A native of Minneapolis, Vessey began his 46-year military career in 1939 when he joined the Minnesota Army National Guard's 59th Field Artillery Brigade, a unit of the 34th Infantry Division.

Vessey received a battlefield commission to second lieutenant during the Battle of Anzio, and served as a field artillery forward observer until the end of the war.

Vessey was promoted to brigadier general in 1970, and assigned as commander of U.S. Army Supply Thailand, a logistics support area for soldiers serving in Vietnam.

After leaving the Army, Vessey became involved in efforts to account for military personnel listed as missing in action, and made several trips to Southeast Asia to search for remains as part of resolving the Vietnam War POW/MIA issue.

[3] The experience of early American setbacks in North Africa left Vessey with a lifelong appreciation of the need for realistic combat training, modern equipment, physical fitness, and air-ground cooperation.

[7] When Major General Omar Bradley, commander of II Corps in North Africa, launched the U.S. drive on Bizerte in April 1943, he gave the 34th the most difficult objective: the well-defended Hill 609.

[8] Vessey was with the 34th when it went ashore on the Anzio beachhead in Italy in May 1944; there he received a battlefield commission as a second lieutenant, after which he served as a forward observer.

From 1963 to 1965, Vessey commanded 2nd Battalion, 73rd Field Artillery, 3rd Armored Division; then he spent a year as a student at the Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

In March 1967, when acting as commander of the 2nd Battalion, 77th Artillery, he was given the mission of establishing a fire support base at Suoi Tre during Operation Junction City.

Deep in enemy-controlled territory, Vessey and his men oriented the firebase's defenses on the enemy's likely avenues of approach and rehearsed counterattack plans.

Promoted to major general in August 1974, he assumed command of the 4th Infantry Division (Mechanized) at Fort Carson, Colorado.

[6] His tour was marked by increased military tension, caused by evidence of a North Korean buildup and by President Jimmy Carter's 1977 announcement that U.S. ground forces would be withdrawn.

[7] On 18 June 1982, Vessey became the tenth Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and the last World War II combat veteran to serve in the position.

[7] Vessey and the service chiefs believed that their overriding task lay in convincing Soviet leaders that their quest for military superiority and geostrategic advantage was fruitless.

The 1983 Grenada operation, for example, was planned by Atlantic Command, reviewed by the Joint Chiefs, and approved by Secretary Weinberger and the President—all in four days.

He urged the on-scene commanders to move aggressively to secure full control of the multi-island nation and also improve living conditions for 666 Cuban detainees.

[11] On his return home, Vessey faced a firestorm from the American news media over the Pentagon's actions barring journalists from the battlefield until the third day of the operation.

Vessey responded to the criticism by appointing a study group, known as the Sidle Panel, which recommended new guidelines for military-media relations that he embraced as Pentagon policy the following year.

He was the last four-star World War II combat veteran on active duty and, with forty-six years of service, had served the longest of anyone then in the Army.

This article incorporates public domain material from Selected Works of General John W. Vessey, Jr., USA (PDF).