The Service Uniform of U.S. Army 4 Star General and DSC Recipient Andrew Goodpaster

The uniform is comprised of the Class “A” service tunic and trousers. The uniform tunic shoulders bear the four star rank insignia of  full General, together with a clutch back paratrooper wing, awards and decoration ribbons, and the General Staff badge. The tunic is named to General Goodpaster. The accompanying trousers are of a different material and of a slightly different shade of green. Both the tunic and the trousers are in excellent condition. General Goodpaster was a West Point graduate whose career was a remarkable record of personal valor and professional achievement, which included the award of the Distinguished Service Cross for exceptional valor at Monte Cassino in World War II and later service as the Supreme Commander of NATO.

Goodpaster entered the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1935, followed in 1939 by a commission as a second lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers after graduating second in his class of 456. After serving in Panama, he returned to the U.S. in mid-1942, and in 1943, he attended a wartime course at the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.

CODE: DDX

During World War II, Goodpaster commanded the 48th Combat Engineer Battalion in North Africa and Italy. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Silver Star, and two Purple Hearts for his service in World War II. His combat experience was cut short in January 1944, when he was severely wounded and sent back to the United States to recover. After his wounds had healed, he was assigned to the War Planning Office under General Marshall, where he served the duration of the war.

Goodpaster was seen by many as the quintessential “soldier-scholar.”He received a Ph.D. in politics from Princeton University in 1950 after completing a doctoral dissertation titled “National technology and international politics.” He later received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Princeton in 1979. Princeton says he earned degrees in civil engineering and politics.

After retiring in 1974, he served as senior fellow at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in 1975–76, and taught at The Citadel. His book, For the Common Defense was published in 1977.

He was brought back to active duty as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy (1977–1981) after 1976 West Point cheating scandal involving 151 cadets (see also, 1951 West Point cheating scandal). Although he had retired with the rank of General (four star), he voluntarily served as superintendent at the lower rank of Lieutenant General (three stars), since the billet carries that rank.’

In 1981, Goodpaster retired for the second time at the four-star rank. He stayed active in retirement serving on various boards and working on his own memoirs. He died at age 90 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.