Foil: 5 Panel: 1 Column: 2 Line: 39

Wall of Honor Level:
Air and Space Friend

Honored by:

Herbert J. Coleman, Chief, Current News & Research Service (retired GM15-0)
Mr. Coleman, a native of Minnesota, became Chief/CNARS/DOD in October 1986, after retiring from McGraw-Hill Publishing Co. where he was Managing Editor of Aviation Week & Space Technology magazine. Before that he was London and Washington Bureau Chief. A 1949 graduate of the University of Minnesota, he worked on mid-western newspapers before joining Aviation Week in New York in 1958.
In World War II, Mr. Coleman was a B-17 pilot in the 305th Bomb Group (H), 422nd Bomb Squadron, Eighth U.S. Air Force, flying 31 combat missions over Germany and Occupied France out of RAF Chelveston in England. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with four oak leaf clusters. After graduation from the University of Minnesota, Mr. Coleman became a pilot in the Minnesota Air National Guard, flying F-51s, B-25 and C-47.
In the Pentagon, Mr. Coleman was awarded the Secretary of Defense Medal for Meritorious Service and the Air Force Outstanding Civilian Career Service Medal.
Under his leadership, Current News was awarded the Air Force Association's prestigious Gill Robb Wilson Award for Excellence in Publishing, the only government publication (The Early Bird) to be so honored. Mr. Coleman is a former Vice Chairman and Governor of the National Press Club.
He and his wife, Anneke, live at 300 Walker Road, Great Falls, VA 22066. They have three sons -- Jeremy, Richard and Thomas. Jeremy is program director of WNEW-FM in New York, a CBS station; Richard is manager of a True-Value hardware store in Arlington, VA, and Thomas, who is married to Michelle, is a computer supervisor at Navy Federal Credit Union in Vienna, VA.