Retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Charles Yeager talks to members of the media following a re-enactment flight commemorating his breaking of the sound barrier 65 years ago on Sunday, Oct. 14, 2012, at Nellis Air Force Base, Nev. (AP Photo/Isaac Brekken)

Brig. Gen. Charles E. “Chuck” Yeager, the first man to travel faster than the speed of sound has died. He was 97.

The announcement was made on Yeager’s Twitter account by his second wife, Victoria Scott D’Angelo Yeager, shortly after 10:30 p.m. Monday night.

“It is w/ profound sorrow, I must tell you that my life love General Chuck Yeager passed just before 9pm ET. An incredible life well lived, America’s greatest Pilot, & a legacy of strength, adventure, & patriotism will be remembered forever,” the tweet read.

Yeager, a West Virginia native, made his historic flight on Oct. 14, 1947, at the Rogers Dry Lake in the Mojave Desert in a Bell XS-1 aircraft he nicknamed Glamorous Glennis, a tribute to his first wife, Glennis Dickhouse Yeager. The plane is on display at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C.

Yeager served in the U.S. Air Force in World War II and the Vietnam War. He was highly decorated, earning the Air Force Distinguished Service Medal, the Army Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star (2), the Legion of Merit (2), the Distinguished Flying Cross (3), the Bronze Star Medal and a Purple Heart, among others commendations.

Additional details will be available Tuesday at www.nashuatelegraph.com.