Carroll H. Dunn – Lieutenant General, United States Army

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Carroll H. Dunn, 86, a retired Army Lieutenant General who was Director of the Defense Nuclear Agency from 1971 until retiring in 1973 and who was a construction consultant based in his home in Alexandria in the late 1990s, died of coronary artery disease January 31, 2003 at Inova Mount Vernon Hospital in Alexandria, Virginia.

He had lived off and on in the Washington area since the late 1940s and at The Fairfax retirement community in Alexandria since 1996.

In the 1960s and 1970s, General Dunn oversaw some of the biggest military construction projects, including the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston, several nuclear missile installations and improvements to the Arkansas River.

He also was in charge of all military construction during a period of major buildup in Vietnam in the mid-1960s.

General Dunn, a native of Lake Village, Arkansas, received a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University of Illinois and a master’s degree in civil engineering from Iowa State University.

He joined the Army Corps of Engineers in 1938. During World War II, he was commander of a combat engineer battalion assigned to the 30th Division. He went all the way from Omaha Beach deep into Germany. He was wounded by an enemy mine during the attack on St. Lo and convalesced for months before returning to his unit.

He taught combat engineering at Fort Belvoir in the late 1940s.

In the 1950s, he served in Tokyo, Mississippi and in Washington as Assistant to the Chief of Engineers.

In the early 1960s, he was director of the Titan II missile system construction.

At the Defense Nuclear Agency, he oversaw nuclear weapons testing and management of the nuclear stockpile.

From 1968 until his retirement from the Army in 1973, he also was chairman of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel.

His decorations include three awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, two awards of the Legion of Merit, the Silver Star, three awards of the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart.

General Dunn was a construction executive for Consolidated Edison Co. in New York and in the 1980s was a project director for the Business Roundtable.

He was a member of the National Academy of Engineers and the National Academy of Construction and a fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers and the Society of American Military Engineers.

Survivors include his wife of 63 years, Letha Jontz Dunn of Alexandria; a daughter, Carolyn Dean of Denver; a son, Carroll “Stretch” Jr. of Birmingham; five grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

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CARROLL H. DUNN, LIEUTENANT GENERAL,
UNITED STATES ARMY (RETIRED)

On Friday, January 31, 2003, at Mount Vernon Hospital. Beloved husband of 63 years to Letha J. Dunn; father of Carolyn D. Dean and C. Hilton Dunn, Jr. He is also survived by five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Funeral services will be held on Thursday, March 6, 2003, 11 a.m. at the Old Post Chapel at Fort Myer. Interment Arlington National Cemetery with Full Military Honors. A reception will follow afterwards in the Fairfax Retirement Center Auditorium. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions be made to the charity of choice or the Construction Industry Institute, 3925 W. Barker Ln. R-4500, Austin, TEXAS 78759-5316.

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