James McInerney, a retired Air Force major general who was a highly decorated command pilot in Vietnam, died Oct. 14, 2014, of cardiopulmonary arrest. He was 84.
McInerney graduated from West Point in 1952. In 1960, he earned a master’s degree in aeronautical engineering from Princeton. He had served in Korea, Washington, England, and Germany before going to Southeast Asia in 1967.
He received the Air Force Cross (the service’s highest award for valor after the Medal of Honor) for a 1967 attack on a vital enemy bridge. McInerney commanded an air squadron tasked with destroying anti-aircraft weaponry and surface-to-air missile launching sites. On 101 combat flights, he never lost an airplane from his squadron. He retired in 1980 as an Air Force deputy chief of staff.
Queen Elizabeth II made McInerney a commander of the British Empire for his efforts establishing the American Air Museum in England, which honors the 30,000 U.S. airmen based in England who died in World War II. He had been president of the British-American Business Association.
McInerney was predeceased in 2011 by Mary Catherine, his wife of 48 years. Among his survivors are two children, a granddaughter, a sister, and a brother.
Graduate memorials are prepared by the APGA.