Soldier held top enlisted rank

George W. Dunaway, 85, the second of only 13 men to hold the position of sergeant major of the Army, the highest enlisted rank in the service, died Wednesday at a medical center in Las Vegas after a heart attack. He was 85.

A decorated veteran of World War II and Vietnam who served in a noncombat role during the Korean War, Dunaway was promoted to the top rank in 1968.

As sergeant major of the Army, Dunaway oversaw all issues that affected enlisted men and was an advisor to Gen. William C. Westmoreland in Vietnam.

“My life with soldiers, it was about soldiers, and it was for soldiers. I knew them. They understood me. And I always looked out for their best interests within the confines of the organizational mission,” Dunaway wrote later, according to the Las Vegas Review Journal.

George Wilbur Dunaway was born July 24, 1922, in Richmond, Va., and joined the Virginia National Guard in 1940.

He was called up to the Army during World War II and fought in France.

After the war, he was assigned to the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment of the 82nd Airborne Division.

He served stateside during the Korean War, then was named sergeant major of the 5th Special Forces Group in Vietnam in 1966 and sergeant major of the 101st Airborne Division.

Wounded during the 1968 Tet offensive, Dunaway received a Purple Heart. He retired in 1970.