Carter Bowie Magruder
General, U.S. Army

Carter Bowie Magruder was born on 3 April 1900 in London, England, where his father was serving with the U.S. Public Health Service. When the U.S. entered into World War I, he was attending the University of Virginia. He dropped out of college and was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry in 1918. At the end of the war, Magruder accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy. Upon graduation in 1923, he was commissioned in the Field Artillery. In 1932, he attended Purdue University and obtained a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering.

Prior to World War II, he served at various posts and assignments; he also attended the Command and General Staff College and Army War College. In July 1941 he was assigned to the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Logistics, on the War Department General Staff. he was in this position when the U.S. entered 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, 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.

Remaining in Europe after 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.

In 1953 Magruder took command of the 24th Infantry Division in Korea. In 1954 he 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 General in 1959, Magruder returned to Korea to command all United Nations and U.S. forces. During his command, a military junta led by Park Chung-hee overthrew the elected premier, John Chang. Magruder was publicly criticized by retired General James Van Fleet 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

Post-Military Life

After retiring from the Army, Magruder worked as a logistics consultant to the Department of Defense, and private industry. He settled in Arlington, VA, and was a member of the Army-Navy Country Club and the Society of the Cincinnati.

Medals and Awards

Army Distinguished Service Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters

Death and Burial

General Carter Bowie Magruder died on 14 March 1988 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He was 87 and died of lung ailments. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA. His wife, Luella Johnson Magruder (1907-1991) was buried beside him in 1991.