Maj. Gen. Doyle Larson explained new kind of war

Retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Doyle Larson of Burnsville, who helped keep Minnesotans apprised of military strategy and technology during the first Persian Gulf War, died of cancer on Aug. 13 in Edina.

The Madelia, Minn., native was 76.

In 1951, he left Macalester College to enlist in the Air Force. After Russian language schooling, he received officer training and became a flight navigator.

Rising through the ranks, Larson served in positions involving radar, electronic security and electronic warfare technologies.

Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Dennis Schulstad, a former Minneapolis city councilman, said that Larson was one of the "brains" behind the new kind of electronic warfare Americans first saw and read about in the early 1990s.

Larson also taught classes to now-retired Gens. Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf in senior military college, said Schulstad.

When WCCO-TV sought an expert in 1990 to help describe a war in the Persian Gulf that was vastly more technologically advanced than the Vietnam War, it was directed to Larson, said WCCO's Don Shelby.

Seeing the green nighttime smoke over Baghdad when the war began, "Nobody knew what happened," Shelby said. Larson helped viewers understand, giving lucid details on the strategy, armaments and electronic warfare used to destroy Baghdad's defenses.

"We'll put their eyes out," Larson told viewers, meaning U. S. forces would knock out the Iraqi radar positions behind its antiaircraft artillery, and "that will give us domination in the air," Shelby recalled him saying.

Four days later, generals and admirals were offering the nation the same kind of detail and terminology, learning from Larson's example, said Shelby, a former Air Force non-commissioned officer.

In the presence of generals, "I still stiffen up," Shelby said. "But the general never let me feel his inferior. He was just one of the nicest human beings that ever graced this earth. He was a good man."

Larson retired from the Air Force in 1983, returning to the Twin Cities where he started and led two defense consulting firms.

He served on the board of trustees of Macalester College from 1991 to 2003. About 10 years ago, he led the U. S. Air Force Association of retired and current Air Force personnel.

In July, the headquarters building of the Air Force Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Agency at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio was named Larson Hall in his honor.

He received a bachelor's degree in English from Hardin-Simmons University in Abilene, Texas, in 1962 and in 1970 earned his master's degree in political science from Auburn University in Alabama.

He is survived by his wife, Lois, of Burnsville; sons, James of Minneapolis and Mark of Willow Park, Texas; daughters, retired Air Force Maj. Nancy Larson, and Mary, both of San Angelo, Texas; sisters, Harriet Olson of Harlingen, Texas, and Joady Bartlett of Kalispell, Mont., and four grandchildren.

Services have been held.

Ben Cohen • bcohen@startribune.com