Leland Casper "Bob" Shepard Jr. (July 5, 1923 – July 22, 2009) was a

brigadier general Brigadier general or Brigade general is a military rank used in many countries. It is the lowest ranking general officer in some countries. The rank is usually above a colonel, and below a major general or divisional general. When appointed t ...

in the

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army S ...

. Shepard was born in

Miami Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a coastal metropolis and the county seat of Miami-Dade County in South Florida, United States. With a population of 442,241 at th ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, a ...

. After graduating from Ponce de Leon High School in

Coral Gables, Florida Coral Gables, officially City of Coral Gables, is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida. The city is located southwest of Downtown Miami. As of the 2020 U.S. census, it had a population of 49,248. Coral Gables is known globally as home to the ...

, he was a student at the

University of Florida The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...

when he enlisted in the

United States Army Air Corps The United States Army Air Corps (USAAC) was the aerial warfare service component of the United States Army between 1926 and 1941. After World War I, as early aviation became an increasingly important part of modern warfare, a philosophical ri ...

in April 1942. Completing flying school, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and received his pilot wings in May 1943. He joined the

83rd Bombardment Squadron The 561st Fighter-Day Squadron is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last was assigned to the 12th Fighter-Day Wing, Tactical Air Command, stationed at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas. It was inactivated on 8 January 1958. His ...

in November and flew 25 combat missions in a

B-25 Mitchell The North American B-25 Mitchell is an American medium bomber that was introduced in 1941 and named in honor of Major General William "Billy" Mitchell, a pioneer of U.S. military aviation. Used by many Allied air forces, the B-25 served in ...

medium bomber from southern Italy. In March 1944, he was transferred to

Burma Myanmar, ; UK pronunciations: US pronunciations incl. . Note: Wikipedia's IPA conventions require indicating /r/ even in British English although only some British English speakers pronounce r at the end of syllables. As John C. Wells, Joh ...

, where he completed another 33 missions with the B-25. In October, he returned to the United States as an instructor pilot. After the end of the war, he resumed his studies and received a

Juris Doctor The Juris Doctor (J.D. or JD), also known as Doctor of Jurisprudence (J.D., JD, D.Jur., or DJur), is a graduate-entry professional degree in law and one of several Doctor of Law degrees. The J.D. is the standard degree obtained to practice l ...

degree from the University of Florida, being admitted to the bar in 1948. In 1949, he returned to active duty and served first as an assistant staff judge advocate, then in September 1951 as a staff judge advocate. In 1952, after training for the B26, he served in the

Korean War {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Korean War , partof = the Cold War and the Korean conflict , image = Korean War Montage 2.png , image_size = 300px , caption = Clockwise from top: ...

as a pilot and operations officer of the

13th Bombardment Squadron In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the Musical note, note thirteen scale degrees from the root (chord), root of a chord (music), chord and also the interval (music), interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be ...

for one year. In 1954, he transferred to the

40th Fighter Squadron The Motorola 68040 ("''sixty-eight-oh-forty''") is a 32-bit microprocessor in the Motorola 68000 series, released in 1990. It is the successor to the 68030 and is followed by the 68060, skipping the 68050. In keeping with general Motorola na ...

, flying the

F-86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing S ...

jet fighter and the

B-57 Canberra The Martin B-57 Canberra is an American-built, twin-engined tactical bomber and reconnaissance aircraft that entered service with the United States Air Force (USAF) in 1953. The B-57 is a license-built version of the British English Electric ...

bomber/reconnaissance aircraft. After serving with the

41st Air Division The 41st Air Division is an inactive United States Air Force unit. Its last assignment was with Fifth Air Force at Yokota Air Base, Japan. It was inactivated on 15 January 1968. History "The 41st Air Division was organized, administered, equipp ...

, he returned to the United States in August 1957 to attend the

Air Command and Staff School The Air Command and Staff College (ACSC) is located at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama and is the United States Air Force's intermediate-level Professional Military Education (PME) school. It is a subordinate command of the Air Un ...

. In July 1958, he began a five-year period in various jobs at Headquarters Strategic Air Command,

Offutt Air Force Base Offutt Air Force Base is a U.S. Air Force base south of Omaha, adjacent to Bellevue in Sarpy County, Nebraska. It is the headquarters of the U.S. Strategic Command (USSTRATCOM), the 557th Weather Wing, and the 55th Wing (55 WG) of the Ai ...

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the so ...

. In July 1963, he was posted to the

7th Air Division The 7th Air Division (7 AD) served the United States Air Force with distinction from early 1944 through early 1992, earning an outstanding unit decoration and a service streamer along the way. History Hawaii As the 7th Fighter Wing, the divis ...

in England as a command post controller and

B-47 Stratojet The Boeing B-47 Stratojet (Boeing company designation Model 450) is a retired American long- range, six-engined, turbojet-powered strategic bomber designed to fly at high subsonic speed and at high altitude to avoid enemy interceptor aircraf ...

strategic bomber pilot. Two years later, he joined the

Sixteenth Air Force The Sixteenth Air Force (Air Forces Cyber) (16 AF) is a United States Air Force (USAF) organization responsible for information warfare, which encompasses intelligence gathering and analysis, surveillance, reconnaissance, cyber warfare and e ...

, stationed in Spain as chief of the Control Division. In June 1967, he returned to the United States and served in various roles at the United States Air Force Military Personnel Center,

Randolph Air Force Base Randolph Air Force Base was an United States Air Force base located at Universal City, Texas ( east-northeast of Downtown San Antonio). Opened in 1931, Randolph has been a flying training facility for the United States Army Air Corps, the Uni ...

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. Shepard also served as a deputy director at the United States Air Force National Headquarters from March 1971 to August 1973. He then served as chief of staff to the Joint United States Military Assistance Group in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republi ...

. His last command was as the deputy chief of staff for the

Military Airlift Command The Military Airlift Command (MAC) is an inactive United States Air Force major command (MAJCOM) that was headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Illinois. Established on 1 January 1966, MAC was the primary strategic airlift organization of the ...

Scott Air Force Base Scott Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base in St. Clair County, Illinois, near Belleville and O'Fallon, east-southeast of downtown St. Louis. Scott Field was one of thirty-two Air Service training camps established after the ...

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Roc ...

. He was promoted to brigadier general effective February 1, 1973, with date of rank January 31. He retired from the Air Force on April 1, 1977, after 35 years of active service, and was a recipient of the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster, Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Air Force Commendation Medal, and a Distinguished Unit Citation. General Shepard is the father of actresses

Judith Chapman Judith Chapman (born Judith Shepard on November 15, 1951) is an American actress, best known for soap opera roles, particularly as Natalie Bannon Hughes in ''As the World Turns'' (1975–1978), Charlotte Greer on ''Ryan's Hope'' (1983), Ginny Bla ...

and

Patty Shepard Patricia Moran Shepard (October 1, 1945 – January 3, 2013) was an American film actress based in Madrid, Spain. She appeared in more than fifty Spanish, Italian and French films from the 1960s to the 1980s, notably several cult horror films. ...

. Shepard died at the age of 86 on July 22, 2009, in his home in West Palm Beach, Florida, and he was later interred in

Arlington National Cemetery Arlington National Cemetery is one of two national cemeteries run by the United States Army. Nearly 400,000 people are buried in its 639 acres (259 ha) in Arlington, Virginia. There are about 30 funerals conducted on weekdays and 7 held on Sa ...

on October 14, 2009.Death Notice
/ref>

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shepard, Leland C. 1923 births 2009 deaths United States Air Force generals United States Army Air Forces bomber pilots of World War II United States Air Force personnel of the Korean War United States Air Force personnel of the Vietnam War American Korean War bomber pilots Recipients of the Legion of Merit Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Burials at Arlington National Cemetery University of Florida alumni Military personnel from Miami People from West Palm Beach, Florida Fredric G. Levin College of Law alumni