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James Peake was United States Secretary of Veterans Affairs from 2007 to 2009. In 2004, he retired from a 42-year United States Army career. He also served as the 40th Surgeon General of the United States Army. Peake received his Bachelor of Science degree from U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1966 and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Infantry. He served in Vietnam with the 101st Airborne Division where he was awarded the Silver Star, a Bronze Star with "V" device, and the Purple Heart with oak leaf cluster. Following his service in Vietnam, he attended Cornell University’s Weill Cornell Medical College and was awarded a medical doctorate in 1972. He is also a graduate of the United States Army War College, in 1988. He retired from the Army in 2004, as a Lieutenant General.