Charles G. “Chick” Cleveland was born in 1927 in Honolulu, Hawaii. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in 1945. Graduating in 1949, he chose to become an aviator and earned his pilot wings at Williams AFB, Arizona. He was first assigned to the 31st Strategic Fighter Wing at Turner Air Force Base, Georgia flying the F-84 Thunderjet. Cleveland was introduced to combat in 1952 and served as a wingman and later a flight commander flying the F-86 Sabre with the 334th Fighter-Interceptor Squadron at Kimpo Air Base, South Korea. Within eight weeks of becoming a flight commander, he had already scored four MiG-15 kills. On 21 September, Lieutenant Cleveland’s flight engaged another flight of MiGs. Cleveland maneuvered into the MiG’s six o’clock and fired his .50 caliber machine guns, scoring hits on one of them in the tail pipe, engine, and right wing. Within seconds, there was an explosion, the MiG sprouted a trail of smoke and began falling. At that moment, his flight was being attacked by two other MiGs, so Cleveland broke off the engagement. He never observed the MiG crash, so he did not claim it as his fifth victory. He left Korea with four confirmed and two probable kills. Shortly after returning from Korea, Cleveland was stationed with the 27th Fighter-Bomber Wing at Bergstrom Air Force Base, Texas, where he was the project officer for the unit’s conversion to the F-101 Voodoo. From 1962 to 1963, he commanded the 92nd Tactical Fighter Squadron at Royal Air Force Station Bentwaters. On 10 August 1962, Cleveland became the first pilot to achieve the 1000-flying-hour mark in the Voodoo. In 1966-67, he served as the Executive Assistant to General Westmoreland, Commander, U.S. Military Assistance Command in Vietnam, and later as Commander, 3535th Navigator Training Wing at Mather Air Force Base, California. Following tours at Headquarters, Air Training Command and the Pentagon, he returned to Randolph Air Force Base, Texas as Vice Commander, Air Training Command. Lieutenant General Cleveland’s capstone military assignment was as Commander, Air University, Maxwell Air Force Base, Alabama from July 1981 to August 1984. He retired with over 4500 flying hours and 145 combat missions in Korea and South Vietnam. Fifty-five years after his aerial victories in Korea, with the help of his friend and Korean War ace Dolph Overton, Lieutenant General Cleveland finally gained official recognition by the U.S. Air Force as a fighter ace. With the de-classification of Soviet records in 2003, Overton discovered the Soviet records at the National Archives and found the Soviets’ account of the events on 21 September, 1952. With those records, as well as the testimonies of Cleveland’s wingman that day, Don Pascoe, and his former operations officer, Frederick “Boots” Blesse, they successfully petitioned the Air Force Board for Correction of Military Records. In January, 2008, the Air Force awarded Cleveland credit for one of his two probable victories and officially recognized him as the Air Force’s 40th jet ace. Lieutenant General Cleveland currently serves as president of the American Fighter Aces Association. He lives in Montgomery, Alabama.  Lieutenant General Cleveland was selected as an inaugural eagle of the Air Command and Staff College’s Gathering of Eagles in 1992 and was subsequently honored in 2010.