Major General John Kirk Singlaub was born in Independence, Inyo County, California, and graduated from Van Nuys High School in 1939. He graduated from the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) where he was the Cadet Colonel of the ROTC Regiment. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry 14 January 1943 and he volunteered immediately for parachute duty. Upon graduation jump school Singlaub was assigned to a Parachute Infantry Regiment at Fort Benning, Georgia, where he served as a rifle platoon leader and regimental demolition officer. In October 1943, he volunteered for overseas duty with the Office of Strategic Services (OSS). | In December 1943, he joined a group of allied officers in northern Scotland for several months of British Commando training. Shortly before the invasion of southern France in 1944, he led a three man team which parachuted into the Massif Central portion of France to organize, train, and lead a French resistance unit which provided assistance to the Allied Invasion Forces soon to land on the Mediterranean Coast of France. | In December 1944, he left Europe enroute to the Far East for another unconventional warfare assignment. This time he was the leader of a team of which trained and led Chinese Guerrillas for operations against the Japanese on the Indo-China/Chinese border. Immediately prior to the conclusion of World War II, he led a rescue mission which parachuted into a Japanese Prisoner of War camp on Hainan Island off the coast of China to liberate some 400 allied prisoners of war. In early 1946, he was assigned to Mukden, Manchuria where he served as the Chief of a U.S. Military Liaison Mission until forced out by the Chinese Communists at the end of 1948. | Following one year as a student at The Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia he was assigned to the 82d Airborne Division as a battalion executive officer. In October 1950, Colonel Singlaub was reassigned to Fort Benning to assist in setting up the Ranger Training Center. He remained there as an instructor until the end of 1951 when he was assigned to Korea. He spent one year as the Deputy Chief of the CIA mission in Korea and in December 1952 he assumed command of the 2d Battalion, 15th Infantry in the 3d Infantry Division. | He attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1953. Following graduation he remained as a member of the faculty from 1954 to 1957. In 1957 he was assigned to the 101st Airborne Division where he served as the ACofS, G3 until his departure for attendance at the Air War College in July 1959. In July 1960 he was assigned to the 8th Infantry Division in Germany where he commanded the 16th Infantry. In 1961 he was assigned to Headquarters, Seventh Army as the Chief of the Training Division of G3. | In 1963, he returned to the United States for a tour of duty on the Department of the Army General Staff in the Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development. He remained in ACSFOR as the Chief of the Force Development Plans Division until February 1966 when he was assigned to the Office of the Chief of Staff, Army. In May 1966 Colonel Singlaub was assigned to Vietnam where he served as the Chief, Studies and Observations Group of the U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam until August 1968. On 24 August 1968, Colonel Singlaub assumed duties as Assistant Division Commander, Maneuver, 8th Infantry Division in Bad Kreuznach, Germany.