John F . Forrest John Franklin " Jack " Forrest ( June 20 , 1927 – May 27 , 1997 ) was a 1949 graduate of the United States Military Academy and a career U . S . Army officer and combat commander during the Korean War and Vietnam War era . Youth . Forrest was born in Mexia , Texas , the second son of Robert E . and Gertrude Klug Forrest . One of his ancestors was Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest . His father was severely injured as a United States Army Air Service pilot in World War I , and his brother Robert fought in the Battle of the Bulge in World War II and survived capture by the Germans . Forrest left Mexia when he was a young boy . The oil business led his father to move the family to Houston , Texas ; Saginaw , Michigan ; and Olney , Illinois . At Olney High School , he was a scholar and an athlete , joining the National Honor Society and playing varsity basketball and football . A swimmer , he worked summers as a lifeguard . Forrest was president of his senior class and the debate club , and voted " most popular . " Early military career and Korea . Forrest entered the United States Military Academy in 1945 during the closing days of World War II . As a West Point cadet , he played B - Squad football and fought on the A - 1 boxing team . His roommates were Samuel S . Coursen , Joe Toomey , Murray Williams , Collier Ross , and Jim Scholtz . In his Third Class year , at the " Hop " dance party , Jack met Patricia Smith of Long Beach , New York , whom he married in July 1949 after graduation . Forrest proceeded to Fort Riley , Kansas and Fort Benning , Georgia where he attended the Infantry Basic Course before being sent to the Korean War . Forrest led a platoon of the 2nd Battalion , 5th Cavalry Regiment , 1st Cavalry Division through the darkest days in Korea . After fighting in the Battle of the Pusan Perimeter , his command was the first to enter North Korea and the North Korean capital Pyongyang . He earned the Combat Infantryman Badge , two Purple Heart s , and two Silver Star s . Two of his West Point roommates , Lt . Samuel S . Coursen , a fellow 5th Cavalry Regiment company commander and Medal of Honor recipient , and Lt . Joe Toomey , were killed in action in Korea . From Forrest ' s Silver Star citations : " Courageously gathering his six remaining men , he briefed them on his plan of surprise action to rout the enemy group . . . he led them yelling and shouting into the enemy ' s midst . This ruse . . . completely baffled and surprised the enemy into believing their main position had fallen . . . " Although wounded in the leg during the early part of the action , Lieutenant Forrest refused to be evacuated and moved from position to position , in the face of heavy enemy fire , to encourage and reorganize his men . He directed a defense of his position and led a successful counterattack . Post - war career and commands . Upon his return from Korea , Forrest was posted to Fort Jackson , South Carolina in 1951 as a company commander with the 8th Infantry Division and the 28th Infantry Division in Germany , Fort Leavenworth , Kansas and the University of Wisconsin – Madison , where he earned a master ' s degree in journalism . He completed the Infantry Advanced Course , Ranger , Airborne and other schools , was assigned to the Pentagon , and graduated from the Army War College . In 1967 Forrest took command of the 3rd Battalion 187th Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell , Kentucky . His unit was mobilized to maintain order during the August 1967 riots in Detroit , Michigan . He later took the battalion to Vietnam , where in two tours of duty he earned a second Combat Infantryman Badge ; and awarded a third Silver Star , the Legion of Merit , four Bronze Star s for Valor , and four Air Medal s for Valor . After the Tet Offensive of 1968 , General William Westmoreland awarded Forrest ' s unit the Valorous Unit Award and Meritorious Unit Citation . After his Vietnam tours of duty in 1971 , Forrest was assigned to the 2nd Armored Division , Fort Hood , Texas as commander of 1st Brigade and Support Command , then chief of staff . From 1976 to 1978 he was commanding general of the 4th Infantry Division at Fort Carson , Colorado . In 1979 he took command of First United States Army at Fort Meade , Maryland and led the military ' s response and logistical support during the 1980 Cuban refugee crisis . His final assignment in July 1981 was as Deputy Commander - in - Chief , U . S . Army Europe at Heidelberg , Germany where he retired after 33 years of active duty on August 11 , 1983 . Post - Army career and retirement . In retirement , Forrest moved to Colorado Springs , Colorado and plunged into civic affairs , winning election to the city council . As the first executive director of the U . S . Space Foundation , Forrest was a proponent of the Star Wars space defense initiative of the Reagan Administration . He died May 27 , 1997 at age 69 , following a series of strokes . In 1998 , the Forrest Fitness Center at Fort Carson was dedicated and named in his honor . Forrest was buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Colorado Springs .