After the Korean Armistice Agreement was signed on 27 July 1953, the 2nd Infantry Division withdrew to positions south of the Korean Demilitarized Zone. Soon after the armistice, 8th United States Army commander, General Maxwell D. Taylor, appointed Brigadier General John F. R. Seitz as Commander of the 2nd Infantry Division which remained on duty in Korea. Seitz commanded the division during a tense period following the armistice when both vigilance and intensive training of the Republic of Korea Army was required by the U.S. Army until the 2nd Infantry Division was redeployed to the United States in 1954.