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.

Julian Ewell was a career United States Army officer who served in World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War. He commanded the 9th Infantry Division and II Field Force in Vietnam, and attained the rank of Lieutenant General.

In June 1944, Ewell parachuted into Normandy and led his men into combat for the first time. Despite being unable to immediately account for a majority of his battalion because so many paratroopers had missed their landing zones, Ewell was still able to regroup and engage the Nazi defenses.

On September 17, 1944 Ewell’s battalion parachuted into the Netherlands as part of Operation Market Garden and Ewell soon moved up to regimental executive officer. With the death of 501st commander Colonel Howard R. Johnson on October 8, Ewell moved up to regimental command.

That winter he commanded the 501st when the 101st Airborne Division was rushed into the emergency defense of Bastogne in the Battle of the Bulge, and received the Distinguished Service Cross for his heroic actions.

Ewell continued his service after World War II. As a Colonel in the late 1940s he served as Executive Officer to General Maxwell Taylor during Taylor’s command of U.S. forces in Berlin. In 1953, he was assigned as commander of the 9th Infantry Regiment in South Korea.

After the Korean War Ewell attained the rank of Brigadier General, and his assignments included: Assistant Commandant of Cadets at West Point; Executive Assistant to General Taylor during Taylor’s assignment as Military Aide to President John F. Kennedy and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff; Assistant Division Commander of the 8th Infantry Division; Chief of Staff of V Corps in West Germany; and Deputy Commander and Chief of Staff for Combat Developments Command.

From 1968 to 1969 Ewell commanded the 9th Infantry Division as a Major General. During his command, the division carried out Operation Speedy Express, an effort to eliminate Viet Cong and North Vietnamese soldiers with overwhelming force.

From 1969 to 1970 Ewell commanded II Field Force in Vietnam, receiving promotion to Lieutenant General.

After leaving command of II Field Force Ewell was military advisor to the U.S.-South Vietnamese delegation at the negotiations for the Paris Peace Accords.

Frederick Funston served as a General in the United States Army during the Spanish-American War and the Philippine – American War. Frederick earned the Medal of Honor for his valor and courage in the Philippine-American War.

Robert Ghormley was an Admiral in the United States Navy serving for 40 years (1906 – 1946). Robert served as a Commander of the South Pacific Area during the World War II.

Robert Hampton “Hammy” Gray VC, DSC was a Canadian naval officer, pilot, and recipient of the Victoria Cross (VC) during World War II, one of only two members of the Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm to have been thus decorated in that war.

Gray was one of the last Canadians to die during World War II. He is commemorated, with other Canadians who died or were buried at sea during the First and Second World Wars, at the Halifax Memorial in Point Pleasant Park, Halifax, Nova Scotia. The War Memorial Gym at University of British Columbia, Royal Canadian Legion hall in Nelson, numerous other sites in Nelson, and the wardroom of HMCS Tecumseh (his RCNVR home unit) also bear plaques in his honour. Gray is one of fourteen figures commemorated at the Valiants Memorial in Ottawa.

On 12 March 1946, the Geographic Board of Canada named a mountain in Kokanee Glacier Provincial Park, BC, after Gray and his brother, John Balfour Gray, who was also killed in World War II.

Major General Allen Wyant Gullion, USA (December 14, 1880 – June 19, 1946) was an American Army officer who served as the 19th Judge Advocate General of the United States Army from 1937 to 1941 and the 17th Provost Marshal General of the United States Army from 1941 to 1944.

For his wartime service, Lieutenant Colonel Gullion was decorated with the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his merits in the Office of Mobilization Division. During World War II, Gullion was appointed the U.S. Army Provost Marshal in 1941 and served in this capacity until 1944. Gullion also received the Oak Leaf Cluster to his Distinguished Service Medal and Legion of Merit.

Leonard Dudley Heaton was Surgeon General of the United States Army from 1959 to 1969.

Heaton was commissioned as a first lieutenant in the Medical Corps Reserve immediately following his graduation from medical school. In 1940 he was assigned as Chief of Surgical Service in Hawaii. He was among the attending surgeons in the aftermath of the attack on attack on Pearl Harbor, where he operated and treated the wounded for over 24 hours straight. With the entrance of the United States into World War II, Heaton was assigned to the European Theater of Operations. Soon after D-Day, he was appointed as the Commander of the 802d Hospital Center in Blandford, England where he had over 12,000 people working under him.

After the war, Heaton was promoted to Brigadier General in 1948. He held many posts including being the commander of the Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, DC. He became the tenth officer to command the hospital.

General Heaton was made Surgeon General of the Army in June 1959, and was promoted to Lieutenant General (three stars) in September, 1959. He was the first Army medical officer to attain this rank, and served a longer term as Surgeon General than any other officer since 1931. Aside from administrative duties, Heaton continued to surgically operate. Among his many patients included President Dwight D. Eisenhower, Secretary of State John Foster Dulles, and Generals of the Army Douglas MacArthur, and George C. Marshall.

As surgeon general, he oversaw the expansion and deployment of Army medical services to Southeast Asia and advocated for the increased use of helicopters for medical evacuation operations in the Army. He retired from the Army in 1969 and died at his beloved Walter Reed in 1983.

Benjamin L. Harrison (July 23, 1928 – January 22, 2022) was a Major General United States Army officer. Harrison contributed to modern airmobile warfare involving the integration of helicopters with infantry and armor forces for both rapid deployment and subsequent support. General Harrison was an early advocate, theorist, and practitioner of these tactics commonly referred to as “air assault.” They are analogous to the revolutionary use of armor and air support with infantry in blitzkrieg warfare in early World War II and are critical to modern military doctrine as practiced in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan.

Charles Albert “Chuck” Horner is a retired USAF Four-Star General. He was born in Davenport, Iowa and attended the University of Iowa, as part of the Air Force ROTC program. On June 13, 1958, Horner was commissioned into the Air Force Reserve. During the Vietnam War, he flew in combat as a Wild Weasel pilot and received the Silver Star. During Operation Desert Shield and Operation Desert Storm, he commanded the American aerial forces, as well as those of the American allies. During the Desert Shield phase of the conflict, Horner briefly served as Commander-in-Chief – Forward of U.S. Central Command; while General Schwarzkopf was still in the United States. He currently serves on the board of directors for the US Institute of Peace.

Chuck Horner was awarded pilot wings in late 1959, and then joined the 492nd Tactical Fighter Squadron in England. Three years later, he transitioned to the Republic F-105 Thunderchief and served in the 4th Tactical Fighter Wing (TFW) at Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina. He volunteered for combat duty in Southeast Asia, and, assigned to the 388th TFW in Thailand, flew 41 missions in the “Thud.” After six months, he returned to the States and instructed at Nellis AFB, Nevada. In May 1967, Horner returned to Korat Royal Thai Air Base to again fly the “Thud.” He flew 70 missions as a “Wild Weasel,” attacking enemy surface-to-air missile sites.

Between 1969 and 1975, he was a staff officer at Tactical Air Command (TAC) Headquarters and Headquarters USAF and then attended the National War College. He went on to lead two tactical fighter wings, two air divisions, and the Air Defense Weapons Center. In 1987, he took command of Ninth Air Force and U.S. Central Command Air Forces. On 3 August 1990, Horner was flying to TAC Headquarters, when he was called back to Ninth Air Force- Iraq had invaded Kuwait. Operation DESERT SHIELD began and Horner became the architect of air operations.

After the Gulf War, he pinned on his fourth star and completed a distinguished career leading the North American Aerospace Defense Command and the Air Force Space Command. General Horner retired in 1994 with more than 5,300 flying hours in a variety of fighters. He has recently cooperated with Tom Clancy on a new book, Every Man a Tiger.

John Edwin Hull was a U.S. Army general, former Vice Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, commanded Far East Command from 1953–1955 and the U.S. Army, Pacific from 1948-1949. He served in both world wars and was a contemporary of General George Marshall and General Omar Bradley. Because of his primary role in planning Allied operations throughout World War II, he was credited with having more experience integrating strategy with overseas operations than any other Army officer.

Hull was a pre-medical student at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, prior to joining the Army in 1917. He received an honorary LLD in 1954. His military education includes the Army War College and the National War College.

Prior to the U.S. Army, Pacific, Hull was the Commanding General for Army Ground Forces in the Pacific. From 1953-1955 he was Commander in Chief of the Far East Command after the conclusion of the Korean War. This was his last major assignment before retiring on April 30, 1955.

Other significant assignments for Hull involved major staff duties in Washington, D.C.. Among these were Director of the Weapons Evaluation Group and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations and Administration for the Office of the Secretary of Defense. At the outbreak of World War II he was assigned to the War Department. Hull died on June 10, 1975.