Julius Aubrie Kolb enlisted in the Army Air Service in 1921. Having not completed high school, he took advantage of opportunities for schooling within the service which allowed him to “move up through the ranks” to attain his goal of “becoming familiar with the airplane”.
From the airplane’s early development, Julius was involved in working on and flying various configurations of pursuit and multi-engined aircraft. As a Master Sergeant in the Regular Army Air Corps, he was in the first cadet flight training graduating class from Randolph Field, Texas, and was the first primary student to solo in that class. His active duty assignments as one of the “Flying Sergeants” took him from Panama, Hawaii and coast-to-coast in the U.S. until he received his commissioned officer’s rank. After December 7, 1941, Julius was assigned overseas duty where he commanded the 8th and 12th Air Force troop carrier Wings throughout Europe and during the invasions of Africa, Sicily, Italy and France. Upon returning to the U.S. after two and one half years in Europe, he was assigned as Commanding Officer of air bases in the states of Missouri, Virginia and Washington.
His final assignment in Washington, D.C. and at Andrews A.F.B. as Air Inspector and Deputy Inspector General for the Military Air Transports Service required travel from Japan to Arabia while still maintaining his minimum Command Pilot active flying status requirements. After thirty years of an exciting military career, Colonel Kolb retired from the U.S.A.F. in 1951.
In July, 2000, a dedication ceremony commemorated the renaming of the McChord A.F.B., Washington, Airman Leadership School in honor of the then late Colonel Kolb based upon his “tremendous contributions to the enlisted corps, McChord Air Force Base, and the U.S. Air Force.”