William Frishe Dean Sr. (August 1, 1899August 24, 1981) was a United States Army major general during World War II and the Korean War. He received the Medal of Honor for his actions on July 20 and 21, 1950 during the Battle of Daejon (Taejon) in South Korea. Dean also became the highest ranking American officer captured by an enemy force since the 18 American Army generals captured by Imperial Japan after the fall of the Philippines when he was captured by North Korea during the Korean War.

Dean attended the University of California at Berkeley before graduating with a commission in the US Army through the Reserve Officer's Training Corps (ROTC) in 1921. Slowly rising up the ranks in the inter-war years, Dean worked a desk job in Washington, D.C., for much of World War II before being transferred to the 44th Infantry Division which he commanded during the final days of the war, and was awarded a Distinguished Service Cross.

Dean commanded the 24th Infantry Division at the outbreak of the Korean War. Dean led the division for several weeks in successive delaying battles against the North Koreans before he led his division in making a last stand at Daejon. During the confused retreat from that city, Dean was separated from his soldiers and badly injured, and was eventually captured by the North Koreans. He remained in North Korean custody near Pyongyang for the remainder of the war. After the end of the conflict, Dean returned to the United States to a hero's welcome. He retired from the Army soon after and lived a quiet life until his death.

Early life and education Dean was born on August 1, 1899, in Carlyle, Illinois, to Charles Watts Dean, who worked as a dentist, and Elizabeth Frishe Dean, who was of German descent. William Dean had two siblings, a brother named David and a sister named Elizabeth. Dean states in his biography his interest in the military began at a very young age, upon seeing the United States Military Academy cadets in the 1904 Saint Louis Exposition performing military foot drill. During his childhood, Dean was interested in physical fitness, and began weightlifting and running, activities he would continue throughout much of his life. His first jobs included selling magazines for spending money. Growing up in Carlyle, Dean was the town's main paperboy for The Saturday Evening Post.

After graduating from high school, Dean applied to the US Military Academy, but was rejected. He then tried to enlist in the United States Army during World War I, but he was too young to do so without his parents' permission, and his mother refused. Dean instead attended University of California at Berkeley studying pre-law. During this time, he also took a variety of side jobs, including a stevedore at the San Francisco docks, a motorman, and briefly as a patrolman for the Berkeley Police Department, where he worked under police chief August Vollmer. Dean originally sought to attain a Doctor of Law degree but only completed a Bachelor of Arts degree from Berkeley in 1922 before joining the Army.

Early military career Dean, who had been a member of Berkeley's ROTC, was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the California Army National Guard in 1921, before being given an active duty commission in the infantry on October 13, 1923. His first assignment was to the US 38th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division at Fort Douglas, Utah. During this posting, Dean took an interest in polo ponies, owning and training several of his own.

Dean was moved to the Panama Canal Zone in 1926, coaching boxing and basketball teams though not competing himself. Dean returned to Fort Douglas in 1929 before attending the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia and then serving with a tank battalion before taking a course at the tank school. In 1932, Dean was assigned to the US 30th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Infantry Division on the US West Coast. During this time, Dean also served in the Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC) as commander of Camp Hackamore in northern California. Dean was then moved to the CCC headquarters in Redding, California.

Following these appointments, Dean attended the US Army Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas before being assigned to a post on Oahu, Hawaii for two years. Following this stint, Dean attended the Armed Forces Industrial College at Fort McNair, Washington, D.C., and then the field officer's course at the Chemical Warfare school in the United States Army War College at Carlisle Barracks. Dean was promoted to captain in 1936, and major in 1940. Upon this promotion, Dean was assigned to Washington, D.C., on the United States Department of War on the General Staff, first as a junior member, then as assistant secretary, then as executive officer in the Requirement Division of the Ground Forces Headquarters, a department concerned with the acquisition of new weapons and electronics, and training literature.

World War II Following the United States' entry into World War II, Dean was promoted to the temporary rank of lieutenant colonel in 1941, and colonel in 1942. He was promoted to brigadier general in December of that year and made head of the Requirements Division in 1943. He held this office only briefly, before being assigned as assistant commander of the US 44th Infantry Division, under Major Generals James I. Muir and Robert L. Spragins beginning in late 1943. The division was to sail for the European Theater and Dean went with them despite being injured shortly before departure in a flamethrower accident which claimed the lives of two other soldiers.

Normandy to the Bulge The 44th Infantry Division landed in France via Omaha Beach on September 15, 1944. It trained for a month before entering combat on October 18, 1944, when it relieved the US 79th Infantry Division in the vicinity of Foret de Parroy, east of Luneville, to take part in the Seventh United States Army drive to secure several passes in the Vosges Mountains. The division was hit by a heavy counterattack by forces of Nazi Germany on October 25–26. The attack was repulsed and the 44th remained in the sector for several weeks. On November 13, 1944, it attacked northeast, advancing through the Vosges Mountains east of Leintrey to Dossenheim, and capturing Avricourt, on November 17. The division then pushed on to liberate Strasbourg with the French 2nd Armored Division. After regrouping, the 44th Infantry Division returned to the attack, taking Ratzwiller and entering the Ensemble de Bitche along the Maginot Line.

When division commander Major General Robert L. Spragins was injured and relieved of command in December 1944, Dean was promoted to command the division. That month, the division was caught up in the German Army offensive in the Alsace, known as Operation Nordwind. Fort Simserhof was captured by the Germans on December 19 and the 44th Infantry Division was forced to retreat to defensive positions east of Sarreguemines. On December 21–23, the 44th threw back three attempts by the Germans to cross the Blies River. An aggressive defense of the Sarreguemines area was continued throughout February and most of March 1945, when Dean was promoted to major general.

Invasion of Germany The division moved across the Rhine River at Worms, Germany on March 26, in the wake of the 3rd Infantry Division. The 44th relieved the 3rd on March 26–27 and crossed the Neckar River to attack and capture Mannheim, Germany on March 28–29. Shifting to the west bank of the Main River, the division crossed that river at Grosse Auheim in early April, and engaged in a three-week period of training. Returning to the lines, the division resumed its attack on April 18 in conjunction with the US 10th Armored Division, the 44th took Ehingen on April 23, crossed the Danube River. It then attacked southeast into Austria, taking Füssen, Berg, and Wertach as part of a drive to Imst. Pursuing the disintegrating German forces through Fern Pass and into Inn Valley, the 44th was in Imst by May 4. The city of Landeck surrendered on May 5. The 19th German Army had surrendered at Innsbruck the same day, and the division was involved in processing German prisoners until V-E Day on May 8. Dean's troops took 30,000 prisoners of war in the surrender of the German army. Dean was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the Legion of Merit, and the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his leadership of the division during the war.

After a short period of occupation duty, the 44th Infantry Division returned to the United States in July 1945 where it began training for deployment to the Pacific Theater. As part of Operation Coronet it was intended that Dean would lead the division during the planned invasion of Honshū, but the war came to an end before this took place and the operation was subsequently cancelled. Dean then oversaw the drawdown of the division until he was relieved of command on November 1, 1945. The 44th Infantry Division was disbanded by the end of that month, and Dean was assigned to Fort Leavenworth again to organize and direct command classes.

Korean War In October 1947, Dean was appointed the commander of military forces in South Korea, deputy to Lieutenant General John R. Hodge, commander of the United States Army Military Government in Korea (USAMGIK). This job was temporary as the US forces transitioned the South Koreans to independence. Headquartered in Seoul, Dean maintained political control of the country until August 15, 1948, when the new South Korean government was elected and the occupation ended. Dean was then made commander of the US 7th Infantry Division, overseeing its movement from South Korea to bases in Japan as part of the Occupation of Japan. By January 1949, Dean and his division were in Sapporo, Japan on the island of Hokkaido. He was moved to Yokohama in May 1949 to serve as chief of staff to the Eighth United States Army under Lieutenant General Walton Walker. In October 1949 Dean returned to division command when he took command of the US 24th Infantry Division in Kokura, Kyushu.

Jeju uprising Through his role in the USAMGIK, Dean oversaw the initial suppression of the Jeju uprising, a prolonged armed uprising which broke out on April 3, 1948, largely in protest to the Division of Korea and moves to establish a separate government in the South. The Workers' Party of South Korea and its supporters launched the insurgency by attacking the police. Northwest Youth League members stationed on Jeju mobilized to violently suppress the uprising. In less than a month after the uprising began, a peace agreement had been reached between resistance leader Kim Dal-sam and Jeju constabulary commander Kim Ik-ryeol. However this agreement was rejected by Dean who soon after fired Kim Ik-ryeol and replaced him with the more compliant Pak Chin-gyŏng. Dean subsequently ordered a purge of suspected sympathizers of the Workers' Party of South Korea from the Korean Constabulary culminating in the summary execution of three sergeants. His role in Korea ended in August 1948, with the independence of the First Republic of Korea under President Syngman Rhee who escalated the suppression of the uprising after independence, declaring martial law in November and beginning an "eradication campaign" against rebel forces in the rural areas of Jeju in March 1949, defeating them within two months. 30,000 people were killed in total during the uprising including at least 14,373 civilians.

Delaying action