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Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Leader

Honored by:
Ms. Barbara Behel

Major General Robert W. Fye graduated from USMA (West Point) in 1945. Following graduate schooling at USC, where he received an MS in Aeronautical Engineering, he embarked on a military career of 35 years spent primarily in the Army's missile and space programs. He taught graduate-level missile courses at the Army's Air Defense School; trained Army missile cadres that deployed to air defenses around US metropolitan areas and SAC bases; commanded an air defense missile battalion in the Los Angeles defense; served several tours on the Army and JCS staffs in Washington, DC; was twice on the HQ NORAD staff in Colorado Springs, CO, including an assignment as Chief of Staff of that organization; and ultimately commanded the Army's largest air defense unit, the 15,000-man 32nd Army Air Defense Command in Europe during the height of the Cold War.
One of his most significant assignments was as Director of Test Operations for the Army's Nike Zeus-ICBM intercept program at Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands during the early 1960's. Those tests demonstrated that ground-based interceptor missiles could successfully engage incoming ICBMs. The targets were Atlas and Minuteman missiles launched from Vandenberg AFB in CA, some 4,200 miles up range from Kwajalein. Included in the program was the successful intercept of an earth satellite passing over the Marshall Islands.
General Fye's contributions to the US Army's programs promoting the employment of guided missiles and space vehicles were in keeping with the finest traditions of the US military forces and their men in uniform.
Military awards include: Distinguished Service Medal, Three Legions of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, two Army Commendation Medals, Vietnamese Distinguished Service Order, Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry, Joint Chiefs of Staff Badge, and Army General Staff Badge.