Carter Bowie Magruder was a United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 four star general who served concurrently as Commander in Chief, United Nations Command

United Nations Command (Korea)

The United Nations Command is the unified command structure for the multinational military forces supporting the Republic of Korea during and after the Korean War...

/Commander, United States Forces Korea

United States Forces Korea

United States Forces Korea refers to the ground, air and naval divisions of the United States armed forces stationed in South 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

United States Public Health Service

The Public Health Service Act of 1944 structured the United States Public Health Service as the primary division of the Department of Health, Education and Welfare , which later became the United States Department of Health and Human Services. The PHS comprises all Agency Divisions of Health and...

. At the time of the United States' entry into World War I, he was attending the University of Virginia

University of Virginia

The University of Virginia is a public research university located in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States, founded by Thomas Jefferson...

. 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

United States Military Academy

The United States Military Academy at West Point is a four-year coeducational federal service academy located at West Point, New York. The academy sits on scenic high ground overlooking the Hudson River, north of New York City...

. Upon graduation in 1923 he was commissioned in the field artillery. Later he attended Purdue University

Purdue University

Purdue University, located in West Lafayette, Indiana, U.S., is the flagship university of the six-campus Purdue University system. Purdue was founded on May 6, 1869, as a land-grant university when the Indiana General Assembly, taking advantage of the Morrill Act, accepted a donation of land and...

 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

Command and General Staff College

The United States Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas is a graduate school for United States Army and sister service officers, interagency representatives, and international military officers. The college was established in 1881 by William Tecumseh Sherman as a...

 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

Army Service Forces

The Army Service Forces were one of the three autonomous components of the Army of the United States during World War II, the others being the Army Air Forces and Army Ground Forces. They were created on February 28, 1942 by Executive Order Number 9082 "Reorganizing the Army and the War Department"...

, 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

Supreme Council for National Reconstruction

The Supreme Council for National Reconstruction, initially named the Revolutionary Committee, was a military junta that oversaw the government of South Korea from May 16, 1961 until the inauguration of the Third Republic of South Korea in 1963...

 led by Park Chung-hee

Park Chung-hee

Park Chung-hee was a Republic of Korea Army general and the leader of South Korea from 1961 to 1979. He seized power in a military coup and ruled until his assassination in 1979. He has been credited with the industrialization of the Republic of Korea through export-led growth...

 overthrew the elected preimier, John Chang

Chang Myon

Chang Myon , or John Myun Chang, was a South Korean politician and educator. He was the Vice President of the First Republic and the Prime Minister of the Second Republic...

. Magruder was publicly criticized by retired General James Van Fleet

James Van Fleet

James Alward Van Fleet was a U.S. Army officer during World War I, World War II and the Korean War. Van Fleet was a native of New Jersey, who was raised in Florida and graduated from the U.S. Military Academy. He served as a regimental, divisional and corps commander during World War II and as...

 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

Society of the Cincinnati

The Society of the Cincinnati is a historical organization with branches in the United States and France founded in 1783 to preserve the ideals and fellowship of the American Revolutionary War officers and to pressure the government to honor pledges it had made to officers who fought for American...

. He died at the age of 87 of lung ailments on March 14, 1988 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center

Walter Reed Army Medical Center

The Walter Reed Army Medical Center was the United States Army's flagship medical center until 2011. Located on 113 acres in Washington, D.C., it served more than 150,000 active and retired personnel from all branches of the military...

 and was buried in Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington County, Virginia, is a military cemetery in the United States of America, established during the American Civil War on the grounds of Arlington House, formerly the estate of the family of Confederate general Robert E. Lee's wife Mary Anna Lee, a great...

. His wife, Luella Johnson Magruder (1907–1991) was buried with him in 1991.