Nathan Bedford Forrest III (April 7, 1905 - June 13, 1943) was a Brigadier General of the United States Army Air Force, and a great-grandson of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest.
Forrest was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the son of Nathan Bedford Forrest II and Mattie Patterson (Patton). On November 22, 1930 he married Frances Brassler . They did not have any children.
Military service
He graduated from West Point in 1928 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the cavalry. In 1929 he transferred to the Air Corps and subsequently gained rank rather rapidly.
He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in November 1942. He was serving as chief of staff of the Second Air Force when reported missing in action on a bombing run over the submarine yards in Kiel, Germany, on June 13, 1943. His body was subsequently recovered and buried in Germany. Following the war, he was re-interred in Arlington National Cemetery.
Nathan Bedford Forrest III in Alternate History
In Harry Turtledove's TL-191 series of books (American Empire: The Victorious Opposition and Settling Accounts: Return Engagement), Nathan Bedford Forrest III is the Confederate Army chief of staff serving in Jake Featherston's war. Instead of being proficient in airplanes, this alternate Forrest is an exponent of armored warfare, and along with an alternate George Patton leads the Confederate States on a string of stunning military victories in Ohio.
External link
