16 Facts About George Decker

George Henry Decker was a general in the United States Army, who served as Chief of Staff of the United States Army from 1960 to 1962.

George Decker married the former Helen E Inman in 1926.

George Decker was commissioned a second lieutenant of infantry in June 1924, and began his army service with the 26th Infantry Regiment, then stationed at Plattsburg Barracks in upstate New York.

George Decker was promoted to first lieutenant in April 1930.

In 1936, George Decker was sent to the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, from which he graduated in 1937.

George Decker was sent to Washington, DC, to serve on the War Department General Staff, where he was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Supply.

George Decker was promoted to temporary colonel in October 1942 and became deputy chief of staff of the Third Army, Fort Sam Houston, Texas.

George Decker was then sent overseas to the Southwest Pacific, where he became deputy chief of staff and then chief of staff of the Sixth Army, a position he held through the end of World War II.

George Decker had been promoted to temporary brigadier general in August 1944 and major general in June 1945, and participated in Sixth Army operations in New Guinea, the Solomon Islands and the Philippines.

George Decker returned to Washington in 1946 to Headquarters, Army Ground Forces and Headquarters, Army Service Forces, but soon went back to the Pacific as deputy commanding general and chief of staff of United States Forces, Middle Pacific, Hawaii, from 1946 to 1948.

George Decker became commanding general of the 5th Infantry Division in 1948, and in 1950 was assigned to the Office of the Comptroller of the Army as Chief of the Budget Division.

George Decker was promoted to permanent brigadier general in April 1953 and permanent major general in July 1954.

From 1956 to 1957, George Decker was deputy commander-in-chief of the United States European Command at its headquarters in Rocquencourt, outside Paris, France.

George Decker was appointed Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Army in 1959 and on October 1,1960, became Chief of Staff of the United States Army, serving in that capacity until September 30,1962.

Highlights of George Decker's tenure were supervising augmentations to meet the crisis in Berlin, increasing special warfare forces, initiating new divisional and forward depot concepts, and expanding the army to sixteen divisions.

George Decker died of leukemia at Walter Reed Army Medical Center on February 6,1980.