Paul L . Freeman , Jr . Paul Lamar Freeman , Jr . ( June 29 , 1907 – April 17 , 1988 ) was a United States Army four - star general who served as Commander in Chief , U . S . Army Europe / Commander , Central Army Group ( CINCUSAREUR / COMCENTAG ) from 1962 to 1965 and Commanding General , U . S . Continental Army Command ( CG CONARC ) from 1965 to 1967 . Military career . Freeman was born June 29 , 1907 , in the Philippine Islands , son of Paul Lamar and Emma ( Rosenbaum ) Freeman . He graduated from the United States Military Academy on June 13 , 1929 , with a class ranking of 213 and commissioned in the infantry . His first assignment was at Fort Sam Houston with the 9th Infantry Division . While in Texas , he married Mary Ann Fishburn on August 18 , 1932 , and had one daughter . A month after getting married , he reported to Fort Benning to attend the Officer ' s Course at the Infantry School , then was assigned to Tianjin ( then called Tientsin ) in China with the 15th Infantry Regiment until 1936 . Upon his return to the U . S . he was assigned to Fort Washington , Maryland and was a company commander in the 12th Infantry Regiment , and subsequently returned to Fort Benning for the Tank Course . He then spent a year as company and battalion Maintenance Officer with the 66th Infantry Regiment . At the time of the United States entry into World War II , Freeman was in China again , in Beijing as a language student and concurrently as Assistant Military Attaché at the American embassy . Shortly after the attack on Pearl Harbor , he was assigned to the U . S . Military Mission to China , and a few months later reassigned to the staff of the China India Burma Theater as an instructor to Chinese and Indian Armies . He remained on the theater staff until September 1943 , when he returned to Washington D . C . , as a staff officer . Towards the end of the war in late 1944 , he was sent to Rio de Janeiro , Brazil as Director of Arms Training for the Joint Brazil - United States Military Commission , a position he held until October 1947 . He returned to the Army General Staff in Washington D . C . , working in the Latin American Branch of the Plans and Operating Division , then from 1948 to 1950 , served as a member of the Joint Brazil - U . S . Military Commission , and was also a member of the U . S . Army delegation to the Inter - American Defense Board . With the outbreak of the Korean War , he was deployed to that theater as the Commander of the 23rd Infantry Regiment in the 2nd Infantry Division , and remained in command until he was wounded ( shrapnel in his left calf ) in February 1951 at the Battle of Chipyong - ni . It was a battle in which he held his unit together against almost overwhelming Chinese attacks and was awarded one of his Silver Star medals . Even though his wound was a relatively minor one , it was the excuse that his commander , General Ned Almond , needed in order to replace him with a commander who was more obedient and less independent than Freeman . However the men who fought under Freeman were disappointed to see him be replaced as they credited him with saving their unit multiple times . They saw him as a commander who was more concerned for his men and their welfare than pushing his own career . After the war , what Colonel Freeman did at the battle of Chipyong - ni was studied for years at the Command and General Staff School at Leavenworth as a textbook case of how to deal with a numerically superior enemy . Returning from the war , he attended the National War College , graduating in 1952 . In 1955 , he assumed command of the 2nd Infantry Division , and in 1956 took command of the 4th Infantry Division , at that time stationed at Fort Lewis , Washington . After his second division command ended in 1957 , he served as Senior Army Member to the Weapons System Evaluation Group in Washington D . C . He was named Deputy Commanding General for Reserve Forces ( CONARC ) in 1960 . On May 1 , 1962 he received his fourth star , and assumed duties as Commander in Chief , U . S . Army Europe / Commander , Central Army Group ( CINCUSAREUR / COMCENTAG ) , serving in that capacity until 1965 . His final assignment was Commanding General , U . S . Continental Army Command ( CG CONARC ) from 1965 to 1967 . Freeman retired from the Army in 1967 , and died in Monterey California on April 17 , 1988 . Awards and decorations . Badges Decorations Service Medals Foreign Awards Unit Awards Halberstam , David " The Coldest Winter ( America and the Korean War ) "