Kenneth E . BeLieu Kenneth E . BeLieu ( 1914 – 2001 ) was the United States Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Installations and Logistics ) 1961 - 65 , Under Secretary of the Navy in 1965 ; Under Secretary of the Army 1971 - 73 ; and then director of the National Petroleum Council in the late 1970s . Early life . Kenneth E . BeLieu was born in Portland , Oregon on February 10 , 1914 , the son of Ila Jean BeLieu and Perry G . BeLieu . After graduating from Theodore Roosevelt High School in 1933 , he attended the University of Oregon in Eugene , Oregon , graduating in 1937 . Military career . After three years in business in Portland , in 1940 , BeLieu enlisted in the United States Army as a Second Lieutenant . As a soldier during World War II , he participated in the Invasion of Normandy , the Battle of the Bulge , and the Western Allied invasion of Germany . BeLieu was awarded the Silver Star , the Legion of Merit , the Bronze Star Medal , the Purple Heart , and the Croix de guerre . Following the end of World War II , BeLieu served in several assignments with the Army in the United States Department of War and with the General Staff of the United States Army . The Korean War saw BeLieu return to the field of battle and in 1950 , BeLieu lost his left leg below the knee because of wounds received in combat . Upon discharge from hospital , BeLieu was assigned to the Office of the Secretary of the Army . There , he served as Executive Officer to two Secretaries of the Army , Frank Pace and later Robert Ten Broeck Stevens . BeLieu retired from the Army in 1955 with the rank of colonel . Political career . Upon leaving the army , BeLieu attended Harvard Business School ' s Advanced Management Program , graduating in 1955 . From 1955 to 1960 , BeLieu was a staff member of the professional staff of both the United States Senate Committee on Armed Services ( serving as Staff Director of the Preparedness Investigating Subcommittee ) and the United States Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences ( serving as the committee ' s Staff Director ) . In February 1961 , President of the United States John F . Kennedy appointed BeLieu Assistant Secretary of the Navy ( Installations and Logistics ) , a post he held for four years . In February 1965 , President Lyndon B . Johnson named BeLieu Under Secretary of the Navy , and he served in that capacity from February 26 , 1965 until July 1965 . During his time in the United States Department of the Navy , BeLieu was awarded the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award . In July 1965 , BeLieu left public service for the private sector . In the second half of the 1960s , he would serve as the President of the Leisure World in Laguna Beach , California ( which is today Laguna Woods Village ) ; as a member of the Defense Science Board ; as a Member of the Board of Advisors of Ryan Aeronautical ; and as a member of the Technical Advisory Board of RCA . On January 21 , 1969 , President Richard Nixon appointed BeLieu Deputy Assistant to the President for Congressional Relations . He held this post until 1971 , when President Nixon nominated him as United States Under Secretary of the Army ; after being confirmed by the United States Senate , BeLieu was sworn in as Under Secretary of the Army on September 22 , 1971 . BeLieu served as Under Secretary of the Army until 1973 . Later life . In the late 1970s , he served as Director of the National Petroleum Council , a council that represented oil and natural gas companies ' interests to the United States Secretary of Energy . After BeLieu retired from government work in 1979 , he became a consultant . He retired to Sterling , Virginia , where he died of cancer on February 10 , 2001 .