Born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, George C. Marshall graduated from the Virginia Military Institute in 1901. He served in the Philippines and then rose through the army’s ranks. In World War I, Marshall was chief of operations for the 1st Division, the first unit to go to France. After the war, he served as an aide to General John J. Pershing and then as assistant commandant of the infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia. On September 1, 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland, Marshall was sworn in as chief of staff of the U.S. Army and led the army throughout the war. In 1947 President Harry S Truman named Marshall secretary of state. Later that year Marshall proposed a European economic recovery plan, which became known as the Marshall Plan. In 1950 Truman made Marshall secretary of defense to help prepare the armed forces for the Korean War. Marshall won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953 for his contributions to Europe’s economic recovery.
