Early Life
Born as Carl Andrew Spatz, he added the second "a" in 1937 at the request of his wife and daughters to clarify the pronunciation of the name, as many pronounced it "spats". He added the second "a" to draw it out to sound like "ah", like the "a" in "father". (The name is thus correctly pronounced "Spahtz".)
Spaatz received his nickname at West Point because of his resemblance to another red-headed cadet named F.J. Toohey. He graduated as a second lieutenant of Infantry 12 June 1914. He was assigned as a student in the Signal Corps Aviation School at San Diego, California, between 13 October 1915 and 15 May 1916. He was detached to the Aviation Section, U.S. Signal Corps in Mexico on 8 June 1916.
Spaatz served in the First Aero Squadron which was attached to General John J. Pershing during the Punitive Expedition. Spaatz was promoted to First Lieutenant on 1 July 1916 and to Captain on 15 May 1917.
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