George V. Underwood, Jr.

Who was George V. Underwood, Jr.?

George Vernon Underwood, Jr. was a United States Army four-star general who served as Commander in Chief, United States Southern Command from 1971 to 1973. He graduated from Shortridge High School in Indianapolis in 1931 and attended Wabash College in Crawfordsville for two years. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1937 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the Coast Artillery Corps.

Prior to World War II, he served as a battery grade officer with artillery units at Fort Scott in San Francisco, at Fort Kamahameha in the Territory of Hawaii, and at Fort Rodman in New Bedford, Massachusetts.

He attended the Command and General Staff School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1941. After serving as Operations and Training Officer of the Harbor Defenses of Narragansett Bay, Fort Adams, Rhode Island, General Underwood was selected to attend the Task Force Staff Officers' Course conducted by the Operations Division of the War Department General Staff.

Upon completing this course, he was retained in the Operations Division where he served until 1945.