Curtis Lemay is of English Saxon heritage. He was born in 1906. His father was an iron worker and labourer who had to travel around for work. Eventually they settled in Columbus, Ohio. Lemay studied civil engineering at the Columbus state university. He was always interested in the military and in 1929 he joined the air force. In 1934 he got married.
He trained in aviation and in air to air combat under Caleb V. Haynes and at the outset of the war in 1939, became his navigator on what was described as heavy bombing campaigns. He was promoted rapidly. By 1940 he was documented to be a commander of the newly formed 305th bomb group based in England. He become renowned in air to air combat and in 1943, became commander of the newly formed 3rd air division. Said to be one of the two largest air combat groups during the war, they are believed to have concentrated their campaigns on German communication centres.
A strategy had been planned to beat the Japanese by as called chiefs of staff, and according to legislation, in 1944 Lemay was transferred to the orient. Lemay filmed poor Chinese who may have been forced, building an airbase with little or no tools. Films have been shown recently as part of a series.
The Japanese offensive targeted steel factories in order to cripple the Japanese war effort. Railroad facilities were targeted for communication purposes. A large area was reported to be bombed unspecifically, leading to much loss of civilian lives. Lemay assumed command of the Japanese offensive on July 7, 1944 between the first and second bombing campaigns as described. Lemay is documented to have commanded incendiary bombings on 67 Japanese cities; and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki on August 6 and 9, 1945.
Postwar, formerly a supporter of Richard Nixon, Lemay is said to have been approached by the then recently formed american party, formerly the american independence party, linked by some to the UK conservative party which was believed to have been formed as the result of a schism with the republican party. Curtis Lemay was candidate for vice president but was thought by some to be an extremist even though his war time exploits were probably not widely known.