Of the many regular attendees at our 18th Fighter Wing Association reunions - one who always seems to be wearing a perpetual friendly smile ... is 'Buz' Baxter, 18FWA member  #96-370-12,  since April 1996.  We didn't really dwell on just 'why' he was smiling so much, but he recently took the time to tell us, and we could then understand.

Baxter's smile is his 'badge of contentment' for having been privileged to spend almost half of his life proudly wearing the uniform, and flying the many, many various fighter aircraft of the United States Air Force.

Walter H. Baxter, III, was born 26 July 1926 and was reared near  the southern-most tip of Texas.  He graduated from Weslaco High School and enlisted as an Infantry Private in the Texas National Guard.  He attended what is now the University of Texas at Arlington and in 1944 enlisted in the U.S. Army Air Force, as a P-38 mechanic and Aviation Student, from where, in 1946, he received a Class of 1950 appointment to the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.  Upon graduation in 1950 he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force.  He entered flying training at James Connally Air Force Base, Waco, Texas, and received his wings at Craig Air Force Base, AL. in 1951.

He received gunnery training at Luke Air Force Base, AZ, and promptly continued on to the18th Fighter-Bomber Group fighter base at K-46, South Korea where,  in January 1952, he began flying combat missions in F-51s with the 12th Fighter-Bomber Squadron.   Promoted to 1st Lieutenant, he was soon leading Mustang attacks deep into North Korea.  Before completing his 100 mission combat tour in late summer 1952, he was a Flight Commander, and assistant squadron operations officer, leading 18th Fighter Group missions against the North Korean and Chinese enemy.

Baxter returned to the 'States in August, 1952 and progressed from one fighter outfit to the next.  He flew with the10th Fighter-Bomber Squadron of the 50th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Clovis, NM; a year later he transferred to Langley Air Force Base, VA, with the 509th Fighter-Bomber Squadron of the 405th Fighter-Bomber Wing where he wrote many of the plans and procedures for tactical mobility that continue today in the Tactical Air Command, and while there,  he found time to marry Miss Lila Waldrop, then of Bessemer, AL. 

They were soon transferred to Wethersfield, England, in June 1955, to join the 77th Fighter Sqdn, 20th Fighter-Bomber Wing at RAF Station, Wethersfield, England, where he flew F-84Fs and F-100 jets, and served as both flight commander and wing gunnery/bombing officer, then as 20th Fighter-Bomber Wing D/Ops until May 1958, when they returned to the U.S. and Baxter was assigned to the temporary Air Force Academy at Denver, CO, prior to moving to the permanent facility at Colorado Springs where, as course director and executive officer in the department of military studies, he instructed six classes of Cadets between '59 and '64.,

From Colorado, they moved to the Training Command, at Webb AFB, TX where he became director of officer training, served as an instructor pilot in T-33s and was among the first to instruct in the sleek new T-38s.  His flying assignments were briefly inter­rup­ted, from  September 1963 to June 1964, by a stint at Air Command and Staff College, followed by another T-38 instructor assignment at Williams AFB, AZ. where he served at various times as wing executive, director of plans and T-38 operations officer.

In early 1966  Major Baxter went through F-4 training at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, AZ, and in June transferred to the 36th Tactical Fighter Wing,  at Bitburg Air Base, Germany, where he spent a year as Ops Officer of the 22nd Tac-Fighter Sqdn, flying F-4Ds,  then another two "great years" as their Squadron Commander.  He was promoted twice during that extended tour, returning to the 'States to attend the Army War College in the rank of Colonel.

Upon completion, he was headed overseas once more, this time to Southeast Asia, at Ubon, Thailand where, Baxter said: "We had everything: F-4s, B-57Gs, AC-130s, Lazer and EO Bombs, and the first LORAN-equipped fighters."  He spent "a wonder­ful year" while flying 125 combat missions in F-4s as D/Ops, 8th Tac Fighter Wing and later, as Vice Commander.

Baxter said: "I was blessed with reliable airplanes, outstanding wingmen, and rotten Vietnamese Gunners!"

In September 1971 he returned 'unscathed'  to the United States  and was assigned again to Training duty, where in January 1972 he took command of the 64th Flying Training Wing at Reese AFB, TX, for three years, and another six months as the 'vice-boss' at Keesler Technical Training Center, Miss. from where he was "struck by lightning" as he put it, and was sent back to Southeast Asia once more in July 1974. 

In March 1975 Baxter was selected to command the 13th Air Force advance echelon at Udorn Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand, which in July 1975 was renamed the 17th Air Division. It was during this assignment that, even though the war was 'closing down', Baxter became heavily involved in numerous important actions ... "Frequent Wind", "Eagle Pull", the rescue of the "Mayaquez" (battle at Ko Tang Island), and the withdrawal of US Forces from Thailand.  "Takli was already a 'ghost base', and it was my sad duty to turn out the lights and take out our flag at Ubon, NKP, Udorn, Korat, and finally Utapao.

He recalls however, that "... one of my greatest thrills came upon the heels of the sad good-bye to Thai friends and bases, when I was assigned to Kadena, Okinawa, to command the 18th Tactical Fighter Wing and 313th Air Division."  His flight records were maintained in the 12th Tac-Fighter Sqdn, just as they had been more than 20 years earlier, when he was a 2nd Lieutenant in Korea.  He flew regularly with each of the squadrons ...1SOS, 15TRSq, and the 12th, 25th, 44th and 67th Tac Fighter Sqdns. 

He stated: "For two years I was  thrilled  at  being  back  in   the 18th Wing -  all too few folks have the privilege of  being a 'brown bar' F-51 pilot and a two-star F-15 pilot in the same outfit."  Someone asked him which he enjoyed most, and he replied: "I must confess that the winters on Okinawa were much better than the one spent at K-46 in Korea ... but aside from that, both tours were exciting and rewarding."

Promoted to major general on June 1, 1978, with date of rank Sept. 1, 1974, General Baxter in September 1978, became commander of the 24th North American Air Defense Command and 24th Aero­space Defense Command Region at Malmstrom AFB, Mont  until August 1979. He then served with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization as air deputy, Northern European Command, at Kolsas, Norway.  The general became commander, 3rd Air Force, United States Air Forces in Europe, In July 1981, with headquarters at Royal Air Force Station Mildenhall, Suffolk, England, until his retirement from active Air Force duty in August, 1982.

" Of his final assignmentas CG of Third Air Force in England, Baxter recalled: "My dream career just kept getting better...  I spent my final year working for and with two superb fighter pilots ... Charlie Gabriel (another 18th Fighter Wing alumnus) and Bob Bazley."  He was flying A-10s, RF-4s and F-111's routinely, and said that it was as much fun as being a fighter squadron commander again.

'Buz' Baxter smilingly recalled a career "... that had been a dream come true:  I never had a Pentagon tour, and I had flown fighters (or trainers made from fighters) for over thirty-one years.  My family had grown up all over the world with me."

He is a command pilot and has more than 4,700 hours flying time in 24 types of aircraft - primarily fighters. His military decorations and awards include the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, Distinguished Flying Cross with oak leaf cluster, Air Medal with nine oak leaf clusters, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, Air Force Outstanding Unit Award ribbon and Republic of Korea Presidential Unit Citation. For his service on Okinawa, he was awarded the 3rd Order of the Rising Sun by the Japanese government.

In August 1982, General Baxter and his lovely wife, Lila returned to Weslaco, TX, on the Rio Grande, and took over his father's vegetable seed business ... which he managed for another thirteen years after his Dad's death.

"I have been blessed with good health, a loving understanding wife, exemp­lary children, brilliant grandchildren, tolerant neighbors, fun friends who fish, hunt, play golf and fly my V-35B Bonanza, which  is the best airplane Beech ever built ... what more could a man ask for?"

Buz and Lila have recently moved to their twenty-fifth home in forty-six years of marriage ... at Fair Oaks Ranch, near San Antonio, TX ... to continue their well-earned, richly deserved good life ... but he remains busy with Air Force Academy candidate selection and many, many other volunteer activities...  and he still displays his perpetual smile!   .