Barksdale Hamlett Barksdale Hamlett , Jr . ( December 30 , 1908 – August 26 , 1979 ) was a United States Army four - star general who served as commandant of the American sector of Berlin during the 1958 Berlin crisis and as vice chief of staff of the U . S . Army from 1962 to 1964 . He later served as President of Norwich University in Vermont . Early career . He was born in Hopkinsville , Kentucky to Barksdale Hamlett , Sr . and Daisey C . Hamlett . When he was three , his family moved to Frankfort , Kentucky when his father was elected superintendent of public instruction for the state of Kentucky , but later relocated to Columbia , Kentucky . As a junior at Adair County High School ( Kentucky ) | Adair County High School , he received an appointment to the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis from Congressman Ralph Gilbert , to begin in 1925 . However , Gilbert revoked the appointment after traveling to the Far East that summer on a Navy cruiser and being appalled by what he considered to be excessive drinking by the ship ' s officers during port calls . Instead , Gilbert substituted an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point for the following year . Hamlett spent the intervening year at Lindsey Wilson Junior College and entered the Military Academy on July 1 , 1926 , where he roomed with future four - star general Hamilton H . Howze . Graduating in 1930 in the middle of his class , he was commissioned a second lieutenant in the field artillery . His first assignment was in C Battery , 12th Field Artillery , 2nd Infantry Division , Fort Sam Houston , Texas . In 1932 he was assigned as motors officer and later battery executive in B Battery , 11th Field Artillery , Hawaiian Division , Schofield Barracks , Hawaii , which won the prestigious Knox Trophy that year as the best Field Artillery battery in the Army . In 1934 he was transferred to the 18th Field Artillery , Fort Sill , Oklahoma , but was almost immediately reassigned as assistant post signal officer at Fort Sill , where the following year he attended the Regular Course and Advanced Motors Course at the Field Artillery School . He then served a three - year tour at Fort Sam Houston as regimental motors officer and later regimental adjutant for the 15th Field Artillery , and finished his tour as an aide to Brigadier General Lesley J . McNair . In 1939 , Hamlett reported to the 1st Balloon Squadron , Army Air Corps , Post Field , where he was rated as a free balloon pilot , captive balloon pilot , and motorized balloon pilot . He abandoned the Air Corps upon receiving his desired assignment as a gunnery instructor at the field artillery school at Fort Sill . He was promoted to captain in 1940 by new legislation that automatically advanced every regular officer with at least 10 years of service . World War II . Following the attack on Pearl Harbor , Hamlett was recruited to be corps artillery executive for II Corps . In 1942 he landed with the 1st Infantry Division on Arzew Beach near Oran , Morocco during the Allied invasion of North Africa . Drawing on his experience as an instructor at Fort Sill , he helped reorganize the previously ineffective corps artillery , helping mold it into a decisive arm . It was particularly noted for its ability to mass concentrated fire at the Battle of El Guettar . In July 1943 , he was transferred back to Washington , D . C . at the request of now - Lieutenant General McNair . As commander of Army Ground Forces , McNair was responsible for training all stateside divisions , corps , and armies in preparation for deployment overseas , and he requisitioned combat - experienced officers from all branches to develop the training curricula and supervise the tests . At Army Ground Force Headquarters , Hamlett ' s first assignment was to write the manual on corps artillery doctrine , based on his observations in North Africa . He remained at Army Ground Forces as assistant G - 3 until September 1944 . When his mentor McNair was killed on an inspection tour in France , Hamlett immediately secured assignment as division artillery commander for the John L . Pierce ' s 16th Armored Division , in which role he was promoted to colonel . The division saw light action in Germany and advanced into Czechoslovakia , liberating Pilsen before being ordered to halt short of Prague . The division withdrew to Sudeten mountains , where Hamlett became the military governor of a district containing 187 towns and villages . Following the German surrender , the 16th Armored Division was inactivated and its artillery elements were folded into the 190th Field Artillery Group , a unit selected for the invasion of Japan . Hamlett was group commander for one month before Japan capitulated and he was transferred to the 15th Army Group to help write the after battle reports of World War II . After the war , Hamlett spent a year of study at the École Militaire in Paris , France before returning to the United States to serve as director of the Gunnery Department at Fort Sill . He was a student at the National War College from 1948 to 1949 . Korean War . In December 1949 , he was ordered to the headquarters of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur as executive officer of the logistics section ( G - 4 ) , GHQ , Japan . At the start of the Korean War , he served as chief of the Supply Division and later , as G - 4 chief of planning , he supervised the logistics planning for the Inchon landing . In December 1951 , he went to Korea himself as division artillery commander for the 24th Infantry Division . He was promoted to brigadier general in 1952 and assigned to the General Staff in Washington , D . C . as assistant for planning coordination in the office of the deputy chief of staff for plans . He returned to Europe in 1955 as corps artillery commander for VII Corps . Promoted to major general on May 17 , 1956 , he commanded the 10th Infantry Division in Würzburg before being transferred to command the American garrison in West Berlin . Commandant of Berlin . As commandant of the American sector of Berlin from June 4 , 1957 to December 15 , 1959 , Hamlett commanded a 4 , 000 - man garrison in the southwest corner of West Berlin and was deputy chief of mission to Ambassador David K . E . Bruce in Bonn . His tour coincided with the 1958 Berlin crisis , which began when Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev issued an ultimatum demanding that the occupation of Berlin be terminated within six months . Tensions escalated as the Soviets began interfering with Western access to Berlin by detaining U . S . convoys on the autobahn for hours . In January 1959 , Hamlett ' s own wife was halted by East German police while being driven in a U . S . Army car from East Berlin to West Berlin . The Western Allies presented a unified diplomatic and military front and the deadline passed without incident . In October 1959 , the East German government declared its intention to fly its new hammer - and - compass flag over the 78 elevated railway stations in the Western sector , since the railway was operated by the East German state railroad system . On November 2 , as chairman of the three - power Allied Kommandatura for that month , Hamlett informed his Soviet counterpart that should the East Germans attempt to fly the flags in the Western sector , then West German police would remove them , and that should the police be prevented from removing the flags , then Allied troops would complete the job and hold the Russians responsible for any resulting disorder . The East Germans backed down on November 5 . Five days later , the Army announced that Hamlett had been reassigned to Washington , D . C . , stressing that the move was a long - scheduled rotation since the crisis had already extended his tour six months beyond the normal two years . His transfer was interpreted as an indication that the Pentagon believed the immediate danger to West Berlin had passed . Army Vice Chief of Staff . In January 1960 , Hamlett assumed his duties as assistant deputy chief of staff for military operations . Twelve months later , he was elevated to deputy chief of staff , and was promoted to lieutenant general on March 11 , 1961 . As deputy chief of staff for military operations he concentrated on the development of special forces and the new airmobile division . Promoted to full general in 1962 , he was assigned as vice chief of staff of the U . S . Army amid speculation that he would soon succeed Army chief of staff George H . Decker , who was not expected to be reappointed . As vice chief of staff , Hamlett negotiated the creation of U . S . Strike Command with Air Force chief of staff Curtis E . LeMay , played a key role in Army operations during the Cuban Missile Crisis , and participated in the escalation of the Vietnam War . Reflecting on this period later , Hamlett said , " I think the most important thing was something I " didn ' t " recommend ; and that was that we didn ' t become involved in Vietnam to the point where we would have to commit combat forces . I think it was a failure , and I would have to say that I shared the responsibility because I didn ' t see far enough ahead to speak out . " Hamlett was receptive to dissenting views about the progress of the war , most notably arranging for Lieutenant Colonel John Paul Vann to brief the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( JCS ) . " Vann had a lot to say about what was going on in Vietnam , which was completely counter to the reports we were receiving through JCS channels . And they were so different that I wanted him to brief the Chiefs . " On his own authority , Hamlett scheduled the briefing for July 8 , 1963 , but it was canceled at the last minute by Army chief of staff Earle G . Wheeler at the behest of JCS chairman Maxwell D . Taylor , whose protégé , General Paul D . Harkins , commander of U . S . forces in Vietnam , was producing the optimistic reports that Vann ' s briefing was intended to contradict . In March 1964 , Hamlett suffered a massive heart attack and was expected to die . A week later , vice chief of naval operations Claude V . Ricketts also suffered a heart attack and actually did die . Detecting a trend , Air Force vice chief of staff William F . McKee visited Hamlett in the hospital and announced his own retirement . " Why ? With you lying there like that , and that other fellow already dead ? I ' ll be next , but I ' m going to get out before it happens ! " Hamlett and McKee both retired later that year . President of Norwich University . In 1965 he became president of Norwich University , the oldest military college in the United States . During his tenure he dealt with student unrest and a drop in cadet enrollment that eventually compelled Norwich to merge with Vermont College in Montpelier , Vermont . The Vermont College student body was predominantly women , sparking apprehension that Norwich might lose its military character . " I told the trustees flat out that if you can ' t accept change , you better prepare yourself for bankruptcy , " Hamlett said later . He stepped down in 1972 after completing the merger . Personal life . After retiring from Norwich University , he lived in Charleston , South Carolina . He was president of the Retired Officers Association from 1974 through 1975 . He died of cardiac arrest at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in 1979 and was buried at West Point . He married the former Frances Valencia Underwood on December 15 , 1931 and they had one daughter . Decorations . Here is General Hamlett´s ribbon bar :