Col. Delbert L. Mueller, USAF (Retired)

Delbert L. Mueller, Colonel, USAF-Retired, age 90, of Germantown, passed away on February 17, 2014. He was a native of Illinois, graduated from Lebanon Community High School in 1941 and holds a Bachelor of Business Administration Degree from Jackson College. He met his lovely bride, the former Mary Rose Kirby of Knoxville, TN while enrolled in the Aviation Cadet Program at Michigan State. He was drafted into the Army Air Corps in 1943 and upon completing his Basic Training, went on to complete airplane and engine mechanic school before entering pilot training, from which he graduated on February 1, 1945. Col. Mueller held the Aeronautical rating of Command Pilot with over 8000 hours of flying time. During his career, he completed Air Command and Staff College, Industrial College of the Armed Forces, The Military Assistance Institute and the Air University’s Academic Instructors School. Besides flying, he performed duties as Aircraft Maintenance Officer, Squadron Commander, Chief of Aircraft Maintenance, Assistant Professor of Aerospace Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, Senior Aircraft Maintenance Advisor to the Japan Air Self Defense Force and Deputy Commander for Logistics at Wing Level. Col. Mueller has been awarded numerous military awards, the highest is the Legion of Merit with one Oak Leaf Cluster. He retired from Active Duty in January 1974. Fourteen years of his thirty one year career were spent overseas in Guam, Philippines, Japan, Korea (where he flew 400 combat missions), Hawaii, Thailand and England. Since retirement, he was active in the Retired Officers Association (TROA)/Military Officers Association of America (MOAA) where he served as president of the local chapter and state president (on two occasions). He was active in Highland Heights Presbyterian Church where he served as a Ruling Elder. Along with his dear wife of 69 years, Mary Rose, Col. Mueller is survived by his two sons, Gary, a physician and Kent, an Aircraft Maintenance Officer and Logistics Officer. Both are Colonels and retired from the USAF; grandchildren, Sarah of Pittsburgh, PA, Captain David Mueller of Clovis, NM and Kate, an RN, of Atlanta, GA; and sisters, Norma Jean Haddaway of Cambridge, MD and Garnell Kyler of Odessa, TX. A celebration of Col. Mueller’s life will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, February 22 at Highland Heights Presbyterian Church. The family will receive friends beginning at 1 p.m. Interment will be in Keystone Cemetery in St. Jacob, IL. Memorial gifts may be made to Highland Heights Presbyterian Church or to the Military Officers of America Scholarship Fund. Online condolences may be made at www.memphisfuneralhome.net