Garrison H . Davidson Garrison Holt Davidson ( April 24 , 1904 – December 25 , 1992 ) was a United States Army officer , combat engineer , commander , and military educator from the 1920s through World War II and into the Cold War - era . Rising to the rank of lieutenant general before his retirement from the Army in 1964 , Davidson served as the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy from 1956 to 1960 . He also played and coached football at West Point , helming the Cadet squad as head coach from 1933 to 1937 , compiling a record of 35 – 11 – 1 . Education and early military career . A career U . S . Army officer and World War II combat commander , Davidson was born in the Bronx , New York City on April 24 , 1904 , the son of a New York National Guard officer . In 1923 , he graduated from the prestigious Stuyvesant High School in New York City , where he was a star on the school ' s championship football team and a member of the Omega Gamma Delta Fraternity . Davidson realized his boyhood dream of becoming a soldier when he was appointed to the United States Military Academy at West Point , New York . There he distinguished himself in football and graduated with the Class of 1927 . Upon graduation , he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers with the 1st Engineer Regiment at Fort DuPont , Delaware , and maintained a West Point connection as an assistant Army football coach . In 1930 , he returned to West Point as an instructor in the physics department and assistant football coach . In 1933 , he became head football coach ( at a record young age ) , finishing five seasons later in the 1937 with a record of 35 wins , 11 losses and 1 tie . From 1938 to 1940 he was posted to Hawaii as a company commander with the 3rd Engineer Regiment . In 1940 , he returned to California as the post engineer for Hamilton Army Airfield ( now known as Hamilton Air Force Base ) on the north shore of the San Francisco Bay . At the time of Davidson ' s arrival , Hamilton ' s mission was being expanded from that of a bomber base with the addition of six squadrons of Curtiss P - 40 Warhawk and Curtiss P - 36 Hawk fighter planes . World War II . In February 1942 , Davidson transferred to Washington , D . C . as Assistant Chief , Construction Division , Office of Chief Engineer working for Corps of Engineers Colonel Leslie Groves on the construction of The Pentagon . By October 1942 , Davidson was a colonel and chief engineer for Seventh Army , serving under General George S . Patton in North Africa and Sicily . As a combat engineer , he facilitated Seventh Army ' s landing in Siciliy and enabled Patton ’ s armor to move rapidly across enemy territory . An appreciative Patton used one of his own general stars to honor Davidson in a September 1943 battlefield promotion to brigadier general . Davidson remained with Seventh Army when General Alexander Patch succeeded Patton , planning for Operation Anvil / Operation Dragoon , the Allied landing in southern France following the D - Day invasion of Normandy in June 1944 , and continued with the Seventh Army in its move through Germany . At the conclusion of the war he was an engineer with Fifteenth Army and served as president of the first Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal for military defendants . Korean War . After World War II , in 1946 , he was assigned to Sixth United States Army as its chief engineer and in 1948 became chief of staff for General Mark W . Clark and General Albert C . Wedemeyer at the Presidio of San Francisco . In July 1950 , he was called to Korea by Eighth Army Commanding General Walton H . Walker , who also served under Patton in World War II , directed Davidson to construct a defensive line protecting the Pusan Perimeter . Known as " Line Davidson " , Davidson had to subvert his professional better judgment to construct the line to the preferences of General Douglas MacArthur and Walker , trading away defensibility and good internal communications . As the North Korean invasion was repelled , Davidson was assigned to the 24th Infantry Division as its assistant commander . Davidson reprised his effort at fortifying a more defensible perimeter around Pusan with the second North Korean invasion . He then headed " Task Force Davidson " as it broke out of the perimeter to hook up with the forces invading south from Inchon . Afterwards , he constructed fortifications north of Seoul . He concluded his tour of duty as acting commander of the Korean Military Assistance Group . From 1951 to 1954 he was a weapons system analyst at the Pentagon . Military educator and Cold War warrior . During the next six years , Davidson played a significant role in training officers serving in the post - war and atomic eras . Starting in 1954 he was commander of the U . S . Army ' s Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas , then in 1956 he returned to the United States Military Academy as its superintendent . There he began a process of slowly prevailing over strong traditionalist viewpoints , breaking barriers and initiating a process of revision and modernization of the academy ’ s instructional program little changed since the academy ’ s legendary superintendent from 1817 to 1833 , Sylvanus Thayer . The momentum and progress of his reforms continued more easily through the superintendency of his successor , William Westmoreland and into the 1970s . In 1957 , while at West Point , he was promoted and confirmed to the rank of lieutenant general . After West Point , Davidson returned to Seventh United States Army as its commanding general , posted in West Germany as a forward deployed force during the Cold War . During the Berlin Wall crisis in the summer of 1961 , Davidson would have commanded any American military response or intervention . In 1962 , his final command was of First United States Army headquartered at Fort Jay , Governors Island , New York . While there he also served as U . S . Military Representative to the United Nations . After a 37 year military career , Davidson retired from active duty on April 30 , 1964 . Retirement . Davidson resumed his connection with West Point from 1983 - 1985 when he was appointed by President Ronald Reagan for a two year term to the United States Military Academy Board of Visitors . Davidson died in Oakland , California on December 25 , 1992 and was buried at the West Point Cemetery . The inscription on his gravestone reads : “ Soldier , Coach , Educator and His Best Teammate " , the latter reference to his wife of 58 years , Verone Gruenther Davidson who died in 1996 and was the sister of a former NATO commander , General Alfred M . Gruenther . At the time of his death , Garrison was survived by three sons , Garrison Holt Jr . , of Los Angeles , Thomas M . , of Darien , Conn . , and Alan R . , of Sarasota , Fla . ; three daughters , Linda L . Hurst , of San Luis Obispo , California , Bonnie Elaine Bardellini and Gail Marie Davidson , both of Martinez , California ; 14 grandchildren , and 2 great - grandchildren .