John William Vessey , Jr . John William Vessey , Jr . ( born June 29 , 1922 ) is a retired United States Army general . He served as the tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from June 18 , 1982 to September 30 , 1985 . When he retired in 1985 at the age of 63 , General Vessey was the longest serving active duty member in the United States Army . He began his 46 - year military career in the Minnesota National Guard in 1939 when he was still 16 . He received a battlefield commission during the Battle of Anzio in World War II . General Vessey also served in the Korean and Vietnam War s . As a Lieutenant Colonel , he graduated from college in 1963 at the age of 41 . As a Colonel , he was a student at the Army helicopter school at the age of 48 . In 1982 , President Ronald Reagan appointed him as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , a position he would hold for over three years , a comparatively short term . He was the last four star combat veteran of World War II on active service . After retiring from the Army , General Vessey became involved in efforts to account for military personnel listed as missing in action from the Vietnam War . He made several trips to Vietnam to search for remains as part of resolving the Vietnam War POW / MIA issue . General Vessey was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1992 . Early life and education . Vessey was born in Minneapolis , Minnesota , on June 29 , 1922 . In May 1939 , thirteen months before he graduated from Roosevelt High School , he enlisted in the Minnesota National Guard as a motorcycle rider in Headquarters , 59th Field Artillery Brigade , 34th Infantry Division . His unit was activated in February 1941 . Career . World War II . During World War II , Vessey served with the 34th Infantry Division . The experience of early American setbacks in North Africa left Vessey with a lifelong appreciation of the need for realistic combat training , modern equipment , physical fitness , and air - ground cooperation . When Major General Omar Bradley , Commander of II Corps in North Africa , launched the U . S . drive on Bizerte in April 1943 , he gave the 34th the most difficult objective : the well - defended Hill 609 . In the first clear - cut U . S . Army victory of the campaign , the 34th Division took its objective , opening the way for the U . S . advance on Bizerte . Vessey , who had been a First Sergeant since 1 September 1942 , later described being a first sergeant in combat as the " toughest job " he had . He was with the 34th when it entered the Anzio beachhead in Italy in May 1944 ; there he received a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant , serving as a forward observer . Korean War and afterwards . After the war , most of Vessey ' s service continued to be in field artillery assignments . In the 1950s he served with the 4th Infantry Division in Germany and the Eighth U . S . Army in the Republic of Korea . During this period he also attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . By the time Vessey became a lieutenant colonel , he had earned enough credits through night school and correspondence courses for a bachelor of science degree , which he received from the University of Maryland University College in 1963 . In 1965 , he received a master of science from George Washington University . From 1963 to 1965 Vessey commanded the 2d Battalion , 73rd Field Artillery in the 3rd Armored Division ; then he spent a year as a student at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces . Vietnam War . During the Vietnam War , Vessey served for a year as Executive Officer of the 25th Infantry Division Artillery in Vietnam . In March 1967 , when acting as Commander of the 2nd Battalion , 77th Artillery , he was given the mission of establishing a fire support base at Suoi Tre during Operation Junction City . Located deep in enemy - controlled territory , Vessey and his men oriented the firebase ' s defenses on the enemy ' s likely avenues of approach and rehearsed counterattack plans . During the attack by a reinforced regiment , the base was partially overrun . Vessey and his men fired their howitzer s directly into the enemy ranks . Although greatly outnumbered , the defenders , aided by gunship s and artillery , killed four hundred of their assailants while successfully defending the firebase . Lieutenant Colonel Vessey received the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions during the battle . From Vietnam , he went to Germany , to serve first as Commander of the 3d Armored Division Artillery from October 1967 until March 1969 and then as Division Chief of Staff for a year . He was promoted to colonel in November 1967 . Vessey went back to Southeast Asia in December 1970 to head the U . S . Army Support Command , Thailand . In January 1972 he went into Laos to coordinate all US military operations in support of the war in Laos . Vessey worked with the U . S . ambassador , the CIA station chief , and an assortment of military contingents . When the Laotian ceasefire came in February 1973 , the Royal Lao government controlled all major cities and the vast majority of the population . After the Vietnam War . Upon his return to the United States , Vessey became Director of Operations in the Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans . Promoted to major general in August 1974 , he assumed command of the 4th Infantry Division ( Mechanized ) at Fort Carson , Colorado . Promoted to lieutenant general in September 1975 , he became the Army ' s Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Plans . Vessey received his fourth star in November 1976 . From 1976 to 1979 he served in the Republic of Korea as Commanding General of the Eighth U . S . Army ; Commander of U . S . Forces , Korea ; and Commander in Chief of the United Nations Command . In 1978 , he became the first Commander in Chief of the Republic of Korea - United States Combined Forces Command . His tour was marked by increased tension caused by evidence of a North Korean buildup and by President Jimmy Carter ' s 1977 announcement that U . S . ground forces would be withdrawn . Vessey worked to assuage South Korean concerns and change the President ' s decision . After Carter ' s 1979 visit , withdrawal plans were suspended and then cancelled . From July 1979 until June 1982 , General Vessey served as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army . Chairmanship of the Joint Chiefs of Staff . On June 18 , 1982 , he became the tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the last World War II combat veteran to serve in the position . General Vessey was the only Chairman who had been neither a Service Chief nor a commander of a unified or specified command . He served as Chairman during a period of unprecedented growth in peacetime defense spending and an expanded U . S . military presence worldwide intended to counter growing Soviet military power . Vessey and the Service Chiefs believed that their overriding task lay in convincing Soviet leaders that their quest for military superiority and geostrategic advantage was fruitless . In Europe , they pushed the controversial but successful deployment of Pershing II and ground - launched cruise missile s to offset the Soviet SS - 20 missiles . In Southwest Asia , highly visible US military activities underscored the US commitment to defend its vital interests in the region . In Central America , training and intelligence were provided to support counter - insurgency efforts . Believing that it was a mistake to commit a superpower ' s forces to a peacekeeping mission , Vessey and the Joint Chiefs in 1982 and 1983 advised against deployment of a Marine contingent to Lebanon as part of a multinational peacekeeping force intended to restore peace among warring factions there . Their advice was not taken , and on 23 October 1983 a truck - bomb attack on the Marine headquarters building in Beirut killed 241 US Marines and Army soldiers . In late February 1984 President Reagan withdrew the contingent from Lebanon . Vessey stressed the need for improvement of war plans and , for the first time , JCS members along with commanders of unified and specified commands personally participated in war games . Realizing the need to strengthen the joint system , Vessey and the Service Chiefs improved Joint Staff operations by adding a capability for budgetary analysis and by improving the quality of its personnel , changes that did not require legislation . Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger understood the importance of decentralization ; he authorized Vessey to direct military operations on the Secretary ' s behalf . The 1983 Grenada operation , for example , was planned by Atlantic Command , reviewed by the JCS , and approved by Secretary Weinberger and the President — all in four days . Vessey oversaw execution of the operation that rescued US citizens and brought a pro - US government into power . During Vessey ' s tenure there was increased emphasis on space as a theater of operations . In early 1983 , the Joint Chiefs mentioned to the President that defense against nuclear - armed missiles might be technically feasible in the next century . To their surprise , Reagan seized upon the concept and on 23 March 1983 announced his vision of the Strategic Defense Initiative ( SDI ) . Realizing the enormous military advantages to be gained from operations in space and to support SDI , the JCS recommended the establishment of a unified command for space . US Space Command was activated on 23 September 1985 . Later work . Vietnamese emissary . Vessey retired on September 30 , 1985 , several months before the expiration of his second term as Chairman . He was the last four - star World War II combat veteran on active duty and , with forty - six years of service , had served the longest of anyone then in the Army . In retirement , he served President Reagan and his successors , Presidents George Bush and William J . Clinton , as a special emissary to Vietnam on the question of American service personnel missing from the Vietnam War . For his work in Vietnam , General Vessey was awarded the prestigious United States Military Academy ' s Sylvanus Thayer Award in 1996 . He was also awarded the nation ' s highest civilian award , the Presidential Medal of Freedom , in 1992 .