Retired Lt. Gen. Herbert Temple Jr., who was chief of the National Guard Bureau from 1986 to 1990, died on Dec. 28, the Defense Department announced. He was 96.

Temple’s tenure as National Guard Bureau chief capped a 43-year career of military service, and he was instrumental in shaping today’s National Guard, according to DoD.

“Lt. Gen. Temple was a general among generals and a leader among leaders,” said Air Force Gen. Steve Nordhaus, the current National Guard Bureau chief. “He leaves behind an exceptional, extraordinary legacy, and I am so grateful for his support of the National Guard and his service to our nation.”

As chief of the National Guard Bureau, Temple oversaw the component’s growth to more than 550,000 soldiers and airmen and expanded the engagement of Guard units in operations worldwide, according to DoD.

Temple, who was an Association Partner member of the Association of the U.S. Army, also oversaw Army National Guard brigades undergo regular large-scale training rotations at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, California, and was the driving force behind the construction of the Army National Guard headquarters building in Arlington, Virginia, according to DoD. The building was renamed in his honor in 2017.

Born in Los Angeles in February 1928, Temple graduated from Polytechnic High School in 1947 before enlisting in the California Army National Guard, according to DoD. He deployed to Korea in September 1950, serving as a sergeant in Company B, 5th Regimental Combat Team, 24th Infantry Division, and earning the Combat Infantryman Badge.

In 1952, he returned to California and received a direct commission as a second lieutenant in the 160th Infantry Regiment, according to DoD. “With a few strokes of a pen on an Army form, Herb became an officer,” retired Air Force Gen. Joseph Lengyel, the 28th National Guard Bureau chief, said in 2017, according to DoD. “That was lucky for us because the National Guard gained a tremendous officer who would monumentally impact the National Guard.”

Lengyel added, “Herb made a commitment to never let Guard members suffer the same experiences from lack of training, readiness and equipment that he and his fellow soldiers endured in Korea.”

As an officer, Temple served in a range of command and staff positions in the California Army National Guard before being assigned to the National Guard Bureau in 1975 as chief of the Office of Mobilization and Readiness. In 1978, he was named deputy director of the Army National Guard and then director in 1982. After his tenure as the 21st National Guard Bureau chief, Temple retired from the Army on Feb. 1, 1990, after over 43 years of service.

Lt. Gen. Jonathan Stubbs, director of the Army National Guard, described Temple as a “trailblazer, a real force of nature.”

“He set this great organization on a path to future success for which his successors are certainly grateful,” Stubbs said. “I know I am.”