George Decker

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George Henry Decker (February 16, 1902 – February 6, 1980) was a general in the United States Army who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1960 to 1962.

Early life

Decker was born in Catskill, New York, and graduated from Lafayette College in Easton, Pennsylvania, in 1924, receiving an economics degree. He served as a trustee of the college from 1964 to 1972. Helen E. Inman, a 1926 widow, was married to him.

Later life

Decker was president of the Manufacturing Chemists' Union in Washington for the next seven years after his resignation. On February 6, 1980, he died of leukemia at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

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Military career

Decker was appointed a second lieutenant of infantry in June 1924 and began his army service with the 26th Infantry Regiment, later stationed in upstate New York at Plattsburg Barracks. In 1928, he was sent to Hawaii, where he served with the 35th Infantry Regiment until 1931. In April 1930, he was promoted to first lieutenant. He served at Fort Benning with the 29th Infantry Regiment from 1935 to 1936 (during which time he was promoted to captain in August 1935).

Decker was sent to Fort Leavenworth's Command and General Staff School in 1936, where he graduated in 1937. He served with the 10th Infantry Regiment at Fort Thomas, Kentucky, and Fort McClellan, Alabama, as well as the 9th Infantry Regiment at Fort Bragg, North Carolina. He took over Headquarters Company, I Corps, in Fort Jackson, South Carolina, in 1940. He served as assistant supply and logistics officer from 1940 to 1941. A flurry of promotions ensued in 1941, from temporary major (January), permanent major (June), and temporary lieutenant colonel colonel (December). He was sent to Washington, D.C., to serve on the War Department General Staff, where he was assigned to the Assistant Chief of Staff for Supply. In October 1942, he was promoted to temporary colonel and then became deputy chief of staff of the Third Army, Fort Sam Houston, Texas. He was then sent to the Southwest Pacific, where he served as deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff for the Sixth Army, a post he held until the end of World War II. He had been promoted from temporary brigadier general in August 1944 to major general in June 1945, and he was active in Sixth Army operations in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, and the Philippines.

Decker returned to Washington in 1946 to Headquarters, Army Ground Forces, and Army Service Forces, but Army Service Forces later returned to the Pacific as deputy commanding general and chief of staff of United States Forces Middle Pacific, Hawaii.

Decker was appointed as the commanding general of the 5th Infantry Division in 1948, and as Chief of the Budget Division in 1950, he was posted to the Office of the Comptroller of the Army. He was promoted to a provisional lieutenant general in 1952 and became the United States Army's Comptroller from 1952 to 1955. In April 1953, he was promoted to permanent brigadier general and then permanent general in July 1954. He went to Germany in 1955 as the commanding general of VII Corps at Stuttgart, and was promoted to temporary general in May 1956.

Decker served as deputy commander-in-chief of the United States European Command at its headquarters in Rocquencourt, outside Paris, France, from 1956 to 1957. He served as commander-in-chief, United Nations Command, and general of the United States Forces Korea and Eighth United States Army from 1957 to 1959.

Decker was first appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army in 1959 and became Chief of Staff of the United States Army on October 1, 1960. Decker's tenure was highlighted by supervising augmentations to face Berlin's crisis (which was triggered by the construction of the Berlin Wall in 1961), increasing special war services, introducing new divisional and forward depot designs, and expanding the army to sixteen divisions. Decker resigned at the end of his career.

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Awards and decorations

•   Army Distinguished Service Medal with one oak leaf cluster
•   Silver Star
•   Legion of Merit
•   Bronze Star Medal
•   American Defense Service Medal
•   American Campaign Medal
•   Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with four campaign stars
•   Army of Occupation Medal with "ASIA" clasp
•   National Defense Service Medal with oak leaf cluster
• Distinguished Service Star (Philippines)
•   Philippine Presidential Unit Citation
•   Philippine Liberation Medal with three stars
•   Philippine Independence Medal