Lieutenant General Sir George Harris Lea, KCB, DSO, MBE (28 December 1912 – 27 December 1990) was a British Army officer who fought in the Second World War, notably at the Battle of Arnhem, and later became Head of the British Defence Staff in Washington, D.C.

Educated at Charterhouse School and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, Lea was commissioned into the Lancashire Fusiliers in 1933.

[3][2] After attending the Staff College, Camberley,[2] Lea became commanding officer of the Special Air Service in 1955 and saw action again in Malaya.

[1] He was given command of the armed forces in Northern Rhodesia and Nyasaland in 1963 and became director of operations in Borneo in the spring of 1965, just before a pivotal battle with Indonesia at Plaman Mapu during the Indonesia-Malaysia confrontation.

[1] His last appointment was as head of the British Defence Staff in Washington, D.C. in 1967 before retiring in 1970.