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Gerald Waller ©Stars and StripesFrankfurt, West Germany, July, 1949: The Joint Chiefs of Staff are welcomed to Rhine-Main Air Force Base after arriving on the "Independence," President Harry S Truman's private plane (seen in the background). Left to right are Adm. Louis E. Denfeld, Chief of Naval Operations; John J. McCloy, U.S. High Commissioner; Lt. Gen. Clarence R. Huebner, acting commander-in-chief, EUCOM; Gen. Hoyt S. Vandenberg, Air Force Chief of Staff; Lt. Gen. John K. Cannon, USAFE commanding general; and Gen. Omar N. Bradley, Army Chief of Staff. During their 10-day visit to Europe, the three joint chiefs (the Marine Corps did not yet have a full membership) were to confer on collective security with military leaders from participants in the recently-signed North Atlantic Treaty (on which NATO was based) in Frankfurt, London, Paris, Vienna and Rome. After returning to Washington, Bradley was sworn in as the first JCS chairman.

RELATED MATERIAL: Stars and Stripes' 1949 story about the joint chiefs' arrival.