Patten native promoted to USAF brigadier general

BANGOR – Chaplain David H. Cyr, who was born in Patten, was promoted to the rank of brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force during a ceremony in Washington, D.C., in May.

Cyr, one of seven children, was raised in Eddington. He attended public school, graduated from Brewer High School, Class of 1968, and attended the University of Maine.

Cyr is the Air Force deputy chief of chaplains at Bolling Air Force Base, Washington, D.C. He assists the chief of chaplains in directing and maintaining a trained, equipped and professional chaplain service, which includes more than 2,200 chaplains and chaplain assistants from the active and Air Reserve components. As a member of the Armed Forces Chaplain Board, he and other members advise the secretary of defense and the Joint Chiefs of Staff on religious, ethical and quality of life concerns.

Cyr was commissioned a chaplain in February 1979. He started his career at Vance AFB, Okla., as a Protestant chaplain. His assignments include senior Protestant chaplain, wing chaplain and Chaplain School instructor. He has also served as joint staff chaplain at the Pentagon, and command chaplain for U.S. Air Forces in Europe and Air Combat Command. Before his current assignment, he was the commandant, USAF Chaplain Service Institute, Maxwell AFB, Ala.

Chaplain Cyr’s siblings are Evelyn Drake Kenny of Bucksport and Danforth, Ruth Kulback of Eliot, Philip Cyr of Bangor, Yvette of Montgomery-Auburn, Ala., Paul Cyr of Gorham, N.H. (deceased), and Anne Jackson of Jacksonville, Fla., and Screven, Ga.