Author Description

The United States Air Force Academy Class of 1963 is unique. This book attempts to explain that by telling the story of many of the graduates and their careers. It is not possible to provide a bio of every one of the graduates yet many individual experiences are used to highlight the reasons for this fifth graduating class to consider itself special. Some of the individual graduate histories can be found on the Class Histories site on the Association of Graduates web page. The story of certain graduates that best reflect the makeup of the men in this class is expanded upon. Included are available details of the two who were prisoners of war, those who died in combat, and those who rose to general officer rank. There is also some history of the class as a whole. The Golden Boys were the first ‘full size’ class, their tradition of honoring classmates who died, their camaraderie, and their devotion to USAFA are on display. This book does use a biographical listing of many of these men but much of it is personal reflections that have been made about their experiences. This book is an attempt to put the Class of 1963 into its place in Air Force History.