Major General Robert Edward SADLER
SADLER, SHERMAN, ENGLISH, CRAFT, WRIGHT, MCKEE, KILLEAN
Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 2/10/2024 at 13:06:42
September 3, 1925 ---- April 9, 1988
Robert Edward Sadler was born on September 3, 1925 in Eagle Grove, Iowa, the son of Edward Anthony and Elsie June (Sherman) Sadler. He married Kathleen Irene English, November 17, 1951; He married Mary Faye Craft, July 26, 1986.
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ROBERT E. SADLER, 62, DIESRobert Edward Sadler, 62, a retired Air Force major general who was a communications specialist for most of his military career, died of an accidental gunshot wound April 9 at his vacation home in Scherr, W.Va.
Dr. James Bosley, medical examiner for Mineral County, W.Va., said Gen. Sadler had gone inside his house after target shooting and was seated in a chair when a .38-caliber revolver he was holding discharged, striking him in the neck and killing him instantly.
Gen. Sadler served 36 years in the Air Force before his retirement in 1979 as chief of the worldwide Air Force Communications Service. Previously he had been director of electronics communications for the Joint Chiefs of Staff. In 1970 and 1971 he commanded a communications group in Vietnam.
Gen. Sadler was born in Eagle Grove, Iowa. He joined what then was the Army Air Forces in 1943. While serving in the Air Force he received a bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the University of Colorado and he graduated from the Air War College. His military career included duty as an instructor at the Air Force Academy, service in Texas, Canada, Illinois, Florida and New York, and several assignments in the Washington area.
Gen. Sadler lived in Springfield, and he had been a permanent resident of this area since the 1970s.
In retirement he was a vice president for the Northern Virginia operations of Magnavox and had worked for the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.His first wife, Kathleen Irene Sadler, died in 1984. Survivors include his wife, Mary Faye Craft Sadler of Springfield; three daughters by his first marriage, Kathe Sadler Wright of Forked River, N.J., Janet Sadler McKee of Dumfries, and Kathleen Tierney Sadler of Alexandria; three sons by his first marriage, Robert E. A. Sadler of Fairfax, John C. Sadler of Burke and Michael S. Sadler of Blacksburg, Va.; two stepsons, James P. Craft Jr. of Manassas and Joseph A. Craft of Springfield; one sister, Marilou Killean of Lorraine, Ohio; three brothers, Richard S. Sadler of Casper, Wyo., Joel C. Sadler of Lake Wylie, S.C., and David G. Sadler of Westport, Conn., and five grandchildren.
Washington Post --- Washington, DC
April 13, 1988*****
PROBE FINDS NEW EVIDENCE IN DEATH OF VA. MAN
By Kent Jenkins Jr. and Patricia Davis
July 5, 1988
Washington Post --- Washington, DCThree months ago, when Springfield resident Robert E. (Bob) Sadler was felled by a bullet to the head, his death appeared to be an awful accident. Sadler's wife, Mary Faye Craft, said he was playing with a pistol when it went off. Law enforcement officials in Grant County, W.Va. -- where Craft owns a farm and the shooting occurred -- ruled out foul play.
But the family felt that something was not right.
Sadler, a 62-year-old retired Air Force general, a lifelong hunter and a skilled marksman, knew how to handle guns, and his family could not imagine him toying with one. Craft, who married Sadler in 1986, never called Sadler's children from his previous marriage to tell them he was dead, the children said. According to court documents prepared by the West Virginia State Police, Craft was the only other person at the farm when Sadler died. Recently, investigators said they discovered that Craft had taken out life insurance policies on Sadler worth more than $400,000.
After a preliminary investigation, the West Virginia state medical examiner changed the official cause of Sadler's death to homicide. And last week, Fairfax County police searched Craft's house in Springfield. They obtained a warrant after investigators stated in an affidavit that Craft had been "very unhappy with her marriage . . . and wanted out of this marriage . . . . Evidence will show that Mary Faye Craft is responsible for the death of her husband."
No criminal charge has been filed in connection with Sadler's death. The Grant County grand jury is scheduled to consider the case next Tuesday. Neither Craft nor her attorney could be reached for comment during repeated attempts over the weekend.
According to law enforcement officials, court documents and members of Sadler's family, the investigation has yielded a number of things. Police searching Craft's house reported finding a closet with a false wall, and they say they recovered silver and jewelry that Craft had reported stolen.
Also, investigators say that insurance papers found in the house have led them to question the circumstances of a 1985 fire at a house Craft owned in South Carolina. Craft's children from a previous marriage reportedly have cooperated with the investigation of their mother.
A sketch of Craft's life has emerged. Craft, 52, has married five times and been widowed three times. She has incorporated and advertised a public relations firm called Mary Faye Craft and Associates; Sadler's family and friends said they knew little about it because she declined to discuss it with them.
According to Sadler's family, she traveled abroad frequently without Sadler, saying that the trips were part of her business. She has published books of poetry, much of it written in first person, that describe a woman who consorted with powerful men around the world and engaged in a long-running affair with a U.S. senator. The titles include "I Have Lived" and "The Goddess of Love."
She wrote Sadler's children a poem when they became suspicious about their father's death. "If your father were alive/ How unhappy he would be," Craft wrote, "To hear the vicious lies/ Being told about me".
"I've never seen anything like this case," said one law enforcement official. "I feel I've gotten to know Mary Faye Craft very well."
There apparently was nothing dramatic about Craft's introduction to Bob Sadler in 1986. Sadler later told friends that he and Craft were eating alone at a Tysons Corner restaurant when they struck up a conversation. They were married soon afterward in July. In some ways their backgrounds were quite different.
Sadler grew up in Iowa with three brothers, who have done well. One brother, David, is chairman of a large manufacturer of photocopy machines; another, Richard, is a former state senator in Wyoming. Sadler rose to the rank of major general in the Air Force and specialized in communications. He retired in 1979, went to work for a major electronics firm and in 1986 became a vice president of Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association, a Fairfax-based organization whose members include military officers and defense contractors.
Sadler and his first wife, Kathleen Irene, were married for 33 years, until she died of cancer in 1984. His children say Sadler was devastated by her death.
"Bob Sadler was very, very fond of his family," said Lee M. Paschall, a retired Air Force general and longtime friend of Sadler. "He was very outgoing and gregarious. And he loved the outdoors."
When Sadler was shot on April 9, questions quickly arose. Dr. James C. Bosley, the medical examiner who inspected Sadler's body, said he became suspicious because the bullet hole was behind Sadler's right ear, an unlikely spot for a self-inflicted wound. Bosley requested an autopsy.
Sadler's six children and Craft's two sons, James and Joe, doubted the shooting was an accident, said John Sadler, one of Sadler's children. John Sadler and Craft's sons drove to West Virginia and gave police statements. "Everybody is hurting in this," said James Craft.
Sadler's brother, David, commissioned his own investigation. According to law enforcement officials, David Sadler has retained a prominent West Virginia law firm to research the case.
But according to court documents, law enforcement officials got the tip from one of Craft's sons that led them to search Craft's Springfield house. The affidavit used to obtain the warrant says that in 1986 Craft reported a burglary in which she said $150,000 worth of jewelry and silver was taken. In 1987, the son said he found that one of the house's closets had a false wall concealing boxes of valuables. When police conducted that search, according to another affidavit, they found "documents that described the nature of the strained relationship between {Sadler} and Mary Faye Craft" along with "insurance policies, wills and written accounts of the death of the victim." Those documents were seized in a second search.
Investigators say those papers have prompted them to look into a fire that burned down a house Craft owned in Kershaw County, S.C., three years ago. And they continue to read her poetry, which officials say has offered them a glimpse into Craft's character.
By her account, Craft has long been attracted to men in uniform. Her second husband was a Marine aviator and her fourth husband was a retired Air Force colonel. Craft wrote in her poetry, "There is nothing I'd rather be than a military wife."
Exactly how long Craft has been in the Washington area is hard to determine. But in August 1973, she and her third husband purchased the house where she now lives, according to Fairfax property records. Investigators say that the marriage was brief, and she was deeded sole possession of the house in January 1974.
On marriage licenses, Craft lists her birthplace as Georgia. Sadler's relatives describe her as "a Southern belle" who enjoyed being the center of attention. Her poems mention travels to Egypt, Thailand and various spots in Europe.
"I traveled around the world,/ Was called 'Queen of the Nile,' " Craft wrote. "I was envied by everyone,/ For just a little while."
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General Sadler and the Black Widow - Part 2
By Gary Herrity -- The Clinton Herald -- September 27, 2013******
MAJOR GENERAL ROBERT E. SADLER
Retired July 1, 1979 Died April 9, 1988
Major General Robert E. Sadler is commander of the Air Force Communications Service. From its headquarters at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., AFCS manages Air Force responsibilities for programming, engineering, installation, operation and maintenance for communications-electronics-meteorological facilities and services on a global basis. Among these are long-haul intercontinental as well as local base communications circuits and systems, air traffic control services, air navigation facilities, and meteorological sensing and reporting equipment.
Born in 1925 in Eagle Grove, Iowa, General Sadler graduated from Clinton High School, Clinton, Iowa, in 1942, and joined the Enlisted Reserve Corps in 1943. In September of that year, General Sadler entered active service as an aviation cadet and was commissioned as a second lieutenant upon graduation from navigator training at Hondo Army Air Field, Texas, in February 1945. After attending radar school at Victorville, Calif., General Sadler was assigned to operational flying units with B-29 aircraft at Alamogordo, Clovis and Roswell, N.M.
He graduated from the aircraft observer/bombardier school at Mather Field, Calif., in October 1947, a member of the first class of triple-rated observers, and subsequently served as executive officer for the director of training of that school.
From December 1948 to September 1950 and from July 1951 to August 1955, General Sadler served in a variety of assignments and positions as an editor and editorial director of Air Force training publications pertaining to flying and flying training. During this period, he wrote and edited the Air Navigation Manuals, developed several radar and in-flight maintenance manuals and was a member of the editorial staff of Navigator magazine. Between September 1950 and July 1951, he was the wing navigator for the B-29 combat crew school at Randolph Air Force Base, Texas.
In August 1955, General Sadler was selected to attend the Royal Canadian Air Force Specialist Navigation School at Winnipeg as an exchange student. July 1956 brought reassignment to the U.S. Air Force Academy where, serving as chief of advanced flying training, he developed the curriculum and supervised instruction for the cadet second and first class navigation training programs. In September 1959, he entered the University of Colorado and was graduated in 1961 with a bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering.
In July of 1961, General Sadler was transferred to Scott Air Force Base, Ill., for his first tour of duty with the then newly formed Air Force Communications Service. Assigned to the headquarters, he served first as chief of equipment engineering and later as an advanced plans action officer. In these assignments, he was involved with communications satellite planning and performed temporary duty as the communications plans officer for Task Group 8.4, the Air Force element of the DOMINIC series of nuclear testing. During this tour at Scott, General Sadler also served as chief of test and evaluation and as the AFCS command briefing officer.
General Sadler graduated from the Air War College, Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., in June 1967, and was assigned to the directorate of Command Control and Communications, Headquarters U.S. Air Force, Washington, D.C. While with Headquarters U.S. Air Force, General Sadler served as an action officer, chief of the Program Management Branch, Deputy Chief and Chief of the Plans and Programs Division.
During 1970 and 1971, General Sadler held a triadic position while assigned in the Republic of Vietnam. He was deputy commander of Southeast Asia Communications Region (mainland), deputy chief of Staff for communications-electronics for Seventh Air Force, and commander, 1964th Communications Group at Tan Son Nhut Air Base. This was General Sadler's second assignment wearing the AFCS patch.
In July 1971, he assumed command of AFCS' Northern Communications Area, with headquarters at Griffiss Air Force Base, N.Y. During this tour, he was nominated for promotion to brigadier general. In August of 1972, he was named director, communications-electronics (J-6) for the U.S. Readiness Command at MacDill Air Force Base, Fla. General Sadler became the vice commander of AFCS, which by that time was headquartered at Richards-Gebaur Air Force Base, Mo., in March 1974.
In August of 1974, General Sadler returned to Washington, D.C., for duty as deputy director of command control and communications, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Programs and Resources, Headquarters U.S. Air Force. Ten months later, General Sadler was assigned to the Joint Staff, Organization of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as the director for communications-electronics (J-6). He was assigned to the Defense Communications Agency, Arlington, Va., in August 1976 as deputy director for plans and programs. On Oct. 31, 1977, General Sadler assumed his present command, and on Nov. 1, 1977 established AFCS Headquarters at its present home on Scott Air Force Base.
His military decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal with oak leaf cluster, the Legion of Merit with two oak leaf clusters, the Meritorious Service Medal, and the Air Force Outstanding Unit Award with oak leaf cluster and valor device. General Sadler is a master navigator.
He was promoted to the grade of major general June 1, 1975, with date of rank July 1, 1972.
https://www.af.mil/About-Us/Biographies/Display/Article/105728/major-general-robert-e-sadler/
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