Joseph R. Ulatoski

Brigadier General Ulatoski was born in Stamford, Connecticut on 2 June 1927. He entered the U.S. Army as an enlisted man in 1945. Attending Officer Candidate School the following year, he graduated a second lieutenant of Infantry in March of 1946. | From 1946 to 1948, General Ulatoski served in Korea with military government units and the 6th Infantry Division. Returning to the United States, he was duty with various training units and with the 11th Airborne Division. In 1951, General Ulakoski entered combat in Korea with the 5th Airborne Ranger Company. After a tour on the front lines, he commanded a guerrilla unit behind enemy lines in North Korea for 10 months. Following Korea, he entered the Army’s Foreign Area Specialist Training Program, completing a four year course of instruction oriented toward the Soviet Union. In 1957, he was assigned as Assistant Army Attache to the Soviet Union. On being assigned to Fort Ord, California, in the latter part of 1959, he served with the Combat Development Experimentation Center, 1st Battle Group, 10th Infantry, and as Assistant Chief of Staff for Foreign Combat Developments. Increased emphasis on counterinsurgency in early, 1961, brought General Ulatoski to the Special Warfare School at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, where he became Chief of the Counterguerrilla Tactics Committee and subsequently Chief Instructor of the Counterinsurgency Department. | General Ulatoski attended the University of Omaha where he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in General Education in 1964. He also studied Russian and Vietnamese at the Defense Language Institute, Presidio at Monterey, California and attended graduate school at Columbia University. | From May 1964 to May 1965, he was the G-3 Advisor, II Corps, U.S. Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV). From June 1965 to January 1967, General Ulatoski served as Intelligence Analyst, Southeast Asia Area, Intelligence Division, J-2, United States Pacific Command. In February, 1967, he returned to Vietnam as Commander, 2d Battalion, 16th Infantry, 1st Infantry Division. He was next assigned as a student at the Army War College, Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, graduating in June, 1968. From June 1968 until March 1969, General Ulakoski was Staff Officer and later Chief, Combat Arms Branch, Combat Arms Systems Division, Doctrine and Systems Directorate, Office of the Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development in Washington. Then in March, 1969, he was assigned as Military Assistant to the Under Secretary of the Army. Returning to Vietnam for a third time in June, 1970, he commanded the 2d Brigade (Separate), 25th Infantry Division thru April 1971. He then returned to Washington and served as Deputy Chief, War Plans Division, Plans Directorate, Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations from July 1971 until January 1972. He next became Military Assistant to the Special Assistant to the Secretary and Deputy Secretary of Defense. | On 8 January 1974, General Ulatoski assumed command of the Joint Casualty Resolution Center, Nakhon Phanom Royal Thai Air Force Base, Thailand where until 6 December 1974, he led the search for those Americans still missing in action as a result of the Vietnamese War. | General Ulatoski's awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit w/ 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Bronze Star w/ V Device and w/ 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Meritorious Service Medal, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal, Purple Heart w/ Oak Leaf Cluster, One Award of the Vietnamese Gallantry Cross w/ Palm and w awards w/ Gold Star, Vietnamese Distinguished Service Order, Korean Service Medal w/ 5 Battle Stars, The Vietnamese Service Medal w/ 6 Battle Stars, Combat Infantryman Badge 2d Award, Master Parachutists Badge and Ranger Tab. | Starting in January, 1975, Brigadier General Ulatoski served as Assistant Division Commander-B, 8th Infantry Division and U.S. Commander, Mainz Military Community, Germany.