The United States Air Force has at times in its history been at the forefront of Combatives Training. Soon after the establishment of the Air Force as a separate service in September 1947, General Curtis Lemay was appointed as the Commanding General of the Strategic Air Command (SAC). General Lemay, who had masterminded the US air attacks on the Japanese mainland during World War II, knew that US bomber groups in Europe had suffered more combat casualties than the US Marine Corps had in the Pacific. Many of the lost airmen ended up as German prisoners of war. He was determined that all of his flying personnel would have a working knowledge of hand-to-hand combat to aid in escape and evasion.