Lieutenant General, U.S. Air Force
Lieutenant General Terry Gabreski came from a family with deep roots in our nation’s military service. Her parents were Brigadier General Alonzo J. Walter, Jr., then a test pilot and Doris Walter, who had also been a commissioned officer. Her husband, Colonel Donald Francis Gabreski, is a retired USAF pilot and the son of World War II and Korean War Ace, Colonel Francis S. "Gabby" Gabreski. Terry and Donald have two sons, born in 1992 and 1995 after Terry had attained the rank of colonel.
With her military heritage, it seemed providential that Terry Gabreski should attend the Ole War Skule. She graduated from LSU with a bachelor’s degree in history and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Air Force in 1974.
Terry Gabreski first served as Director of Maintenance for the Deputy Chief of Staff for Installations and Logistics at Headquarters, U.S. Air Force. She directed two aircraft maintenance units, served as a squadron maintenance supervisor in three units, commanded three maintenance squadrons and a logistics group and twice served as a major air command director of logistics. She also served with the Air Staff, Secretary of the Air Force and Joint Staff levels. Gabreski was one of the original female air training officers charged with mentoring the first female cadets of the U.S. Air Force Academy, Class of 1980.
During Operation Allied Force in the 1999 air war over Serbia, then Major General Gabreski directed logistics efforts for the air war across the entire theater. In 2003, she became the first woman to command the Oklahoma City Air Logistics Center. She was promoted to lieutenant general in 2005, making her the highest-ranking female general in the Air Force at the time. She became Vice Commander, Air Force Materiel Command, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, which conducts research, development, acquisition, management and logistics support necessary to keep Air Force weapon systems ready for war. Lieutenant General Gabreski retired from active duty in 2010. Her awards include the Distinguished Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Legion of Merit with Oak Leaf Cluster and the Humanitarian Service Medal.