Retired Army Gen. John W. Vessey, who rose through the ranks in a 46-year military career to become chairman of the joint chiefs of staff under President Ronald Reagan, has died. After being named chairman of the joint chiefs in 1982, Vessey helped oversee the military buildup that Reagan championed when he took office just over a year earlier. Reagan sent Vessey back to Vietnam in 1987 to account for Americans missing in action and bring back any still alive. During the Vietnam War, Vessey was a lieutenant colonel in the battle of Suoi Tre, where U.S. forces held off a fierce attack from a much larger North Vietnamese and Viet Cong force in 1967. Vessey was building a lake home back in Minnesota when Reagan asked him to defer retirement and named him the 10th chairman of the joint chiefs.

Source: Fox News August 19, 2016 05:03 UTC