Blackshear M . Bryan Lieutenant General Blackshear Morrison Bryan ( February 8 , 1900 – March 2 , 1977 ) was a United States Army general who served during the Second World War and Korean War . Early life and education . Bryan was born in Alexandria , Louisiana on February 8 , 1900 . He was attending Virginia Military Institute when he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York in 1918 . Because of World War I , two classes were graduated from the academy in 1922 . Bryan was the with the portion of the Class of 1923 that graduated after accelerated course of studies in three years , receiving a commission as a second Lieutenant of artillery . After graduation from West Point , Bryan took artillery officer training at Fort Sill , Oklahoma . He returned to West Point to serve as an assistant Army football coach during the 1925 and 1926 seasons . Bryan was also an instructor there in 1928 - 1929 and 1933 - 1934 . He was promoted became a lieutenant in 1927 and captain in 1935 . In 1940 he was promoted to major and graduated from the Army War College , then at Washington Barracks ( Fort Lesley J . McNair ) in Washington , D . C . , before the school was closed for the duration of World War II . World War II . At the outbreak of World War II , Bryan was chief of the Policy Section for the War Department General Staff in Washington , D . C . where he was promoted to Lieutenant colonel . In 1942 he was promoted to colonel and assigned as Chief of the Aliens Division for the Provost Marshal General ' s Office . With a his promotion to general and a 1943 reorganization , he headed the Prisoner of War Division with charge over Japanese internment and prisoner of war camps throughout the United States . In July 1945 , Bryan became Provost Marshal General and transitioned an agency whose lifespan rarely exceeded beyond the end of combat hostilities into a post - war organization with charge over Army military investigations , the military police and the Army ' s military police school . Cold War and Korea . In 1948 , he transferred to Panama Canal Zone , serving as chief of staff under General Matthew Ridgway who headed a newly established unified multi - service command structure , the Caribbean Command , replacing the Army ' s World War II Caribbean Defense Command . In March 1951 , Bryan was part of the first rotation of combat commanders since the start of the Korean War , taking charge of the 24th Infantry Division , a first combat command that he took on with Ridgeway ' s full faith , despite not having combat experience . After a year in Korea , Bryan served as Deputy Chief of Staff for the Far East Command in Tokyo before commanding the XVI Corps in Japan . He then took on a leading role on the military armistice commission of the United Nations that concluded hostilities in Korea in 1953 and directed the repatriation of prisoners of war . After promotion to major general and a short stint as commanding general of I Corps in Korea , he was appointed the 43rd superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point for which he served from 1954 to 1956 . In July 1956 he took command of U . S . Army Pacific in Hawaii . In July 1957 Bryan assumed his final command as commanding general , First United States Army at Fort Jay , Governors Island in New York City . After 37 years of active duty , Bryan entered the retired list February 29 , 1960 . Retirement and Family . From 1960 to 1965 Bryan served as the first president of the Nassau Community College in Long Island , New York . Two of Bryan ' s sons , Blackshear Jr . and James Edward , served in the U . S . Army . Blackshear M . Bryan , Jr . or " Morrie " was born in 1929 at West Point during his father ' s tenure as assistant football coach . He attended the Academy , graduating with the class of 1954 . He accepted a commission with the Air Force , then transferred to the U . S . Army in 1963 . Serving in Vietnam he was cited twice for heroism during his tour . On September 22 , 1967 , as he was rounding out his tour in Vietnam , Major Morrie Bryan was killed in a crash of his U - 21A during a training mission as he attempted to avoid trespassers on the runway . Bryan ' s son , James Edward " Jamie " Bryan , also died in a military aircraft accident . On September 14 , 1977 , at 23 : 48 hours , Jamie was coordinating his unit ' s operations from aboard an Air Force Boeing EC - 135K command and control aircraft that had just taken off from Kirtland Air Force Base , near Albuquerque , New Mexico . Shortly after takeoff , the aircraft banked right and crashed into a mountain peak in the Manzano Mountain range , killing all 20 military crew members aboard . ( Investigators said that fatigue may have played a part in the accident . ) Major Bryan had served two combat tours in Vietnam . http : / / www . findagrave . com / cgi - bin / fg . cgi ? page = gr & GRid = 60706655 & rand = 333 Blackshear M . Bryan died March 2 , 1977 in a Silver Spring , Maryland nursing home after a long illness and was buried at the West Point Cemetery . http : / / www . findagrave . com / cgi - bin / fg . cgi ? page = gr & GRid = 47302687 & rand = 333 See also . His second son , Jamie , was killed while serving as the S - 3 of the 75th Ranger Battalion .