First African-American commander at Wright-Patt dies at 84

A former Wright-Patterson commander who was the first African-American to lead the base and rose to the rank of a two-star general has died.

Titus C. Hall, a retired Air Force major general, was 84 when he died Sunday. He lived in Palm Bay, Fla.

Hall was named commander of Wright-Patterson in January 1976 after serving as vice commander of the 2750th Air Base Wing. After a 30-year Air Force career, the Pflugerville, Texas native in the 1980s became a vice president at Brevard Community College, now known as Eastern Florida State College, where he had a key role in establishing a new campus in Palm Bay along Florida’s Space Coast. A building on the campus was named after him.

The retired military officer who started active duty military service in 1952 earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering at the Tuskegee Institute in Alabama and was a distinguished graduate of the Reserve Officers Training Program. He also earned a master’s degree in systems engineeering from the University of Southern California.

The Vietnam veteran spent eight years at Wright-Patterson. He was the chief avionics engineer on the B-1 bomber program at the Aeronautical Systems Division, among other posts, prior to becoming base commander.

The master navigator accumulated 4,000 flying hours and flew in the EC-47, FB-111, EF-111s, F-4G, and Navy A-7D. He was awarded the Distingusihed Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Distinguished Flying Cross, Bronze Star Medal, Meritorius Service Medal and the Air Medal.

A memorial service is scheduled Saturday in the General Titus Hall Building on the Eastern Florida State College’s Palm Bay campus.

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