He was captured by the German military and was taken to Stalag Luft IV, a prisoner of war (POW) camp near the Baltic Sea for Allied airmen.

In February 1945, Airey and 6,000 fellow POWs were forced to march 400 miles to another camp near Berlin as the Soviet Red Army got closer.

During the Korean War he was awarded the Legion of Merit, unusual for an enlisted person, for saving more than a million dollars in electronic equipment that would have deteriorated without the corrosion control assembly line he developed.

On April 3, 1967, he was appointed the first Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force, the service's ultimate noncommissioned officer position, having been selected from among 21 major command nominees.

This article incorporates public domain material from Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Paul W. Airey biography.