Editor’s Note: This is one of five stories featuring 2025 DLA Hall of Fame inductees. An induction ceremony will be held 2 p.m. May 21 at the McNamara Headquarters Complex auditorium on Fort Belvoir, Virginia. The ceremony is open to all DLA employees; invitations are not needed.
The Defense Logistics Agency director who led the Standard Automated Material Management System implementation, worldwide bulk petroleum management efforts and transcontinental subsistence delivery in Europe is a member of the 2025 DLA Hall of Fame.
Air Force Lt. Gen. Earl Hedlund served twice as a DLA leader – first as deputy director of the Defense Supply Agency from 1966 to 1967, then as the third director of DSA from 1967-1971, becoming the first from his service to hold the position.
The Air Force commissioned Hedlund as a pilot in 1938, flying 67 combat missions over the Aleutian Islands and 103 over Europe, destroying 15 enemy planes in 547 hours of combat. Flying a combat mission in April 1945, he suffered second-degree burns from enemy fire, where Hedlund parachuted from his P-38 and was captured by German forces. He escaped to friendly lines and returned to duty as a transportation officer and later as a logistician. Hedlund completed his command time at the Warner Robbins Air Material Area before becoming deputy director of DSA.
When Hedlund became the director of DSA, the agency was in transition. Demands from the Vietnam War increased purchase requests by more than 60 percent and personnel by almost as much, his nomination said. The war was winding down and the agency faced cuts. In fiscal year 1968, Hedlund decreased DSA's inventory by $300 million and returned $100 million to the military services. He also faced personnel challenges, hiring only three people for every four vacancies.
In 1967, the agency sought to implement the SAMMS platform that was not yet operational at five supply centers to link supply functions across multiple supply chains. Hedlund said implementing SAMMS took leadership, so he prioritized completion, centralized oversight and fought for funding. Instead of installing the system at five centers, he concentrated on one, his nomination said.
“In 1969, halfway through his tour, DSA established SAMMS at the Defense Construction Supply Center in Columbus [Ohio]. By the time he left, Hedlund had planned to bring the technology to the rest of the agency,” his nomination said. “The agency’s progress in the initiative converted leaders at the Pentagon from critics to supporters, resulting in DSA being asked to manage computer use across the department.”
Using his experience as a transportation officer, Hedlund pushed the agency to deliver fresh fruits and vegetables to mess halls and commissaries in Europe.
“The director launched studies, arranged payments and sold the idea on trips to the continent,” his nomination said. “Implemented in 1971, transcontinental subsistence helped DSA shift from a buying command to one that serviced customers.”
During his tenure, Hedlund also pushed for DSA to become the Defense Department's single manager of bulk petroleum to reduce costs to the military services.
“While the Office of the Secretary of Defense and DSA produced conflicting analyses of the savings this designation would incur, the director's position would prevail the year after he left the agency,” his nomination noted.