Background
Forrest was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 7, 1905, the son of Nathan Bedford Forrest II and Mattie Patterson (Patton).
Forrest was born in Memphis, Tennessee, on April 7, 1905, the son of Nathan Bedford Forrest II and Mattie Patterson (Patton).
He graduated from West Point in 1928 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Cavalry.
He was killed in action in Germany during World World War World War II Forrest was the first American general to be killed in action during the war in Europe. In 1929, he transferred to the Air Corps and subsequently gained rank rapidly. Promoted to brigadier general in 1942, Forrest was serving as chief of staff of the Second Air Force when he flew missions as an observer with the Eighth Air Force in England.
He was reported missing in action when the B-17 Flying Fortress he was in, leading a bombing raid on the German submarine yards at Kiel, went down on June 13, 1943.
However, Forrest was found dead on September 23, 1943, when his body washed up near a seaplane base at Ruegen Island in Germany. He was buried on September 28, 1943 in a small cemetery near Wiek, Rügeneral
The plane exploded before Forrest could bail out. By the time the Seenotdienst (the German air-sea rescue) arrived, only one of the crew was still alive in the water.
In 1947, two years after the war ended, his widow requested that he be returned to the United States and buried in Arlington National Cemetery.
He was exhumed and reburied in Section 11 at Arlington on November 15, 1949. February 4, 1934, first lieutenant
June 16, 1938, captain
January 31, 1941, major
January 5, 1942, lieutenant colonel
March 1, 1942, colonel
November 2, 1942, brigadier general
Forrest (or a same named analogue, it is ambiguous which) is a character in the alternate history series Settling Accounts as part of the Southern Victory Series by Harry Turtledove.
The other members of the squadron reported seeing parachutes, and hoped that the general had survived.