Former chief of staff, Academy grad, to receive T.D. White Award Published Sept. 2, 2015 By John Van Winkle U.S. Air Force Academy Public Affairs U.S. AIR FORCE ACADEMY, Colo. -- Retired Gen. Norton Schwartz, a 1973 Air Force Academy graduate and the Air Force's 19th chief of staff, is scheduled to receive the 2013 Thomas D. White National Defense Award here at a Sept. 9 ceremony and parade. He won the award in 2013 but was unable to accept the award in person until now. Named after the Air Force's fourth chief of staff, the award is given annually to a U.S. citizen for their outstanding national defense and security contributions. A command pilot with more than 4,400 flying hours in various aircraft, Schwartz began his Air Force career as a pilot during the Saigon airlift in 1975. He was the first chief of staff to fly special operations transport planes and helicopters as a primary discipline. Schwartz served in operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm as chief of staff of the Joint Operations Task Force for Northern Iraq. He later led the Joint Task Force that prepared for the noncombatant evacuation of U.S. citizens in Cambodia in 1997. He finished his 39-year Air Force career as the Air Force chief of staff from 2008 to 2012. Previous T.D. White Award recipients include Gen. Curtis LeMay, World War II commander in Europe and the Pacific and planner of the Berlin Airlift; Lt. Gen. James Doolittle, former chairman of the Air Force Scientific Advisory Board and World War II aviation hero; Igor Sikorsky, pioneer aircraft designer; Bob Hope, international entertainer; and presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush.