Name
|
Year
|
Notes
|
Edward M. Almond
|
1915
|
Commander of U.S. Army
X Corps during Korean War
|
Paul W. Brier
|
1981
|
U.S. Marine Corps major general. Commanding General, 4th Marine Division; Commander, U.S. Marine Forces Africa and Europe; Deputy Commander, NATO Resolute Support Mission.
|
William A. Brown
|
1980
|
U.S. Navy vice admiral, Deputy Commander,
United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM)
|
Withers Burress
|
1914
|
Professor of Military Science and Tactics at VMI; Commanding General, U.S. Army 100th Infantry Division
[2]
|
Richard E. Byrd
|
1908
|
U.S. Navy rear admiral, polar explorer, Medal of Honor recipient (1926)
|
Harold Coyle
|
1974
|
U.S. Army major; novelist
|
Samuel C. Cumming
|
1917
|
Decorated
USMC Major General during
World War II
|
Edward Edmonds
|
1858
|
Confederate Colonel of the
38th Virginia Infantry, killed-in-action during
Pickett's Charge
|
Robert B. Flowers
|
1969
|
Lieutenant general and Commander, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers
|
Lee S. Gerow
|
1913
|
Brigadier General, U.S. Army; Assistant Commanding General of the
85th Infantry Division. A younger brother of General
Leonard T. Gerow.
|
Leonard T. Gerow
|
1911
|
General, U.S. Army; Commanding General, V Corps (1943–45) and
U.S. Fifteenth Army (1945–48). Highly regarded by Eisenhower & Bradley.
[3] Led at Omaha Beach
[4] and Battle of the Bulge.
|
William H. Gill
|
1907
|
Major General, U.S. Army; Commanding General of the
32nd Infantry Division. President of
Colorado College 1949-1955.
|
James B. Hickey
|
1982
|
Colonel and commander
Operation Red Dawn, which captured
Saddam Hussein
|
Thomas Goode Jones
|
1863
|
Withdrew before graduation to join Confederate Army; wounded in battle four times; Governor of Alabama.
[5]
|
John P. Jumper
|
1966
|
Retired general and Chief of Staff, U.S. Air Force
|
Charles E. Kilbourne
|
1894
|
Recipient of Medal of Honor and Distinguished Service Cross; lieutenant general, U.S. Army
|
James H. Lane
|
1854
|
Confederate
brigadier general, fought in
Pickett's Charge, civil engineering professor, and founder of
Virginia Tech
|
W. Patrick Lang
|
1962
|
Retired U.S. Army Special Forces officer, intelligence executive, commentator on Middle East, and author
|
Cary D. Langhorne
|
1894
|
Medal of Honor recipient
|
Sumter de Leon Lowry Jr.
|
1914
|
Florida National Guard general and insurance executive. Veteran of World Wars I and II, received
Distinguished Service Medal and
Bronze Star.
|
George C. Marshall
|
1901
|
General of the Army, Chief of Staff, U.S. Army in World War II, Secretary of State (1947–49), Secretary of Defense (1950), and
Nobel Peace Prize winner
|
Richard Marshall
|
1915
|
General during World War II
|
Frank McCarthy
|
1933
|
Brigadier general, U.S. Army Reserve. Producer of the 1970 Academy Award-winning movie
Patton.
|
Ryan D. McCarthy
|
1997
|
Captain, U.S. Army,
Secretary of the Army
|
John McCausland
|
1857
|
Confederate
brigadier-general, served under
General Jubal Early
|
Darren W. McDew
|
1982
|
General, U.S. Air Force, Commander,
United States Transportation Command (USTRANSCOM). 1st African-American Regimental Commander of Corps of Cadets.
|
Shannon Meehan
|
2005
|
U.S. Army Captain,
Bronze Star Medal recipient, author and veterans activist
|
Thomas T. Munford
|
1854
|
Confederate
brigadier-general
|
Randolph McCall Pate
|
1921
|
U.S. Marine Corps general and twenty-first
Commandant of the Marine Corps
|
George S. Patton Sr.
|
1852
|
Confederate colonel, 22nd Virginia Infantry; died in
Battle of Opequon. Namesake son graduated from and grandson attended VMI.
|
George S. Patton
|
1907
|
U.S. Army general. Namesake grandfather and father were both VMI graduates. Attended from 1903 to 1904 as a member of the Class of 1907 before leaving to attend the
United States Military Academy.
|
Richard H. Pearce
|
1953
|
U.S. Army Major, Bronze Star Medal recipient, Highest-ranking U.S. military officer to defect during the
Cold War era
[6] Pearce was granted asylum in
Cuba.
[7]
|
J. H. Binford Peay III
|
1962
|
U.S. Army general, commander
101st Airborne, commander
United States Central Command, and 14th superintendent of VMI
|
Lewis Burwell "Chesty" Puller
|
1922
|
Resigned from VMI after freshman year to enlist as a
private in the U.S. Marine Corps in 1918; became
lieutenant general and most decorated Marine in U.S. history
|
Thomas F. Riley
|
1935
|
Brigadier general in the Marine Corps, served as Inspector General of the Marine Corps. Following his retirement, he served as
Orange County
Supervisor 1974–1994.
|
Robert E. Rodes
|
1848
|
Railroad civil engineer and Confederate major general killed at the
Battle of Opequon in the
Shenandoah Valley
|
Edward R. Schowalter Jr.
|
1951
|
Medal of Honor recipient; colonel, U.S. Army
|
George R. E. Shell
|
1931
|
Ninth Superintendent of VMI; Brigadier general, U.S. Marine Corps
|
Lemuel C. Shepherd Jr.
|
1917
|
U.S. Marine Corps general and 20th
Commandant of the Marine Corps
|
Scott Shipp
|
1856
|
Superintendent of VMI (1890–1907). Led VMI cadets at New Market under Maj. Gen.
John C. Breckinridge.
|
Adolphus Staton
|
1899
|
Medal of Honor recipient
|
Carl A. Strock
|
1970
|
U.S. Army lieutenant general and commander,
Army Corps of Engineers
|
Clarence E. Sutton
|
1890
|
Medal of Honor recipient, resigned in 1888, did not graduate
|
Sun Li-jen
|
1927
|
Republic of China/
Taiwan lieutenant general,
Second Sino-Japanese War and Chinese Civil War
|
Surapong Suwan-ath
|
1979
|
Royal Thai Army General,
Chief of Defence Forces, 2016-2017
|
Walter H. Taylor
|
1857
|
Confederate lieutenant colonel, General
Robert E. Lee's
aide-de-camp, lawyer, banker, author, railroad executive,
Virginia state senator
|
William P. Upshur
|
1902
|
Medal of Honor recipient; Marine Corps major general; Commander, Dept. of the Pacific, 1940–42
|
James A. Walker
|
1852
|
Expelled in 1852 for "disobedience" in
Stonewall Jackson's classroom, after challenging Jackson to a
duel over a perceived insult. VMI granted him an honorary degree in 1872 in recognition of his
Civil War service, where he rose to the rank of brigadier general and commanded the "Stonewall Brigade".
[8]
|
Reuben Lindsay Walker
|
1845
|
Confederate
brigadier general and artilleryman.
|