Matthew B. Ridgway

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Matthew B. Ridgway

Matthew B. Ridgway also Matthew Bunker Ridgway (born March 3, 1895 in Fort Monroe , Virginia , † July 26, 1993 in Fox Chapel , Pennsylvania ) was a general in the US Army during World War II and the Korean War .

biography

family

Ridgway came from a family with a strong military tradition. An ancestor, Sir Thomas Ridgway, later 1st Earl of Londonderry, founded the first Protestant colony in Ireland on behalf of Queen Elizabeth and was Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in Ireland under James I. The Quaker Richard Ridgway (* 1654) emigrated to America in 1679. Ridgway's father, Thomas Ridgway, was an Army officer who was in command of a field artillery battalion at Fort Monroe, Virginia when Matthew was born. His mother was Ruth Starbuck Bunker. Matthew and his younger sister Ruth grew up in army garrisons that changed with their father's transfer.

Ridgway was married three times, in 1917 to Julia Caroline Blount (both had two daughters), in 1930 to Margaret ( Peggy ) Wilson Dabney, and in 1947 to Mary Prinzess ( Penny ) Anthony Long. His son Matthew, Jr. from third marriage died in a car accident in 1971.

Military career

Education and early years

Matthew attended the US Military Academy at West Point and graduated in 1917. He then joined the US Army as a second lieutenant and became first lieutenant in 1917 . In 1918 he returned to West Point as a Spanish teacher . He graduated from the further officer training at the Infantry -School in Fort Benning and was founded in 1919 to captain ( Hauptmann ) and 1932 for Major transported.

Ridgway was given command of an infantry company in Tientsin , China , around 1926 . In 1927 he was stationed in Nicaragua and helped monitor the first free elections there in 1927. Further stations were Bolivia and Paraguay as well as a post as military advisor to the governor of the Philippines (1930). From 1935 to 1937 he attended Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , Kansas . In 1940 he became a Lieutenant Colonel ( Lt. Col. ) and 1941 to the Colonel ( Colonel transported). He was then Deputy Chief of Staff of the Second and Fourth US Army and then until January 1942 with the Chief of Staff of the US Army General George C. Marshall , u. a. with plans for the future theater of war in Europe. He was promoted to brigadier general in January 1942 .

Second World War

Ridgway (2nd from left) in Ribera , Sicily , July 1943
Ridgway (left) in Korea , January 1951

After the outbreak of World War II, Marshall ordered him to the War Plans Division in Washington, DC. In August 1942, he was promoted to Major General and was given command of the 82nd Airborne Division , one of the five Paratrooper divisions of the US Army. In 1943 he helped plan the airborne operations as part of the Sicily invasion ( Operation Husky ). On July 10, 1943, the US used paratroopers in combat for the first time.

On June 6, 1944 he took part in the landing in Normandy with the 82nd US Airborne Division , where he fought with his troops in Saint-Sauveur-le-Vicomte for 33 days . In September 1944 he commanded the XVIII. US Airborne Corps , crossed the Rhine and met the Red Army in Germany on May 2, 1945 . On June 9, 1945 he was promoted to Lieutenant General .

Korean War and after

From 1948 to 1949 he was Commander in Chief of the US Caribbean Command , then Chief of Staff of General J. Lawton Collins . In 1950, after the death of Lieutenant General Walton Walker, he was given command of the 8th US Army in Korea. On January 25, 1951, the counter-offensive began under his leadership. After General Douglas MacArthur was recalled , he was promoted to general and made commander in chief of the Far East and commander of UN troops .

On May 30, 1952, Ridgway took over the post of Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR) from General Dwight D. Eisenhower . However, he angered the Allied commanders in Europe because he only had Americans on his staff. Therefore, he was ordered back to the USA in July 1953 to replace General Collins as Chief of Staff of the Army . He was chief of staff until 1955.

After his early retirement in June 1955, he published his autobiography The Memoirs of Matthew B. Ridgway (1956). He was for a time the Foundation Chairman of the Mellon Institute of Industrial Research in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When his son was killed in a car accident in 1971, Ridgway's mental health deteriorated. On May 12, 1986, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Ronald Reagan . He also took part in Reagan's visit to the Kolmeshöhe military cemetery (near Bitburg ), where he shook hands with former war opponent Johannes Steinhoff . Ridgway died in July 1993.

US Army Study (2011): Ridgway's Operational Skill

The United States Army School of Advanced Military Studies published a monograph on Ridgway's operational art in 2011. An excerpt from the abstract:

... Ridgway overcame inadequacy. Although he completed all the military education available, it was only after intense crucible of three combat operations that he eventually applied operational art successfully. Ridgway achieved tactical success but did not adequately apply operational art from HUSKY, NEPTUNE and MARKET. Ridgeway learned from his failures and progressively improved his application of operational art during the BULGE and VARSITY. Not until his fifth experience, did he master operational art. ... the most important subcomponent of visualization depends on eleven elements of operational art. These elements are the template this monograph uses

“[Roughly translated:] Ridgway overcame its imperfection. Although he had completed all of the military training courses available at the time, it was only after three extensive trials by fire - Operation Husky , Operation Neptune and Market Garden - that he adequately applied operational art. Ridgway learned from his mistakes and improved during the Battle of the Bulge and Operation Varsity [air landing on March 24, 1945 near Wesel for the purpose of a bridgehead]. Then he could. "

honors and awards

Honors

Awards Selection of decorations, sorted based on the Order of Precedence of Military Awards :

Works

  • The Memoirs of Matthew B. Ridgway (1956)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated May 2, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / helmut-kohl.kas.de
  2. ↑ General Matthew B. Ridgway: a commander's maturation of operational art ( Memento of the original of March 10, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / ahecwebdds.carlisle.army.mil archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. (2011, PDF, page 2 of 66)
predecessor Office successor
Dwight D. Eisenhower Supreme Allied Commander Europe
1952–1953 		Alfred Gruenther
personal data
SURNAME Ridgway, Matthew B.
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ridgway, Matthew Bunker
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American general
DATE OF BIRTH March 3, 1895
PLACE OF BIRTH Fort Monroe , Virginia , USA
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1993
Place of death Fox Chapel , Pennsylvania , USA