Maj. Gen. Charles J. Timmes; Staff, Intelligence Leader

Army Maj. Gen. Charles J. Timmes, 83, head of the U.S. military aid group in Vietnam in the early 1960s. As a battalion commander in the 82nd Airborne Division, Timmes parachuted into Normandy on D-Day during World War II. He won the Distinguished Service Cross for his actions in that engagement. After the war, Timmes served in staff and intelligence positions and as assistant commander of the 101st Airborne Division before becoming head of the U.S. Military Assistance Advisory Group in Vietnam in 1961. He later became deputy to Gen. Paul D. Harkins, the American commander in Vietnam, before returning to the United States in 1964. After retiring from the Army in 1967, he served with the CIA in Vietnam from 1967 to 1975. On Oct. 20 in Falls Church, Va., of a heart attack.