Major General Richard M. Scott, 46th Adjutant General of Pennsylvania, died on Sunday, 2 Jan 05.  He was 86 years old.  The Pennsylvania National Guard and the Pennsylvania National Guard Associations mourn the passing of this great leader. 

General Scott was described as a "giant" in state and local government who truly embodied the ideals of the "Greatest Generation."   He was the first Pennsylvania Adjutant General to serve in the Air National Guard, and he was elected to the Pennsylvania Air National Guard Hall of Fame. His service to his nation, his state and his city in a career than spanned parts of 7 decades was truly remarkable.

In 1979, General Scott resigned as the Mayor of Lancaster to assume duties as the Adjutant General of Pennsylvania. He received federal recognition as a Major General on August 3, 1979, and served as Pennsylvania's 46th Adjutant General until January 1987.

During his tenure as Adjutant General, the Pennsylvania Army and Air National Guard elements attained unmatched levels of combat readiness and an unprecedented influx of modem equipment. National Guard contributions to Total Force missions reached unprecedented levels as General Scott adeptly directed the myriad organizational changes required to make the Guard a reliable, modem element in the nation's defense.

General Scott took an active and abiding interest in the Guard's heritage and the Guard Associations.  He oversaw the establishment of the Pennsylvania National Guard Military Museum at Fort Indiantown Gap.

General Scott was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on 28 April 1918. He graduated from Lancaster Boys' High School in 1936, where he was a member of the National Honor Society. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, in the fall of 1938, and graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in June of 1942. General Scott graduated from the Air Command Staff College in 1949; the Armed Forces Staff College in 1956; and the National War College in 1963. He earned a Master of Arts degree in International Affairs from George Washington University in 1963.

General Scott began his military career in August 1938, when he was appointed a cadet at the United States Military Academy. Upon his graduation from the Academy in May of 1942, he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Regular Army. He immediately began pilot training at bases in Arkansas, Mississippi, and Illinois, graduating from the Army Air Corps Flying School at George Field, Illinois, in December 1942.
He was assigned as a fighter pilot with the 329th Fighter Group, 4th Fighter Command at Salinas, California, from April 1943 to January 1944. General Scott was then reassigned in January 1944, to the 364th Fighter Group, of the 8th Fighter Command based in the United Kingdom, where he participated in the air offensive against Germany. In March 1944, while flying his 13th combat mission against targets in the area of Brunswick, Germany, General Scott's aircraft was shot down over Holland. He spent four months evading German forces in occupied areas of Holland, Belgium and France, before being captured and imprisoned at Stalag Luft III in Sagan, Germany. After two unsuccessful escape attempts, General Scott was successful in escaping and was returned through Allied lines in April 1945.

Following his return to the United States, he was reassigned in August 1945, as a fighter test pilot and engineering officer with the Fighter Test Section, Air Proving Ground at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida. In September 1946, General Scott was then assigned as a test pilot and later as the Director of Supply and Maintenance and Operations Officer for the Cold Weather Test Detachment at Ladd Air Force Base, Alaska, holding that assignment until November 1948. Following his attendance at the Air Command and Staff College, Montgomery, Alabama, he was graduated in June, and reassigned as the Air Force Liaison Officer and Instructor at the U. S. Army Transportation School, Fort Eustis, Virginia, serving in that capacity from July 1949 to November 1952.

In November 1952, General Scott was assigned to the Directorate of Operations, Tactical Air Command, Langley Air Force Base, Virginia, holding that duty post until February 1954. In April 1954, he became Director of Operations for the 18th Fighter Bomber Wing in Osan, Korea. During this assignment, he assumed command of the 67th Fighter Bomber Squadron which served in Taiwan and Okinawa, and at different periods served as Commander of the 18th Fighter Bomber Group and 18th Fighter Bomber Wing.

Returning to the United States in the summer of 1955, General Scott attended the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk, Virginia, graduating in January 1956. In February 1956, he was assigned to the Field Command, Armed Forces Special Weapons Project at Sandia Base, Albuquerque, New Mexico, as an Operations Plans Officer. He later was named Chief of the Stockpile Operations Branch, holding that assignment until June 1958.

In July 1958, General Scott was assigned as the Deputy Chief, Research and Development Branch; and later as the Chief, Production and Storage Branch of the Division of Military Application, United States Atomic Energy Commission in Washington, D. C. General Scott worked in this assignment until June 1962. During the period from 1962-63, he attended the National War College at Fort McNair in Washington, D. C., graduating in June 1963.

In July 1963, General Scott was reassigned to Europe, where he served as the Chief of the Nuclear Plans Section for the Supreme Headquarters, Allied Powers Europe (SHAPE) in Belgium. He held that assignment for three years before returning to the United States in July 1967, to assume duties as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Atomic Energy. He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1967. From June 1968, until his retirement in October 1970, General Scott served as the Deputy Director for Operations and Administration for the Defense Atomic Support Agency, and as Chief, Joint Atomic Information Exchange Group. General Scott retired from the Air Force in October 1970, after completing more than 28 years of commissioned service.

Returning to his hometown of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, General Scott then served as the General Manager of the Lancaster Automobile Club. In November 1973, he was elected the Mayor of Lancaster, and was re-elected to that position in November 1977.  After completing service as Adjutant General in 1987, General Scott returned to Lancaster, where he remained active in civic affairs.

General Scott earned many honors and decorations, including the Distinguished Service Medal.  In 2004, the Pennsylvania General Assembly named the Fruitville Pike Bridge in Lancaster the "General Richard M. Scott Bridge."