vmi produced many of america's commanders in world war ii. the most important of these was george c. marshall, the top u.s. army general during the war. marshall was the army's first five-star general and the only career military officer ever to win the nobel peace prize. winston churchill dubbed marshall the "architect of victory" and "the noblest roman of them all". the deputy chief of staff of the u.s. army during the war was also a vmi graduate as were the second u.s. army commander, 15th u.s. army commander, the commander of allied air forces of the southwest pacific and various corps and division commanders in the army and marine corps. china's general sun li-jen, known as the "rommel of the east", was also a graduate of vmi.