William Robertson Desobry William Robertson Desobry ( September 11 , 1918 – January 12 , 1996 ) was a senior U . S . Army field commander in Germany during the Cold War , and a Lieutenant General in the United States Army . General Desobry was a decorated hero from World War II , and played a significant role as an advisor to the Republic of Vietnam Army and on the Army Staff during the Vietnam War . In addition to commanding a division and corps , he was the Commanding General of the Armor Center and was the President of the XM - 1 Tank Task Force . After 34 years in the Army and service in two wars , Lieutenant General Desobry completed his military career in 1975 . Education . Desobry received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1941 from Georgetown University , where he was a distinguished graduate of their Reserve Officer Training Corps program and earned a Regular Army commission . Early life and career . Born in Manila , the Philippine Islands in 1918 , Desobry was the son of Colonel and Mrs . Elmer C . Desobry . He attended high schools in Chicago , Illinois , and Honolulu , Hawaii – graduating from Punahou Academy in 1936 . John McManus described Desobry , " Rail - thin at six - feet - four and one - hundred - sixty pounds , he was the son of a career soldier . He qualified as something of a family rebel because he had elected to go to Georgetown University instead of West Point . He had graduated in 1941 with an ROTC ( Reserve Officers ' Training Corps ) commission . Although he had only been in the Army four years , he had deployed overseas as commander of the 20th Armored Infantry Battalion because of his natural leadership skills . His subsequent performance in combat only enhanced his fine reputation . Now he found himself in charge of 325 soldiers and fifteen tanks in a mixed task force generally known as ' Team Desobry . ' " World War II . General Desobry ’ s service during World War II included a tour of duty with the 29th Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning , Georgia and the 10th Armored Division in CONUS , and the European Theater of Operations . He commanded an armored infantry battalion task force during the defense of Bastogne , and was wounded and hospitalized by the Germans at Ibbenburen , Germany . He was liberated in the spring of 1945 after imprisonment at Falingbostel , Germany , a branch of the Belsen prison camp , and at Brunswick , Germany . Charles MacDonald , noted Army historian and Battle of the Bulge veteran , described then Major Desobry ' s heroic actions in his 1997 book , " A Time for Trumpets " . It is arguably the definitive account of this dramatic victory and displays the actions of Desobry and his armored - infantrymen , often in close combat and at times in hand - to - hand combat . Post - war service . Upon his return to the United States , Lieutenant Colonel Desobry served for short periods at Fort Rucker and Fort McClellan , Alabama and in G2 , Department of the Army . In July 1946 , he returned to Europe where he served as an Assistant G1 in Headquarters , Third Army and US Forces in Austria . < br > Upon his return to the United States in 1950 , he attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas and subsequently served four years on the faculty . He returned to Germany in 1955 and served as Commanding Officer , Combat Command C , 2d Armored Division , and later Chief of Staff , 2d Armored Division and G3 , V Corps . Upon his return to the United States in 1958 , he attended the National War College , graduating in 1959 . He was then assigned to the Office Chief of Legislative Liaison , where he served for three years in the Plans and Projects Division . In 1962 he was assigned to the faculty of the Army War College , Carlisle Barracks , Pennsylvania , where he served as a Course Director , Chairman of a Faculty Group , and the Chairman of the Department of Strategy . Vietnam War . From August 1965 to June 1966 , Colonel Desobry was assigned to Headquarters Military Assistance Command , Vietnam ( MAC - V ) with duty as Deputy Senior Advisor to the ARVN IV Corps in the delta region of Vietnam under Colonel George Barton . On June 3 , 1966 , Brigadier General Desobry assumed duties as the Senior Advisor to the ARVN IV Corps . Desobry and his advisory teams were involved in four campaigns during his two and a half years tour : Defense ; and Counter - Offensive Phases 1 - 3 . IV Corps was the southernmost of the four major military and administrative units of South Vietnam in the 1960s and early 1970s . Its headquarters were located at Cần Thơ in the Mekong Delta . Also known as Military Region 4 ( MR 4 ) , IV Corps was the fourth allied tactical combat zone . Because of the nature of its terrain , and more important , its geographical isolation from major North Vietnamese strongholds , the Delta area had generally been infiltrated by enemy guerrilla or small force rather than large force bands . Thus , except for the Mobile 3 Riverine Force and small Special Forces units , no U . S . troops had normally operated in the area until Operation Deckhouse V in 1967 when the U . S . 9th Infantry Division initiated two years of intensive antiguerrilla activities . Otherwise , MR 4 had been and continued to be primarily a Vietnamese area of operations . Brigadier General Desobry turned over his duties to Major General George S . Eckhardt , and left Vietnam on January 14 , 1968 , only three weeks before the Tet Offensive . Cold War service . Following over two years as Senior Advisor to the ARVN IV Corps , Brigadier General Desobry became the Director of Army Operations , The Army Staff . Major General Desobry then served as Commanding General of the 1st Armored Division at Fort Hood , Texas from 1969 to 1971 . In 1971 , he became the Commanding General of the Armor Center and Armor School at Fort Knox , Kentucky . While there , he was appointed President of the XM - 1 Tank Task Force . In 1968 , Desobry returned to Washington , D . C . where he served as a member of the Department of the Army Board of Inquiry on the Army Logistics System ; the Chief of the Coordination Division , Office of the Chief of Staff , and subsequently as Executive Officer to the Vice Chief of Staff , U . S . Army . On June 1 , 1973 , Lieutenant General Desobry assumed command of V Corps at Frankfurt , Federal Republic of Germany from Lieutenant General Willard Pearson . He was responsible for the training and readiness of V Corps , headquartered at Abrams Barracks , which included the 8th Infantry Division ( Mechanized ) " Pathfinder , " the 3rd Armored Division " Spearhead , " and the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment " Blackhorse . " Major General Joseph C . McDonough . commanded the " Pathfinder " Division , which was headquartered at Rose Barracks , Bad Kreuznach . Major General ( later Lieutenant General ) Jonathon R . Burton commanded the " Spearhead " Division headquartered at Frankfurt . Colonel Robert L . Schweitzer ( 1973 - 1974 ) and Colonel ( later Lieutenant General ) John L . Ballantyne III ( 1974 - 1976 ) commanded the " Blackhorse ” Regiment headquartered at Fulda . Desobry turned over command of V Corps to Lieutenant General Robert L . Fair on August 24 , 1975 . Retirement . Lieutenant General Desobry continued to support the Armor community after his retirement from Army . As a result , he received the U . S . Cavalry and Armor Association ' s Gold Medallion Winners Hall of Fame in 1989 . Desobry died on January 12 , 1996 in San Antonio , Texas . He is buried at the Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery Personal life . General Desobry was married to the former Jacqueline Keyes of Tucson , Arizona , on August 22 , 1942 . They had six children . Mrs . Desobry died in San Antonio on September 10 , 2011 . Rank earned . < br > < br >