Clarence Everett "Jerry" Giraud, Col, USAF (Ret), was born June 26, 1916 in Hanson County, South Dakota, and died April 23, 2007 in Annandale, Virginia.

By chance, he was given a ride in a small airplane by a friend, and was hooked for life! He learned to fly in a Piper Cub in Sterling, Illinois in 1939. Once he flew to his hometown of Fulton, South Dakota and gave free rides from a cornfield to anyone who so desired. He even got his pioneer mother, Nanette Bick Giraud, who had come to South Dakota as an infant in a covered wagon, to experience her first flight.

Clarence joined the US Army Air Corps as a Second Lieutenant on Dec 6, 1941. He was sent to Luke Field (later Luke AFB), Arizona for military flight training in the Ryan Primary Trainer aircraft. He then transferred to Colorado Springs to learn to fly the B-25. During World War II, Capt Giraud was stationed in the New Hebrides where he flew B-25s (known as F-1Os), and P-38s, loaded with cameras to perform photoreconnaissance.

Following the war and a brief stint as a civilian, he re-entered the US Air Force and served as the Photo Tech Squadron Commander at Bolling AFB, Washington, DC. His unit photographed activities of President Truman and processed photos of important weapons testing. From there he was stationed at HQ, Strategic Air Command (SAC) where he worked under the command of General Curtis E. LeMay developing intelligence reconnaissance requirements and executing special aerial intelligence gathering operations.

In his next assignment as an Air Force Intelligence Officer at the Pentagon, LtCol Giraud dealt closely with the fledgling National Reconnaissance Office and was involved in developing satellite reconnaissance requirements while working in "the Brewery." He retired from the Air Force in 1964. Subsequently, as a US civil servant, he worked in the Foreign Technology Division, Air Force Systems Command, Andrews AFB, MD, helping to advance aerospace technology.