Henry Van Ness Boynton was a Union Army officer during the American Civil War and a recipient of America’s highest military decoration, the Medal of Honor, for his actions at the Battle of Missionary Ridge.

From July 1861 until September 1864, Boynton served as a commissioned officer in the 35th Ohio Infantry. He was elected as the regiment’s first major, but quickly rose up the ranks to become the commanding officer of the regiment and was promoted to lieutenant colonel. He led the 35th in the Battle of Chickamauga and Missionary Ridge, where he earned the Medal of Honor for his actions on November 25, 1863.

After the war he resumed civilian life. He married Helen Augusta Mason in 1871 and became a newspaper correspondent in Washington, D.C. Boynton also became the chairman of the committee that oversaw the development of the Chattanooga National Military Park.

Returning to duty in 1898 during the Spanish-American War, Boynton was promoted to brigadier general.

William Montague Browne was a prominent politician and newsman. During the American Civil War, he served as acting Secretary of State for the Confederacy in 1862 and as a general in the Confederate States Army.

In 1861 Browne, known as Constitution Browne by then, had become a well-connected proponet of secession and moved to Athens, Georgia after that. A favorite of both the just elected Confederate President Jefferson Davis and his Secretary of State Robert Toombs he was appointed Assistand Secretary of State. On several occasions in 1861 and 62 Browne acted as interim Secretary. Living in Richmond, Virginia with his wife, Eliza Jane Beket, he had two permanent houseguests. One was Howell Cobb, a former Secretary of the Treasury and an old and close friend from Washington, who now was the President of Provisional Confederate Congress. The other was his younger brother, Colonel Thomas R.R. Cobb.

Browne resigned in March 1862 and was assigned as military aide-de-camp to President Davis, with the rank of a Colonel of cavalry. Beside his main duty on the staff he also was assigned to command a battalion of local defense cavalry. On April 5, 1864 Davis appointed Browne as Commandant of Conscription in Georgia, where Governor Joseph E. Brown consistently hindered the Confederate war efforts. Browne was a natural choise as Georgia resident who had inspected and reported about the conscription in Georgia before.

In late 1864 Browne, while still enforcing conscription, was detached to commanded a small brigade of reserves during the Savannah Campaign. In December Browne was promoted to temporary Brigadier General, ranking from November 11. He resumed his conscription duty in January 1865. In February his promotion was not confirmed by congress and he reverted to colonel. Despite this he later was excluded from amnesty on grounds of being both a civil officeholder and a military officer ranking higher than colonel. He was paroled on May 8, and pardoned either in late 1865 or 66.

Lieutenant General Louis H. Buehl was a combat veteran of the Vietnam War and served as the Commanding General of the Marine Base, Camp Lejune. He held the Number 3 post in the Marine Corps next to Commandant and Assistant Commandant.

He died Oct. 5, 1988 in Bethesda, MD.

At the time of his death he was U.S. Marine Corps Chief of Staff. A Marine since June, 1954, he had held every key infantry command position. He served in Vietnam twice, and was on the staff of Naval Forces there in 1970. His decorations included the Defense Distinguished Defense Superior Service Medal, plus the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star and Navy Commendation Medals, all with Combat V’s.

A native of Pittsburgh, the General was a graduate of Miami University in Ohio and received a master’s degree in Asian studies from the University of Michigan. He won his first of three stars in April 1982 when he assumed command of the First Marine Brigade at Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii.

Rear Admiral Robert Webster Cary, Jr. is one of the most decorated officers in the history of the United States Navy and recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Scarcely a year after graduating the Naval Academy he received the Medal of Honor for action in a boiler explosion on board USS San Diego. He was standing by the first of five boilers that blew up and saved the lives of three men by dragging them out of the boiler room. He also took charge of the situation in the adjacent boiler room, putting out the fires and thus preventing the explosion of these boilers.

During World War I, Cary served on the destroyers based at Queenstown, Ireland. During World War I Cary was awarded the Navy Cross. During a hurricane, a depth charge on the fan-tail of USS Sampson broke loose, menacing the safety of the ship. Together, with three enlisted men, he went to the fan-tail, and they managed to secure this depth charge, including its safety pin, at a great risk of being washed overboard themselves.

During the years between World War I and World War II, Cary served in many capacities and many stations. He served as the Director of Base Maintenance and in the Office of Chief of Naval Operations where he initiated the establishment of bases at home and abroad at the commencement of World War II. Cary also served with great distinction in World War II when he took part in various campaigns in the European Theater of Operations. On September 11, 1943 Cary was involved in another dramatic naval action when the ship he was commanding, the USS Savannah, was struck by a German radio-controlled Fritz X glide-bomb. By the time Cary retired he had achieved the rank of Rear Admiral.

Cassidy won an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in 1931, after which he attended the University of Iowa, where he received a MS degree in Mechanics and Hydraulics.

After graduation he was commissioned in the United States Army Corps of Engineers. He served as assistant to the District Engineer in Portland, Oregon; commanded an engineer company at Fort Belvoir, Virginia; and oversaw military construction projects in Hawaii.

During World War II Cassidy commanded engineer troops specializing in airfield construction in England, North Africa, and Italy. He was Deputy Chief, then Chief, War Plans (later Operations and Training) Division, Office of the Chief of Engineers, in 1944-47.

At the outbreak of the Korean War, he was ordered to Japan where he was responsible for engineer supply. He served as South Pacific Division Engineer from 1955 to 1958 and was the senior logistics advisor to the Republic of Korea Army in 1958-59. Cassidy was the Corps’ Director of Civil Works from September 1959 to March 1962 and was then appointed Deputy Chief of Engineers.

On March 1, 1963, he became the Commanding General of the Army Engineer Center and Fort Belvoir and Commandant of the Army Engineer School. Cassidy became Chief of Engineers on July 1, 1965.

Brigadier General Arthur Seymour Champeny is the only American to earn the Distinguished Service Cross in three different wars. In addition to his three Distinguished Service Crosses, he was awarded the Silver Star, two Legions of Merit, five Purple Hearts, two French Croix de Guerre, the French Legion of Honor, and the Italian Bronze Medal of Military Valor.

Champeny earned his first Distinguished Service Cross in September 1918 for bravery near St.-Mihiel in the northeast of France, while serving as 1st Lieutenant, 356th Infantry Regiment, 89th Infantry Division.

Champeny was awarded his second Distinguished Service Cross (or more accurately a first Oak Leaf Cluster to the award) in connection with military operations near Infante Santa Maria in Italy, May 1944.

Following the end of World War II, Lieutenant General John Hodge appointed Champeny the first Director of National Defense in Korea. Though he was still a colonel, he wore the rank of a brigadier general while serving in this position. Champeny was the author of the Bamboo Plan to create a police reserve or constabulary of 25,000 men. Champeny was responsible for organizing Korean Army and Navy and signed the commission documents for its first officers. He was also later the Seoul area commander. Later, Champeny was Deputy Military Governor and then Civil Administrator of Korea.

Following the outbreak of combat, Champeny was named commander of the segregated 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Division replacing Colonel Horton V. White. At the time of his appointment, Champeny was 57 years old making him more than two years older than the division commander.

Champeny’s command of the Regiment was brief and controversial. The day after taking command, Champeny reportedly told members of the Regiment’s 3rd battalion that his experience during World War II showed that “coloreds did not make good combat soldiers” and had a “reputation for running”. Champeny later defended his comments as an attempt to stir the unit’s pride and the historical evidence is mixed as to its impact. Champeny’s defense of his actions did not convince many of the Regiment’s black troops. “I found Colonel Champeny biased, gutless and totally inefficient.”

He was awarded his third Distinguished Service Cross and a fifth Purple Heart for military operations near Haman in Korea, serving as Commander of 24th Infantry Regiment, 25th Infantry Division.

Lieutenant General Charles G. Cooper was a highly decorated combat veteran. At the time of his 1985 retirement he was the commanding general of Fleet Marine Force, Pacific.

He joined the Marine Corps in 1950 and led infantry forces in the Korean and Vietnam wars. His decorations included the Silver Star and two awards of the Purple Heart after being wounded in combat in 1951 in Korea. He also received two awards of the Legion of Merit for participating in heavy action as a commanding officer in Vietnam. Other decorations included the Distinguished Service Medal and the Meritorious Service Medal.

General J.K. Davis is a retired four-star general of the United States Marine Corps. J.K., served in the Vietnam War, was a naval aviator and served as the Commanding General of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. He flew 285 combat hours in Republic of Vietnam (160 at night) and 171 combat missions (100 at night).

J.K.’s last assignment was the Assistant Commandant of the Marine Corps for three years (1983 – 1986).

Louis R. de Steiguer was a United States Naval Officer. Louis was the Commander in Chief of the United States Battle Fleet until 1928.

De Steiguer was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his World War I service as chief of staff of the Third Naval District and as captain of the Arkansas. The oceanographic research ship USNS De Steiguer is named for him.

Rear Admiral Eccles was born on Johnson Air Force base in Japan and raised in Wallingford, Ct. He graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981.

Eccles served at sea aboard USS Richard B. Russell (SSN 687) and USS Gurnard (SSN 662). As an engineering duty officer, he held positions at Mare Island Naval Shipyard, in the Navy’s Deep Submergence Systems Program, and he had two tours in the Virginia Class Submarine Program, directing design and construction. He was executive assistant to the Commander, Naval Sea Systems Command.

Eccles was Seawolf program manager through the delivery of USS Jimmy Carter (SSN 23), where his team was awarded the Meritorious Unit Commendation, then program manager for Advanced Undersea Systems, responsible for research and development submarines, submarine escape and rescue systems, and atmospheric diving systems. As a commander he was program manager for the design and construction of the unmanned autonomous submarine Cutthroat (LSV 2).

Eccles’ previous flag officer assignments included deputy commander for Undersea Warfare and Undersea Technology in NAVSEA, and commander of the Naval Undersea Warfare Center, before becoming NAVSEA’s Chief Engineer in September 2008.

In 2010 Eccles led the US technical team supporting the Republic of Korea joint international investigation into the loss of the warship CHEONAN. Also in 2010, he was appointed to the National Academy of Engineering committee examining the DEEPWATER HORIZON explosion and oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. He was awarded the 2012 Gold Medal of the American Society of Naval Engineers and elected a Fellow of the Society of Naval Architects and Marine Engineers.

Eccles’ education includes four degrees from MIT including a bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering, a master’s in Mechanical Engineering, the professional degree of Naval Engineer, and a master’s in Management of Technology from MIT’s Sloan School. He serves on the Visiting Committee in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering. He is a graduate of the Naval War College, the Defense Systems Management College, and the foreign policy program Seminar XXI, and was elected to the Society of Sigma Xi. He is qualified in submarines, and as a deep sea diver and salvage officer. His decorations include the Legion of Merit (3), National Intelligence Exceptional Achievement Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal (4), and other individual and unit awards.