Ridgway, Matthew Bunker

Ridgway, Matthew Bunker, 1895–1993, U.S. general, b. Fort Monroe, Va. A West Point graduate, in World War II he was made (1942) assistant division commander and then commander of the 82d Infantry Division. This became the 82d Airborne Division, and Ridgway jumped with his men in the invasions of Sicily, Italy, and France (1942–44). He later commanded the 18th Airborne Corps. Appointed (1950) commander of the U.S. 8th Army in Korea, he replaced (1951) Douglas MacArthur as commander of the United Nations forces in Korea and of the Allied occupation forces in Japan. In June, 1952, Ridgway succeeded Dwight D. Eisenhower as supreme commander of the Allied Powers in Europe and held that post until he became army chief of staff in Aug., 1953. He protested vigorously but unsuccessfully against the Eisenhower administration's overall military policy, which emphasized air and atomic power at the expense of the army and navy. Retiring from the army in June, 1955, with the permanent rank of general, Ridgway was (1955–60) chairman of the board of trustees of the Mellon Institute for Industrial Research in Pittsburgh.

Bibliography

See his memoirs (1956) and book, The Korean War (1967).

---

Ridgway, Matthew Bunker 

Born Mar. 3, 1895, in Fort Monroe, Va. American general (1951).

Ridgway graduated from the Military Academy at West Point in 1917, the Command and General Staff College in 1935, and the Army War College in 1937. During World War II he served on the General Staff. From 1942 to 1944 he was commander of the 82nd Airborne Division, with which he landed in Sicily, Italy, and Normandy. In 1944–45 he was commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps during fighting in France, Belgium, and Germany. During the US intervention in Korea of 1950–53, Ridgway was commander of the US Eighth Army, and, from 1951, of American forces in the Far East and the so-called UN forces in Korea. In 1952–53 he was supreme commander of NATO Armed Forces in Europe. From 1953 to 1955 he was chief of staff of the US Army.

In 1955, Ridgway retired and subsequently became director of Colt Industries. He advocated the equal development of all the armed services and an aggressive anti-Soviet policy.

WORKS

Soldat. Moscow, 1958. (Translated from English.)