Norman Schwarzkopf was born on August 22, 1934, in Trenton, New Jersey. He entered the U.S. Military Academy on July 1, 1952, and graduated with a commission as a 2Lt of Infantry in the U.S. Army on June 1, 1956. Schwarzkopf completed advanced Infantry and airborne training at Fort Benning, Georgia, before serving as a platoon leader and executive officer of the 2nd Airborne Battle Group, 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment at Fort Campbell, Kentucky. He served as Aide-de-Camp to the commanding general of the Berlin Brigade from July 1960 to September 1961. Schwarzkopf was next assigned as a graduate student, completing his Masters degree in mechanical engineering in 1964. He then served as an instructor at the U.S. Military Academy from July 1964 to June 1965, when he was assigned to the U.S. Military Assistance Command in the Republic of Vietnam. After leaving Vietnam in July 1966, Maj Schwarzkopf resumed his instructor duties at West Point, where he served until August 1968. After completing Command and General Staff College, he again served in Vietnam, this time as Commander of the 1st Battalion, 6th Infantry Regiment, from June 1969 to July 1970. He served in the Pentagon from July 1970 to July 1972, and then attended Army War College and underwent back surgery, returning for another Pentagon tour from July 1973 to December 1974. Schwarzkopf served as Deputy Brigade Commander for the 172nd Infantry Brigade at Fort Richardson, Alaska, from December 1974 to November 1976, and then as Commander of the 1st Brigade, 9th Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Washington, until June 1978. From July 1978 to July 1980, Brig Gen Schwarzkopf served as Deputy Director for Plans at U.S. Pacific Command in Hawaii. He served as Assistant Division Commander of the 8th Mechanized Division in Mainz, West Germany, from August 1980 to June 1982. Gen Schwarzkopf then served another tour at the Pentagon from June 1982 to June 1983, when he became Commanding General of the 24th Mechanized Infantry Division at Fort Stewart, Georgia, serving until July 1985. During this time, Schwarzkopf served as Deputy Commander of the Joint Task Force during the Grenada Invasion from October to December, 1983. In July 1985, he returned to the Pentagon and then was appointed as Commanding General of I Corps at Fort Lewis, where he served until returning to the Pentagon in August 1987. Gen Schwarzkopf's final assignment was as Commander-in-Chief of U.S. Central Command at MacDill AFB, Florida, from December 1988 until his retirement from the Army on August 31, 1991. During this time, Schwarzkopf commanded all Allied forces during Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm from August 1990 to the conclusion of the Persian Gulf War in February 1991. Norman Schwarzkopf died on December 27, 2012.