Carter B . Magruder Carter Bowie Magruder ( April 3 , 1900 – March 14 , 1988 ) was a United States Army four - star general who served concurrently as Commander in Chief , United Nations Command / Commander , United States Forces Korea / Commanding General , Eighth United States Army ( CINCUNC / COMUSFK / CG EUSA ) from 1959 to 1961 . Military career . Magruder was born in London , England , where his father was serving with the United States Public Health Service . At the time of the United States ' entry into World War I , he was attending the University of Virginia . He dropped out of college and was commissioned an infantry second lieutenant in 1918 . With the end of the war , Magruder accepted an appointment to the United States Military Academy . Upon graduation in 1923 he was commissioned in the field artillery . Later he attended Purdue University and received a master ' s degree in mechanical engineering in 1932 . Prior to World War II , he served at various posts and assignments and also attended the Command and General Staff College and Army War College . Assigned to the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Logistics on the War Department General staff in July 1941 , he was in this position when the U . S . enter World War II . He would later be the army ' s top logistician . Magruder was assigned as the leader of the planning division of the Army Service Forces , organizing worldwide logistic support for the U . S . war effort . He went to Italy in 1944 to serve as assistant Chief of Staff for logistics at Allied headquarters . Staying in Europe after the end of the war , he became chief logistics officer of the army in Europe . He returned to the U . S . serving as a staff officer from 1949 to 1953 , and also serving in the delegation negotiating the Japanese and Austrian peace treaties . Magruder took command of the 24th Infantry Division in Korea in 1953 , and in 1954 was promoted to Lieutenant General and assumed command of IX Corps . From 1955 to 1959 he was Assistant Chief of Staff of the Army for Logistics , the highest logistics position in the Army . Promoted to full general in 1959 , Magruder returned to Korea to command all United Nations and U . S . forces . During his command , a military junta led by Park Chung - hee overthrew the elected premier , John Chang . Magruder was publicly criticized by retired General James Van Fleet for ordering South Korean officers to stay loyal to the civilian government . Van fleet , who supported the coup , said that Magruder " acted illegally , " and " Those ROK generals who refused to go along with the coup should have disobeyed his order . . . It ' s all right to talk about representative government , but except in great countries like the U . S . and Great Britain , such a system lets elements get into the government and destroy it in underdeveloped countries where the enemy is lurking . " Magruder retired from the army in 1961 . His awards and decorations included the Army Distinguished Service Medal with two oak leaf clusters . Post military career . After retiring form the army , Magruder worked as a logistics consultant to the Department of Defense and private industry . He settled in Arlington , Virginia , and was a member of the Army - Navy Country Club and the Society of the Cincinnati . He died at the age of 87 of lung ailments on March 14 , 1988 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery . His wife , Luella Johnson Magruder ( 1907 – 1991 ) was buried with him in 1991 .