Hugh Lee Grundy, born in 1916 at Valley Hill, Kentucky, earned his pilot's license at Louisville's Bowman Field. He attended Curtis Wright Institute of Aeronautics and Plosser Flying School, and occasionally helped Howard Hughes with his Boeing 307 and his famous Speed Holder.

In 1941 Grundy went to Africa with Pan American, supposedly to establish a commercial air route but actually to build an Allied supply route. After service in the Army Air Corps, he worked with China National Aviation Corporation in Shanghai and was chief engineer when CNAC's Chinese management fled before the Communists.

American officials encouraged Grundy to remain with CNAC, but he joined Chennault's Civil Air Transport. From 1954 to 1976 he served simultaneously as president of CAT, of the CIA's Air America and of Air Asia. He also managed Pacific operations of Southern Air Transport. He commanded over 10,000 men and women who served America's objectives (either openly or covertly) in Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Thailand, Taiwan, Japan and Korea. He served 27 years in China, retiring from Air America in 1976. He was subsequently senior vice president and later a director of Southern Air Transport.

For 40 years, Hugh Grundy served America with dedication and discretion. Only when he was honored by the Congress and the CIA in 2001 did his wife Frankie realize his true role. She had accompanied him throughout his career, enduring war and rebellion, thinking he was simply an aviation executive. In fact, he was an invaluable - but secret - asset to America.