in his body,” she said. “He … tried to live by the Golden Rule.”

Retired Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Gerald Murray described Airey as a “legend.”

“None of us wanted to do anything to disappoint Paul,” Murray said.

Murray recalled when Airey stopped by to visit him after he had been in the top enlisted job for only six months.

“He turned to me and said he was proud of me and I just turned right back into an airman basic,” Murray said. “That meant a lot. It meant even more coming from him than the Air Force chief of staff or the secretary of defense.”

Airey’s career took him from northern Africa to a German prisoner camp to Okinawa and ultimately the Pentagon as the voice and advocate of enlisted airmen.

Born Dec. 13, 1923, in Quincy, Mass., Airey enlisted in the Army Air Corps in 1942. He served as a gunner on B-24 bombers in World War II, flying missions over northern Africa, Italy, Germany and Austria. In 1944, Airey was shot down over German-held territory and was held as a prisoner of war by the Luftwaffe for almost a year.

During the Korean War, while stationed on Okinawa, Airey developed a corrosion control plan for radio gear that earned him a Legion of Merit.

Airey then had a string of first sergeant assignments before he became the first chief master sergeant of the Air Force under Chief of Staff Gen. John Paul McConnell.

As the top enlisted officer, Airey worked to improve low retention during the Vietnam War and helped lay the foundation for the Weighted Airman Promotion System, which is still used today, according to the Air Force. He also lobbied for an Air Force-level Senior Noncommissioned Officer Academy, which opened in 1973.

A year after his time as chief master sergeant of the Air Force, Airey retired to Florida with his wife, Shirley, who died in 2001, according to the service.

In retirement, Airey served on the boards of several Air Force and enlisted professional military organizations. He was active in the Airmen Memorial Museum, the Air Force Memorial Foundation and the Air University Foundation, according to the Air Force. The Air Force Association gave Airey its Lifetime Achievement Award in 2007.

Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz described Airey as “an airman’s airman” and “one of the true pioneers of the service.”

“He was a warrior, an innovator and a leader with vision well ahead of his time,” Schwartz said in statement. “His legacy lives today in the truly professional enlisted force we have serving our nation and for that we owe him a debt of gratitude.”