Avery Raymond Kier (February 11, 1905 – August 7, 1987) was a United States Marine Corps aviator and general officer.

[1] Kier enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve on June 4, 1929, at St. Paul, Minnesota, and was immediately assigned to flight school at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida.

[1] Upon graduation, in June 1930, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and served six months with Aircraft Squadrons, West Coast Expeditionary Forces at Naval Air Station North Island, California.

He was released from active duty in January 1931 and proceeded to find employment with the administrative staff of his alma mater, the University of Minnesota.

Upon his detachment from Pensacola in May 1940, Captain Kier returned to the Naval Reserve Aviation Base in Minneapolis for duty as the inspector-instructor and commanding officer of the station.

On December 17 Captain Kier was one of 17 pilots from VMSB-231 who flew their Vought SB2U Vindicator aircraft 1137 miles from Oahu to Midway to bolster the island's defenses.

He detached from MAG-13 on 15 September 1944 in order to serve as an observer with the Amphibious Group 3 Air Support Control Unit during the Battle of Leyte.

In September 1946 he was sent to Marine Corps Base Quantico, Virginia, to attend the Amphibious Warfare School (Senior Course).

Transferred to the American Embassy in London, England, in August 1950, Colonel Kier began a two-year tour as the assistant naval attache for air.

During his time as CG, Air, FMF PAC Kier oversaw the training and operations of 49 tactical fixed-wing and rotary-wing squadrons dispersed between California, Hawaii, Japan and Okinawa.

For his last two years on active duty, MajGen Kier was stationed at Camp H. M. Smith, Hawaii, serving as the deputy commander, Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.