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General Robert T. Marsh retired from active duty with the U.S. Air Force in August 1984. His last assignment was serving as the commander of the Air Force Systems Command (AFSC).
Born on January 3, 1925, in Logansport, Indiana, he was attending Wabash College when he was inducted in the Army Air Corps in 1943. As an enlisted man for almost two years, he completed both aircraft mechanic and aerial gunnery training on B-17s and B-24s. Then in 1945, he received an appointment to West Point from which he graduated in 1949.
After graduation, he attended the Air Tactical School at Tyndall Air Force Base, Florida, followed by technical training at the Atomic Weapons and Radiological Safety School at Keesler Air Force Base, Mississippi.
In 1950 he joined the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project as an atomic weapons assembly officer at Sandia Base, New Mexico, and then served in the 5th Aviation Field Depot Squadron, an atomic weapons assembly and storage organization, going with the squadron in 1951 to Sidi Slimane Air Base in Morocco. Transferring to Headquarters 7th Air Division, Strategic Air Command, South Ruislip, England, he served as an armament and electronics staff officer.
From 1954 to 1956 he attended the University of Michigan earning master's degrees in instrumentation and aeronautical engineering. He then was assigned to Headquarters, Air Research and Development Command with duty at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, where he served as a project officer in the SM-64A (Navaho) and TM-61/76 (Matador/Mace) missile weapon system project offices.
Following attendance at the Air Command and Staff College, Maxwell Air Force Base, in 1960 he was assigned to the Ballistic Missile Division of the Air Force System Command (AFSC) at Los Angeles Air Force Station in California where he served in various missile and space system project offices. He then returned to Maxwell Air Base in 1964 to attend the Air War College.
In 1965 he was assigned to Air Force Headquarters in Washington in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff, Research and Development, as a staff officer in the Reconnaissance and Electronic Warfare Directorate. He later became chief of the Directorate of Space Projects Division and completed his tour of duty at the Pentagon as executive officer to the Deputy Chief of Staff for Research and Development.
Returning to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, he was the deputy for Reconnaissance, Strike, and Electronic Warfare in AFSC's Aeronautical Systems Division from 1969 to 1973. Later in 1973, he received his first assignment to AFSC Headquarters as deputy chief of staff for Development Plans. He became deputy chief of staff for Systems in 1973. He was promoted to lieutenant general in 1975 and appointed vice commander of AFSC.
From 1977 to 1981, he served as commander of the Electronics Systems Division at Hanscom Air Force Base, Massachusetts. In February 1981, he was promoted to General and assumed command of the Air Force Systems Command.
Among his numerous military decorations are the Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters, the Legion of Merit, the Air Force Commendation Medal, the Air Force Organizational Excellence Award, and the National Defense Service Medal. He was awarded the Master Missile Badge and the Master Space Badge.
After retirement from the Air Force in 1984, General Marsh was employed as an aerospace consultant. He served as the chairman of Thiokol Corporation from 1989 to 1991 as it transitioned from Morton Thiokol Corporation to independent status. He served as the executive director of the Air Force Aid Society from 1995 until April 2001. He was appointed by the President as chairman of the President's Commission on Critical Infrastructure Protection in 1996 and served in that capacity through 1997. Currently he serves as a director of Verint Technology Inc., Teknowledge Corporation, and SI International, Inc. He is trustee emeritus of The MITRE Corporation.
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