Former vice chief of staff laid to rest

  • Published
  • By Airman 1st Class Daniel Brosam
  • 341st Missile Wing Public Affairs
MALMSTROM AIR FORCE BASE, Mont. --  A former vice chief of staff for the U.S. Air Force was laid to rest June 29 in Bozeman, Montana.

Retired Gen. Robert Mathis, 88, passed away April 27, and was recognized with military honors by the Malmstrom Air Force Base Honor Guard during a flag folding ceremony. Four flags were individually presented to his family in honor of Mathis' dedication to the nation.

Custom to military funerals, seven members of the honor guard also performed a three-volley salute and gifted the spent casings to Mathis' family. Taps was played and pilots from Mountain Home Air Force Base, Idaho, performed a fly-over in a set of F-15 Eagle aircraft.

Following the fly-over, Lt. Col. Michael Epper, 341st Force Support Squadron commander, placed Mathis' remains, preserved inside an eagle-engraved wooden box, in the ground to lay forever at ease beside Mathis' already passed wife. Mathis' marble headstone depicted a white eagle and read, "they shall mount up with wings as eagles."

Mathis served as vice chief of staff from 1980-1982 and retired in 1982 after 34 years of service.

His career included serving as an F-80 fighter pilot in the 16th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron during the Korean War. In addition to the Purple Heart, he also received the Silver Star and Distinguished Flying Cross for his combat tour in Korea.

Mathis completed the Industrial College of the Armed Forces at Fort Lesley J. McNair, Washington, D.C., in August 1967 and was assigned as the senior U.S. adviser to the Vietnamese air force with IV Corps in the Mekong Delta. From October 1967 to November 1968, he flew more than 200 combat missions, including an air strike in the A-1 for which he received his second Distinguished Flying Cross.

Mathis returned to the United States in November 1968 for duty in the Office of the Secretary of Defense. In August 1969, he was named commander of the Rome Air Development Center. Under his direction, the center established one of the best flight safety and test aircraft utilization rates in the Air Force Systems Command.

Mathis served as the systems deputy chief of staff at Air Force Systems Command headquarters, Andrews Air Force Base, Maryland, from 1976 to 1977. He later became vice commander of Air Force Systems Command. He became the vice commander of Tactical Air Command at Langley Air Force Base, Va., in March 1979.

He assumed duty as the vice chief of staff of the Air Force on March 1, 1980, until his retirement in 1982.