Ridgway, Matthew B

Ridgway, Matthew B(unker)

(born March 3, 1895, Fort Monroe, Va., U.S.—died July 26, 1993, Fox Chapel, near Pittsburgh, Pa.) U.S. army officer. He graduated from West Point and served in staff positions until World War II. In 1942 he commanded an airborne division in the invasion of Sicily (1943), the first airborne assault in U.S. military history. He led his paratroopers in the Normandy Campaign and commanded airborne operations across Europe. In the Korean War he led the U.S. Eighth Army, rallying UN forces and effecting a counteroffensive. Promoted to general, he succeeded Douglas MacArthur as Allied commander in the Far East (1951). He later served as supreme commander of NATO forces (1952) and army chief of staff (1953–55).