Everything about Matthew Ridgeway totally explained
Matthew Bunker Ridgway (
March 3,
1895–
July 26,
1993) was a
United States Army general. He held several major commands and was most famous for salvaging the
United Nations war effort in the
Korean War.
Early life and career
Born in
Fort Monroe,
Virginia, he graduated
West Point, where he served as an Army Football Manager, in 1917, and was commissioned a
Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army. After returning to West Point as an instructor in
Spanish the year after he graduated, Ridgway completed the company officers' course at the
United States Army Infantry School in
Fort Benning, Georgia, after which he was given command of a company in the
15th Infantry. This was followed by a posting to
Nicaragua, where he helped supervise free
elections in 1927.
In 1930, he became an advisor to the
Governor General of the
Philippines. He graduated from the
Command and General Staff School at
Fort Leavenworth,
Kansas in 1935 and from the
Army War College at
Carlisle Barracks,
Pennsylvania in 1937. During the 1930s he served as Assistant Chief of Staff of
VI Corps, Deputy Chief of Staff of the
Second United States Army, and Assistant Chief of Staff of the
Fourth United States Army. General
George Marshall was impressed with his performance and he assigned Ridgway to the
War Plans Division shortly after the outbreak of
World War II in Europe in September 1939. He served in the War Plans Division until January 1942, and was promoted to brigadier general that month.
World War II
In August 1942, Ridgway was promoted to
major general and was given command of the
82nd Airborne Division, upon
Omar N. Bradley's assignment to the
28th Infantry Division. The division was selected to become one of the army's five airborne divisions, based in no small part on Ridgway's skill as a trainer, and flexibility of thinking compared to his peers. At that time, the airborne division concept was an experiment for the US Army.
Ridgway helped plan the airborne
invasion of
Sicily in July 1943, and commanded the 82nd in combat there. During the planning for the invasion of the Italian mainland, the 82nd was tasked with taking Rome by coup-de-main in Operation Giant II. Ridgway strongly objected to this unrealistic plan, which would have dropped the 82nd on the outskirts of Rome in the midst of two German heavy divisions. The operation was cancelled only hours before launch.
In 1944, Ridgway helped plan the airborne operations on
Operation Overlord. In the
Normandy operations, he jumped with his troops, who fought for 33 days in advancing to
St-Sauveur near Cherbourg (
St Sauveur le Vicomte, in the middle of the Cotentin Peninsula, was liberated on June 14th 1944). In September of 1944, Ridgway was given the command of the
XVIII Airborne Corps and led his troops into
Germany during
Operation Varsity, and was wounded in the shoulder by German grenade fragments on March 24, 1945. In June 1945 he was promoted to
lieutenant general. At war's end, Ridgway was on a plane headed for a new assignment in the Pacific theater, under
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur, with whom he'd served while a captain at the
United States Military Academy at
West Point.
Post World War II
He was a command at
Luzon for some time in 1945, before being given command of the US forces in the
Mediterranean Theater, also gaining the title of Deputy Supreme Allied Commander, Mediterranean. From 1946 to 1948, he served as the U.S. Army representative on the military staff committee of the
United Nations. He was given command of Caribbean Command, controlling U.S. forces in the
Caribbean, in 1948, and in 1949 was assigned to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for administration under
Army Chief of Staff General
J. Lawton Collins.
Korean War
Ridgway's most important command assignment occurred in 1950, upon the death of Lieutenant General
Walton Walker. Upon Walker's death, he received command of the
8th US Army, which had been deployed in
South Korea upon the invasion of
North Korea in June of that year. At the time Ridgway was serving on the Army staff in the Pentagon as deputy chief of staff for operations and administration, yet he was knowledgeable about conditions in Korea and the Far East, and had a strong and dynamic personality. Both proved invaluable for the task ahead. When Ridgway took command, the army was still in a tactical retreat, after a strong foray into North Korea had been met with an unexpected and overwhelming Communist Chinese advance. Ridgway's success in turning
Eighth Army’s morale around, using little more than a magnetic personality and bold leadership, is still a model for the Army for how the power of leadership can dramatically change a situation.
Perhaps another reason he was chosen was because Ridgway wasn't fazed by the Olympian demeanor of General
Douglas MacArthur, then overall commander of UN forces in Korea. MacArthur in turn gave Ridgway a latitude in operations he hadn't given his predecessor. After Ridgway landed in Tokyo on Christmas Day 1950 to discuss the operational situation with MacArthur, the latter assured his new commander that the actions of Eighth Army were his to conduct as he saw fit. Ridgway was encouraged to retire to successive defensive positions, as was currently under way, and hold Seoul as long as he could, but not if it meant that Eighth Army would be isolated in an enclave around the city. In a foreshadowing of his aggressive nature, Ridgway asked specifically that if he found the combat situation "to my liking" whether MacArthur would have any objection to "my attacking"? MacArthur answered, "Eighth Army is yours, Matt. Do what you think best."
Upon taking control of the battered Eighth Army, one of Ridgway's first acts was to restore soldiers' confidence in themselves. To accomplish this he aggressively went about finding other leaders in Eighth Army who were not defeatist or defensive oriented, despite the hard knocks of November and December, and put them in charge. He was quick to reward commanders who shared his sentiments, and just as quick to relieve those officers at any level who did not. For example, during one of his first briefings in Korea at I Corps, Ridgway sat through an extensive discussion of various defensive plans and contingencies. At the end he asked the startled staff where their attack plans were. The corps G–3 (operations officer) responded that he'd no such plans. Within days I Corps had a new G-3 and the message went out: Ridgway was interested in taking the offensive. In furtherance of this goal, he established a plan to rotate out those division commanders who had been in action for six difficult months, and replace them with fresh leaders who would be more interested in attack and less in defense. He also sent out guidance to commanders at all levels that they were to spend more time at the front lines and less in their command posts in the rear. The men had to see their commanders if they were to have confidence that they hadn't been forgotten. All these positive leadership steps had a dramatic effect almost from the first. Eighth Army was in Korea to stay.
Still, with the entry of China, the makeup of the Korean War had changed. Political leaders, in an attempt to prevent expansion of the war, wouldn't allow UN forces to bomb the supply bases of the Chinese Army that were in China, nor the bridges across the Yalu river. Thus the American Army had to move from being always aggressive, to fighting protective, delaying actions until the supply lines of China had been extended enough to allow equilibrium. Under Ridgway's leadership, the Chinese offensive was slowed and finally brought to a halt at the battles of
Chipyong-ni and
Wonju. He then led his troops in a subsequent counter-offensive in the spring of 1951.
When General
Douglas MacArthur was relieved of command by President
Harry Truman in April, Ridgway was promoted to full
general, assuming command of United Nations forces in Korea. As commanding general in Korea, Ridgway gained the nickname, "Old Iron Tits," for his habit of wearing
hand grenades attached to his load-bearing equipment at chest level. .
Military historians generally credit Ridgway with leadership that helped restore the Eighth Army as an aggressive fighting force, allowing it combat the overwhelming masses of troops from the People's Republic of China to a standstill, and eventually driving them out of South Korea across the 38th parallel. Ridgway's personal example, as well as his thorough knowledge of basic military operational principles, set a leadership standard few in US Army history could match.
Chief of Staff
In May 1952, Ridgway replaced General
Dwight D. Eisenhower as the
Supreme Allied Commander, Europe (SACEUR). However, he upset other
European military leaders by surrounding himself with American staff, and returned to the U.S. to replace General Collins as the
Chief of Staff of the United States Army. President Eisenhower asked for his assessment of US military involvement in
Vietnam in conjunction with the French. In response, Ridgway prepared a comprehensive outline of the massive commitment that would be necessary, which dissuaded the President from intervening. However, the experience sorely tested the relationship Ridgway had enjoyed during World War II with Eisenhower, who wanted to intervene, and he retired from the US Army in 1955, succeeded in the Chief of Staff post by his one time 82nd Airborne Division Chief of Staff
Maxwell D. Taylor. In the opinion of a number of military historians, Ridgway's stand as Chief of Staff delayed US intervention in Vietnam for around ten years.
Retirement
Because of his disagreements with the Eisenhower administration over the policy of massive retaliation, Ridgway was forced into early retirement. Yet, he was secure in the belief he'd served his nation to the best of his ability. The year after his retirement, he published his autobiography,
Soldier: The Memoirs of Matthew B. Ridgway.
Ridgway's success in the military wasn't matched by success in his personal life. He married three times. For a while, he held the position of chairman of the board of trustees of the
Mellon Institute in
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. According to his friends and colleagues, Ridgway was never the same after his son died in a camping accident in 1971, becoming increasingly depressed and morose. On
5 May,
1985 he was a key player in the controversial
Ronald Reagan visit to
Kolmeshöhe Cemetery near
Bitburg, when former
Luftwaffe ace
Johannes Steinhoff in an unscheduled act firmly shook his hand in an act of reconciliation between the former foes.
Ridgway died at his home in the Pittsburgh suburb of
Fox Chapel at age 98 in March 1993 of cardiac arrest, holding permanent rank of General in the United States Army. He is buried at
Arlington National Cemetery, and a street "Ridgway Court" was named after him in Pittsburgh, the avenue serves as the entrance to the
Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial located in the city's
education and cultural district. Also bearing his name is the
Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies
at the
University of Pittsburgh.
Awards and decorations
General Ridgway was awarded numerous decorations, including the:
In 1986, Ridgway was awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom. The citation said: "Heroes come when they're needed. Great men step forward when courage seems in short supply. WWII was such a time, and there was Ridgway."
In 1991, he received the Congressional Gold Medal by General Colin Powell, the former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
In 1996, the National Infantry Association awarded him the Order of Saint Maurice (Primicerius) and their annual Doughboy Award.
Also, he appeared on the April 30, 1951 and May 12, 1952, covers of the LIFE Magazine and the March 5, 1951, and July 16, 1951 editions of TIME Magazine.
Further Information
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