John Garrett Underhill Jr. (August 7, 1915 – May 8, 1964), also known as Garrett Underhill and Gary Underhill, was Captain General Staff G2 World War II and received the
Army Commendation Medal
The Commendation Medal is a mid-level United States military decoration presented for sustained acts of heroism or meritorious service. Each branch of the United States Armed Forces issues its own version of the Commendation Medal, with a fifth ...
for meritorious service. He was a Harvard graduate, linguist, and self-taught military affairs expert. For five years he was a military correspondent for ''Life'' magazine and helped to make their Foreign News Department one of the most knowledgeable centers of military intelligence in the world.
Biography
John Garrett Underhill Jr. was born in
Brooklyn
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...
, the son of
John Garrett Underhill Sr. and Louisa Man Wingate, on August 7, 1915. His mother Louisa Man Wingate (1869–1927) was the daughter of General
George Wood Wingate
George Wood Wingate (July 1, 1840 – March 22, 1928) was an American lawyer and organizer of rifle practice. During the Civil War he served in a New York regiment, and later supervised the construction of elevated railways in Brooklyn. In 18 ...
, who played a role in forming the National Rifle Association. His mother died in 1927, when Underhill was only 12 years old.
Underhill went on to study and graduate from Harvard College in 1937. In 1940 it was announced that Underhill was to wed Miss Patricia Semple Dunkerson, a graduate of Vassar College.
They were married on June 12 that year at St. Bartholomew's Protestant Episcopal Church.
Underhill served as a Technical Editor and later Chief Editor of the War Department's
Military Intelligence Division
The Military Intelligence Division was the military intelligence branch of the United States Army and United States Department of War from May 1917 (as the Military Intelligence Section, then Military Intelligence Branch in February 1918, then Mil ...
between July 6, 1943 and May 1946.
He was an expert in photography, enemy weapons, and related technical specialities. His role was recognized in a publication of the Memorial Church of All Angels in Twilight Park, Haines Falls, New York. "Report on the Red Army" was a lengthy report written by John Garrett Underhill Jr., under the pseudonym Garrett Underhill. The report was published on October 16, 1949. In the report it was noted how Garrett Underhill was a writer and editor, and served for 3 1/2 years on the War Department General Staff. It noted how he "is owner of a large private collection of Soviet small arms, acquired during a fifteen-year interest in foreign armaments."
From late 1949 to the mid-1950s Underhill was an infrequent contact with the office of the Domestic Contact Service of the CIA.
In 1951 he wrote a 6500 word essay with Ronald Schiller entitled ''The Tragedy of the US Army'' for Look magazine that was published February 13, 1951. After writing the article the Harvard Alumni Bulletin printed Underhill's own words of how he "Got recalled to brown suit service just after finishing a 6500 word article".
Following World War II, Underhill volunteered and served as Deputy Director for the Civil Defense of Washington, D.C. An exercise meant to simulate an evacuation in the event of a hydrogen bomb attack called "
Operation Alert" was carried out in 1955. Underhill was outspoken in his criticism of the exercise, stating in the press it was not a "drill but a show". During the exercise he declined heading to the command post for the exercise claiming, it was "so inadequate it couldn't cope with a brushfire threatening a doghouse in a backyard." Samuel Spencer, one of the commissioners who govern the District of Columbia, upon hearing Underhill's criticism ordered his dismissal just as "Operation Alert" began.
![John Garrett Underhill, Jr](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b7/John_Garrett_Underhill%2C_Jr..JPG)
Underhill took an active interest in family organizations. One letter from November 1950 expressed his interest in "the revival of the three Underhill organizations." He would have ample opportunity to play a hand in that revival between 1954 and 1956 when he served as President of the
Underhill Society of America
The Underhill Society of America is a non-profit family genealogical society that was organized in Brooklyn, New York, on June 16, 1892. The Society was incorporated in 1903. The purpose of the Underhill Society of America is to perpetuate the memo ...
.
Underhill served as a military affairs editor at ''Life'' magazine for five years
and as a CIA Informant.
Death
Jim Garrison, District Attorney from Louisiana conducted an investigation into the assassination of Kennedy. In an interview that Garrison gave for ''Playboy'' magazine, he referred to a CIA agent with valuable information pertaining to his investigation. The name of Gary Underhill was used interchangeably in sources with John Garrett Underhill. A Memorandum from the CIA to the Justice Department in 1967 referred to the interview and John Garrett Underhill Jr. in some detail:
15. Who is the J. Garrett UNDERHILL referred to in Garrison's Playboy interview as a former CIA agent?
UNDERHILL was born 7 August 1915 in Brooklyn, was graduated from Harvard in 1937, and committed suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Mental disorders (including depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, personality disorders, anxiety disorders), physical disorders (such as chronic fatigue syndrome), and s ...
on 8 May 1964. He served with the Military Intelligence Service from 6 July 1943 to May 1946 as an expert in photography, enemy weapons, and related technical specialities. He was in infrequent contact with the New York office of the Domestic Contact Service, of CIA from late 1949 to the mid-'50s. The contact was routine. Mr. UNDERHILL was not an employee of CIA.
CIA agent Gary Underhill, again, a name used interchangeably with John Garrett Underhill Jr., was said to have a connection with
Harold Isaacs
Harold Robert Isaacs (1910–1986) was an American journalist and political scientist.
Career
Isaacs graduated from Columbia University in 1929, then briefly worked as a reporter for the ''New York Times.'' He went to China in 1930 with no st ...
who in turn knew Oswald's cousin Marilyn Murret.
Prior to Garrison being able to meet and interview Underhill, he was found in bed with a bullet wound behind his left ear on May 8, 1964.
Sources differ on whether the cause of his death was suicide or if people or groups had motivations to see him removed because he had secret information that he threatened to divulge. His Death Certificate from the District of Columbia Department of Public Health listed the cause of death as "shot self in head with automatic pistol."
He died on May 8, 1964, at his home on 3035 M St, NW in Washington, D.C. Surviving him were his wife Patricia D. Underhill, one son John Garrett Underhill III, and a sister Mrs. Ernest Eltinge of Warwick, New York. After his death he was buried in the
Underhill Burying Ground
The Underhill Burying Ground is a cemetery located within the Village of Lattingtown, in the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The cemetery has been in continuous operation since the burial of Captain John Underhill in 1672. The Und ...
in Lattingtown, New York. His wife Patricia D. Underhill died on December 15, 1973. A memorial service was held in her memory at Christ Church, Washington, D.C.
John Garrett Underhill III lived at 10220 Memorial Dr. in Houston, Texas. An obituary for him ran in the March 22, 1987 issue of the ''Houston Chronicle'', Section 2, Page 15.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Underhill, John Garrett Jr.
1915 births
1964 suicides
Harvard College alumni
United States Army personnel of World War II
United States Army officers
People of the Central Intelligence Agency
Suicides by firearm in Washington, D.C.