United States Army generals

George_V._Underwood_Jr.

George Vernon Underwood Jr. (December 17, 1913 – August 3, 1984) was a United States Army four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, United States Southern Command (USCINCSO) from 1971 to 1973. He graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in 1931 and attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville for two years. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1937 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps.
Prior to World War II, he served as a battery grade officer with artillery units at Fort Scott in San Francisco, at Fort Kamahameha in the Territory of Hawaii, and at Fort Rodman in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
He attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1941. After serving as operations and training officer of the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay, Fort Adams, Rhode Island, General Underwood was selected to attend the Task Force Staff Officers' Course conducted by the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff.
Upon completing this course, he was retained in the Operations Division where he served until 1945. In August, 1945, he was assigned to Headquarters, China Theater, where he served as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-5, (Civil Affairs), then as Chief of the Control Section of the Office of the Chief of Staff, and finally as Chief of the Plans Division.
In June 1946, General Underwood was sent to Washington, D.C., to serve as Assistant to the Special Representative of General George C. Marshall, who was then the Presidential Envoy to China. General Underwood returned to China in October, 1946, as Executive Officer to General Marshall. Upon his return from China in May 1947, he was assigned to the Plans and Operations Division, War Department General Staff.
General Underwood graduated from the Armed Forces Staff College in July 1949. He then commanded the 867th Antiaircraft Artillery Automatic Weapons Battalion in Alaska until May 1951. From May 1951 until March 1953, he served as Deputy Director and then Director of the Executive Offices of the Secretary of Defense in Washington, D.C.
General Underwood graduated from the U.S. Army War College in 1954 and remained as a member of the faculty until 1957. As Commanding Officer, 2d Artillery Group, he commanded the Nike Defense of the Niagara-Buffalo Area from August 1957 until December 1958.
After eighteen months of study at University of Wisconsin–Madison, he received a Master of Arts in Journalism in 1960. He joined the Office of the Chief of Information, Department of the Army, in July 1960 and served as Assistant Chief of Information until January 1961. He was designated Deputy Chief of Information in January 1961 and Chief of Information in February 1963. He became a Major General on July 24, 1963.
In February, 1966, General Underwood was assigned as the Commanding General, 32d Artillery Brigade, in Kaiserslautern, Germany. On May 11, 1966, the 32d Artillery Brigade was redesignated the 32d Army Air Defense Command (AADC). Underwood was commander of Fort Bliss from 1967 to 1968 and later was commander, Aerospace Defense Command and commander, Fifth United States Army. He commanded the Southern Command from 1971 until retiring in 1973.
General Underwood received the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, the Army Commendation Ribbon with One Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Special Breast Order of Yun Hui (Chinese).
He married Mary Heistand Underwood (née Scott) on June 16, 1948 and had three children: Scotty, Molly and Mary Kate.

Salvador_T._Roig

Brigadier General Salvador Teodoro Roig Marietti, (November 9, 1907 – July 6, 1984), was the Superintendent of the Puerto Rico Police Department under the Government of Luis Muñoz Marín, and Adjutant General of the National Guard under the Government of Roberto Sánchez Vilella.
Roig was appointed Chief of police of Puerto Rico for a second time in 1963, and he was subsequently appointed to the position of Adjutant General of the Puerto Rico National Guard. Among his accomplishments as a public servant stands have occupied the positions of Chief of Police of Puerto Rico, Military Assistant and Chief of Protocol of La Fortaleza (The Fortress) under the Government of Jesús T. Piñero. He was also exalted in the Puerto Rican Sports Hall of Fame for his exploits in the sport of archery target.

Richard_E._Cavazos

Richard Edward Cavazos (January 31, 1929 – October 29, 2017) was a United States Army 4-star general. He was a Korean War recipient of the Distinguished Service Cross as a first lieutenant and advanced in rank to become the United States Army's first Hispanic four-star general. During the Vietnam War, as a lieutenant colonel, Cavazos was awarded a second Distinguished Service Cross. In 1976, Cavazos became the first Mexican-American to reach the rank of brigadier general in the United States Army. Cavazos served for 33 years, with his final command as head of the United States Army Forces Command. On May 25, 2022, The Naming Commission recommended that Fort Hood be renamed to Fort Cavazos, in recognition of Gen. Cavazos' military service. Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ordered the renaming on October 6, 2022. The re-designation as Fort Cavazos occurred on May 9, 2023.

Felix_L._Sparks

Felix Laurence Sparks (August 2, 1917 – September 25, 2007) was an American attorney, government official, and military officer from Colorado. A veteran of World War II, he attained the rank of brigadier general in the Colorado Army National Guard and received the Silver Star and the Purple Heart. Sparks also served as District Attorney of Colorado's 7th Judicial District, an Associate Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, and the longtime director of the Colorado Water Conservation Board.
A native of San Antonio, Sparks was raised and educated in Arizona and served as an enlisted soldier in the United States Army from 1936 to 1938. He then attended the University of Arizona, where he maintained his military interest by taking part in the Reserve Officers' Training Corps and several Citizens' Military Training Camps while also serving in the Army Reserve. In 1939, he was called to active duty for World War II, and in 1940 he received his commission as a second lieutenant. Assigned to the 45th Infantry Division, Sparks served with the division's 157th Infantry Regiment throughout the war, from its arrival in North Africa through combat in Sicily, Italy, France, and Germany. Near the end of the war, Sparks was commander of the 157th Infantry's 3rd Battalion, which he led during its participation in the liberation of the Dachau concentration camp. For his wartime service, Sparks was twice awarded both the Silver Star and the Purple Heart, as well as the French Croix de Guerre.
After the war, Sparks graduated from the University of Colorado Law School, was admitted to the bar, and practiced in Delta, Colorado. A leader of the local Democratic Party, Sparks served a term as District Attorney of Colorado's 7th Judicial District (1949–1953), and briefly filled a vacancy as an Associate Justice of the Colorado Supreme Court (1956). In 1957, Sparks was appointed attorney for the Colorado Water Conservation Board. In 1958, he became the board's director, and he served in this position until retiring in 1979.
In addition to pursuing careers in law and government, Sparks continued to serve in the military. Assigned as executive officer of the 157th Regimental Combat Team (RCT), a unit of the Colorado Army National Guard, Sparks subsequently commanded the RCT's 1st Battalion. He commanded the 169th Field Artillery Group as a colonel in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including recall to active duty for several months during the Berlin Crisis of 1961. Sparks was promoted to brigadier general in 1968 and assigned as the Colorado National Guard's assistant adjutant general for army and commander of the Colorado Army National Guard. Sparks served in the National Guard until reaching the mandatory retirement age in 1977.
Sparks died in Lakewood, Colorado, on September 25, 2007. He was buried at Crown Hill Cemetery in Wheat Ridge, Colorado.

Richard_J._Seitz

Lieutenant General Richard Joe Seitz (February 18, 1918 – June 8, 2013) was a United States Army officer and paratrooper who, during a 35-year career, commanded the 2nd Battalion, 517th Parachute Infantry Regiment during World War II, the 82nd Airborne Division and the XVIII Airborne Corps.