General Cousins was the Commanding General of the Western Training Command of the US Army Air Force, based in Santa Ana California.

Tom Cartmell was under General Cousins’ command during his training and he is mentioned in Tom’s letters.

According to one report, General Cousins, upon observing white and black officers sharing the same dining facility, ordered that they be segregated.^[1]Netty, Isaac Richmond. Brady, Tim, ed. The American Aviation Experience: A History. Carbondale and Edwardsville: Southern Illinois University Press. p. 355. ISBN 0-8093-2325-7.

After the war, he retired, disabled, in 1946 but continued to live in Southern California. He died in 1964.