[Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 163 (Friday, October 3, 2025)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E926-E927]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                       TRIBUTE TO JOHN D. LAVELLE

                                  _____
                                 

                             HON. BEN CLINE

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Friday, October 3, 2025

  Mr. CLINE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize the late General 
John D. Lavelle who was born on this day in 1916.
  Jack Lavelle was one of the early investors in Bryce Resort in Basye, 
Virginia. He worked hard to keep Bryce solvent in those days, and 
contributed to turning it into the member-owned resort it is today. 
Jack served in the Air Force all over the world, but thought the 
Shenandoah Valley was the most beautiful place he'd been to.
  On the eve of war in 1939 he enlisted as an aviation cadet in the 
Army Air Corps and received pilot training at Randolph and Kelly 
Fields, Texas. He received his pilot wings and a commission as a second 
lieutenant in June 1940.
  During World War II he saw combat in the European theater of 
operations, where he served with the 412th Fighter Squadron. Following 
the war, he was assigned to Wright Field, where he was one of the two 
Air Corps officers who negotiated with all seven Army Technical 
Services and wrote the agreements for the division of assets and the 
operating procedures to be affected during the buildup of the Air 
Force.
  As a career airman with a 32-year reputation as being a smart, 
hardworking leader, he was promoted to four star general and assigned 
Commander of the Seventh Air Force in Vietnam on August 1, 1971. In 
April 1972, General Lavelle was removed from command as a result of 
allegations that he ordered unauthorized bombing missions into North 
Vietnam, and that he authorized the falsification of reports to conceal 
the missions. General Lavelle was retired in the grade of major 
general, two grades lower than the last grade he served on Active Duty. 
General Lavelle always maintained his innocence until his death on July 
10, 1979. On this day of that year, his widow Mary Josephine McEllin 
Lavelle dedicated a flagpole with base and flag, and a plaque in his 
honor at Bryce, which is still there today.
  In 2007, newly released and declassified information disclosed that 
General Lavelle was authorized by President Richard Nixon to conduct 
the bombing missions. In light of the new information, his widow made a 
request to the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records for 
the restoration of his grade to general, his last grade while on Active 
Duty.
  On August 4, 2010, President Barack Obama nominated General Lavelle 
posthumously for promotion back to the grade of general on the Air 
Force retired list based on the information that he had been authorized 
by President Richard Nixon to conduct the bombing missions. Further, 
the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records found no 
evidence that General Lavelle caused, either directly or indirectly, 
the alleged falsification of records, or that he was even aware of 
their existence. Unfortunately, the Senate Armed Services Committee 
returned the nomination, and still to this day will not allow the full 
restoration of his grade to general.
  Jack Lavelle served the country outstandingly over his entire career. 
He and his wife ``Jo'' were heartbroken when he was removed from 
command and forced out of the Air Force that they had grown up with and 
were so proud of. But they found some solace in retirement in the 
beauty and peace of Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. General USAF (Ret.) 
Jack Lavelle is recognized by me today as an honorable and patriotic 
American and we remember him today as such on the anniversary of his 
birthday, September 9, 1916.

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