US Air Force Major General. He commanded the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project after World War II and later became the General Manager of the United States Atomic Energy Commission, Deputy Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and President of Texas A&M University. Born Alvin Roubal Luedecke, the oldest of eight children in Eldorado, Texas, his father was a rancher. In 1928 he attended Texas A&M University in College Station, Texas and graduated in 1932 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Chemical Engineering. In May 1932 he was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the field artillery reserve and posted to Camp Bullis, Texas, on Reserve Officers' Training Corps duty. In February 1933 he entered flying school and after completing his flight training at the Primary Flying School at Randolph Field (now Randolph Air Force Base, a part of Joint Base San Antonio), Texas, and the Advanced Flying School Bomber course at March Field (now March Air Reserve Base), California, and Hamilton Field, California (now closed), he received a reserve commission as a second lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps in February 1935. His first assignment was with the 11th Bombardment Squadron at Hamilton Field and the following year he became group operations and intelligence officer of the 7th Bombardment Group there. In October 1938 he was commissioned as a regular 2nd lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps, and was posted to the 25th Bombardment Squadron at France Field (now Enrique Adolfo Jimenez Airport) in the Panama Canal Zone. In January 1940 he became the assistant military attaché for Air to Costa Rica, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Panama and Nicaragua, serving until August 1942. He then became executive air officer at the field office of the Military Intelligence Services, Quarry Heights in the Panama Canal Zone. He was promoted to the rank of captain in February 1942, major in November 1942, and lieutenant colonel in January 1943. That month he returned to the US as Chief of the Operations Branch, Air Control Group, American Intelligence Command at Miami Beach, Florida. The following month he became Chief of the Latin American Branch, American Intelligence Command. In May 1943 he became deputy commander of the 39th Bombardment Group, based at Davis-Monthan Field (now Davis-Monthan Air Force Base), Arizona, followed in June by executive officer of the 16th Bombardment Operations Training Wing, with a promotion to the rank of colonel in July. The following month he was appointed Chief of the Operations and Training Section of the Army Air Forces in the India-Burma Sector of the China-Burma-India Theater. In August 1944 he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general and became its Deputy Chief of Staff in November 1944. The following July he was made Assistant Chief of Air Staff for Plans, Operations, Training and Intelligence in the China Theater. In February 1946 he returned to the US and was assigned to the Joint War Plans Committee in Washington DC as the senior US Army Air Force member. In October 1947 he became Assistant Director of the Joint Strategic Plans Group. In June 1949 he was posted to the Military Liaison Committee of the US Atomic Energy Commission as executive military secretary and in March 1951 he became the Air Force Deputy Chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project and later became its Chief, with a promotion to the rank of major general. In April 1957 he assumed command of Joint Task Force 7, a permanent body created by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to plan and conduct nuclear tests in the Pacific. The following June he was succeeded as Chief of the Armed Forces Special Weapons Project by Rear Admiral Edward N. Parker, but remained commander of Joint Task Force 7, where he was responsible for the planning, preparation and conduct of Operation Hardtack I, a series of nuclear tests in the Pacific in 1958 and Operation Hardtack II, a series of nuclear tests in Nevada, also in 1958. He retired in 1958 with 36 years of continuous military service in the US Army Air Corps and US Air Force. Among his military and foreign decorations and awards include the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with 1 oak leaf cluster, the Bronze Star, the Commendation Ribbon, the Columbian Order of Boyaca, the Chinese Order of the Cloud and Banner, and the Commander of the Order of the British Empire. After his military retirement, he became the General Manager of the Atomic Energy Commission and in 1964 he was appointed Deputy Director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge, California. Over the next three years he worked on the unmanned Ranger, Mariner, Surveyor and Voyager space exploration programs. For his services to the National Aviation and Space Administration, he was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1968. That same year, he returned to Texas A&M University as an associate dean of engineering, engineering research coordinator and associate director of the Texas Engineering Experiment Station. He became the University's acting president for seven months after the death of Earl Rudder in 1970. He then served as its executive vice president for six years. He died in San Antonio, Texas at the age of 87. In 1946 He was awarded an honorary Legum Doctor (LLD) Degree by Texas A&M University.