James Dunne O ' Connell James Dunne O ' Connell was a United States Army Lieutenant General who was noteworthy for serving as Chief of the United States Army Signal Corps . Early life . O ' Connell was born in Chicago , Illinois on September 25 , 1899 . He was educated in Chicago , graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1922 and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of infantry . Start of military career . After completing his initial infantry assignment , in 1925 O ' Connell graduated from the Signal School at Camp Alfred Vail , New Jersey . During the early 1920s he served as communications officer for the 35th Infantry Regiment at Schofield Barracks , Hawaii , and commanded a company in the 24th Infantry Regiment . In 1928 O ' Connell was assigned as an instructor at the Signal School . In 1930 he received a Master ' s degree in communications engineering from Yale University . O ' Connell graduated from the Army ' s Command and General Staff College in 1937 . He was then assigned to Fort Monmouth , New Jersey , first as a project officer and later as executive officer ( second in command ) of the Army ' s Signal Corps Laboratories . World War II . During World War II , O ' Connell served initially in the Office of the Chief Signal Officer as head of the General Development Branch . He was then assigned as executive officer of the Signal Supply Service . O ' Connell also served on the staff of the 12th Army Group in England , France and Germany . Post World War II . When the war ended , O ' Connell returned to the United States as Chief of Engineering at the Signal Corps Engineering Laboratories at Fort Monmouth , which he subsequently commanded . O ' Connell served as Signal Officer of the Eighth Army in Japan from 1947 to 1948 , afterwards serving as Chief Signal Officer of the Second Army . From 1955 to 1959 O ' Connell was assigned as the Army ' s Chief Signal Officer . Military retirement and awards . General O ' Connell retired in 1959 . His military awards included the Distinguished Service Medal and the Legion of Merit . Civilian career . After leaving the Army O ' Connell was Vice President of the General Telephone and Electronics Laboratories in Palo Alto , California for three years , and he spent two years as a consultant with the Stanford Research Institute and manager of its Washington , D . C . office . O ' Connell was a fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers , and chaired its Joint Technical Advisory Committee from 1961 to 1964 . In 1964 O ' Connell joined the staff of President Lyndon Johnson , serving until 1969 as Special Assistant to the President for Telecommunications and Director of Telecommunications Management in the Office of Emergency Planning . Retirement and death . After retiring from full - time employment in 1969 , O ' Connell resided in Bethesda , Maryland and Boca Raton , Florida . From 1978 to 1982 he served on the Secretary of Commerce ' s Frequency Management Advisory Council . He died of cancer at Walter Reed Hospital . General O ' Connell was buried at Arlington National Cemetery on July 29 , 1984 . Personal . In 1933 O ' Connell married Edith Chase Scholosberg ( born 1908 ) , who died in 1965 . He was survived by his second wife , Helen and two children , Peter D . O ' Connell of Bethesda and Sally Ann O ' Connell of Fairbanks , Alaska .