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 retired from the army 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 Heistand Scott Underwood on June 16 , 1948 and had three children : Scott , Molly and Mary Kate . Honors . The golf complex at Fort Bliss is named after him .