Deane, John Russell, Jr., GEN

US Army General. A highly decorated officer who participated in combat tours in World War II, the Korean War, and the Vietnam War, he rose in rank to become the commander of the US Army Materiel Command from February 1975 until January 1977. The son of a career Army officer, he grew up at different Army locations in the US and overseas. In 1937, after enlisting in the US Army, he was selected to attend the West Point Preparatory School at Fort Dix, New Jersey, and won the highest ranking admission of both the Presidential and Army appointments to the West Point Military Academy at West Point, New York. After graduating in 1942 with a commission as a second lieutenant, he served in the European Theater during World War II, and by the end of war he had attained the rank of lieutenant colonel and became a battalion commander. After returning from the war, he held several different staff positions in the US and Germany and in August 1965, he became the Assistant Division Commander, 82nd Airborne Division, at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. Following two command assignments in Viet Nam, he returned to the US to become the Director of Doctrine in the Office of the US Army Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development, them commander of the 82nd Airborne. In July 1972, he was appointed the US Army Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development, serving until August 1972, when he became the Deputy Director of the Defense Intelligence Agency. In February 1974 he was promoted to the rank of general and assigned as the Commander of the US Army Materiel Development and Readiness Command, retiring in that position on January 31, 1977 with 35 years of continued active military service. Among his military decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross (with oak leaf cluster), the Army Distinguished Service Medal (with two oak leaf clusters), the Silver Star (with two oak leaf clusters), the Legion of Merit (with one oak leaf cluster), the Distinguished Flying Cross, the Air Medal (with numeral 25), the Purple Heart, the National Order of Vietnam, 5th Class, the Vietnamese Cross of Gallantry (with Palm), and the Combat Infantryman Badge. After his retirement, he founded a consulting company which provided advice on the development of technology directed at the weapons requirement of the Armed Forces. He died at the age of 94.