Matthew Ridgway 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 resurrecting the United Nations ( U . N . ) war effort during the Korean War . Several historians have credited Ridgway for turning the war around in favor of the UN side . His long and prestigious military career was recognized by the award of the Presidential Medal of Freedom on May 12 , 1986 by President Ronald Reagan , who stated that " Heroes come when they ' re needed ; great men step forward when courage seems in short supply . " Early life and career . Matthew Ridgway was born March 3 , 1895 in Fort Monroe , Virginia , to Colonel Thomas Ridgway , an artillery officer , and Ruth Ridgway . He lived in various military bases all throughout his childhood . He later remarked that his " earliest memories are of guns and Marching men , of rising to the sound of the reveille gun and lying down to sleep at night while the sweet , sad notes of ' Taps ' brought the day officially to an end . " He graduated in 1912 from English High School in Boston and applied to West Point because he thought that would please his father ( who was a West Point graduate ) . Ridgway failed the entrance exam the first time due to his inexperience with mathematics , but after intensive self - study he succeeded the second time . At West Point he served as a manager of the football team . In 1917 , he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant in the U . S . Army . The same year he married Julia Caroline Blount . They had two daughters , Constance and Shirley , and divorced in 1930 . A year after he graduated , he was assigned to West Point as an instructor in Spanish . He was disappointed that he was not assigned to combat duty in World War I , feeling that " the soldier who had had no share in this last great victory of good over evil would be ruined . " During 1924 and 1925 Ridgway attended 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 in Tientsin , China . 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 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 , upon Omar N . Bradley ' s assignment to the 28th Infantry Division , Ridgway was promoted to major general and was given command of the U . S . 82nd Airborne Division . The 82nd , having already established a combat record in World War I , had earlier been chosen to become one of the army ' s five new airborne divisions . The conversion of an entire infantry division to airborne status was an unprecedented step for the U . S . Army , and required much training , testing , and experimentation . Unlike his men , Ridgway did not first go through airborne jump school before joining the division . Ridgway successfully converted the 82nd into a combat - ready airborne division ; he remained in command and eventually earned his Paratrooper wings . 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 of Operation Overlord , the Allied invasion of Europe . In the Normandy operations , he jumped with his troops , who fought for 33 days in advancing to Saint - Sauveur - le - Vicomte near Cherbourg ( St Sauveur was liberated on June 14 , 1944 ) . In September 1944 , Ridgway was given the command of the XVIII Airborne Corps , which was then deployed in Operation Market Garden . The XVIII Airborne Corps also helped stop and later push back German troops during the Battle of the Bulge . In March 1945 , he 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 had served while a captain at the United States Military Academy at West Point . Post World War II . Ridgway was a commander at Luzon for some time in 1945 before being given command of the US forces in the Mediterranean Theater , with the title 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 placed in charge of the Caribbean Command in 1948 , controlling U . S . forces in the Caribbean , and in 1949 was assigned to the position of Deputy Chief of Staff for Administration under then Army Chief of Staff General J . Lawton Collins . In December 1947 Ridgway married Mary Princess " Penny " Anthony Long , his third wife . They remained married until his death 46 years later . In April 1949 , their only child , Matthew Bunker Ridgway , Jr . , was born . Ridgway ' s son was killed in an accident in 1971 . Korean War . Ridgway ' s most important command assignment occurred in 1950 after the death of Lieutenant General Walton Walker . He took over the 8th US Army , which had been deployed in South Korea in response to the invasion by 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 . When Ridgway took command , the Army was still in a tactical retreat , after its strong foray into North Korea had been met with an unexpected and overwhelming Communist Chinese advance . Ridgway was successful in turning around the morale of the Eighth Army . Ridgway was not fazed by the demeanor of General Douglas MacArthur , then overall commander of UN forces in Korea . MacArthur gave Ridgway a latitude in operations he had not 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 doing so meant that Eighth Army would be isolated in an enclave around the capital city . 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 reorganized the command structure . 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 staff about the status of their attack plans ; the corps G – 3 ( operations officer ) responded that he had no such plans . Within days , I Corps had a new G - 3 . He also replaced officers who did not send out patrols to fix enemy locations , and removed " enemy positions " from commanders ' planning maps if local units had not been in recent contact to verify that the enemy was still there . Ridgway established a plan to rotate out those division commanders who had been in action for six months and replace them with fresh leaders . He 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 . These steps had an immediate impact on morale . With the entry of China , the complexion of the Korean War had changed . Political leaders , in an attempt to prevent expansion of the war , did not allow UN forces to bomb the supply bases in China , nor the bridges across the Yalu River on the border between China and North Korea . The American Army moved from an aggressive stance to fighting protective , delaying actions . Ridgway ' s second big tactical change was to make copious use of artillery . China ' s casualties began to rise , and became very high as they pressed waves of attacks into the coordinated artillery fire . 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 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 all 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 . Photographs however show he only wore one grenade on one side of his chest ; the so - called " grenade " on the other side was in fact a first - aid packet . In 1951 Ridgway was elected an honorary member of the Virginia Society of the Cincinnati . Ridgway also assumed from MacArthur the role of military governor of Japan . During his tenure , Ridgway oversaw the restoration of Japan ’ s independence and sovereignty on April 28 , 1952 . Supreme Allied Commander , Europe . In May 1952 , Ridgway replaced General Dwight D . Eisenhower as the Supreme Allied Commander , Europe ( SACEUR ) for the fledgling North Atlantic Treaty Organization ( NATO ) . While in that position Ridgway made progress in developing a coordinated command structure , oversaw an expansion of forces and facilities , and improved training and standardization . He upset other European military leaders by surrounding himself with American staff . His tendency to tell the truth was not always politically wise . In a 1952 review , General Omar Bradley , Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff , reported to President Harry Truman that " Ridgway had brought NATO to ' its realistic phase ' and a ' generally encouraging picture of how the heterogeneous defense force is being gradually shaped . ' " Chief of Staff of the United States Army . On August 17 , 1953 , Ridgway replaced General Collins as the Chief of Staff of the United States Army . After Eisenhower was elected President , he asked Ridgway for his assessment of US military involvement in Vietnam in conjunction with the French . Ridgway prepared a comprehensive outline of the massive commitment that would be necessary for success , which dissuaded the President from intervening . A source of tension was Ridgway ' s belief that air power and nuclear bombs did not reduce the need for powerful , mobile ground forces to seize land and control populations . Ridgway was concerned that Eisenhower ' s proposal to significantly reduce the size of the Army would leave it unable to counter the growing Soviet military threat , as noted by the 1954 Alfhem affair in Guatemala . These concerns would lead to recurring disagreements during his term as Chief of Staff . President Eisenhower approved a waiver to the military ’ s policy of mandatory retirement at age 60 so Ridgway could complete his two - year term as Chief of Staff . However , disagreements with the administration mainly regarding the administration ' s downgrading of the Army in favor of the Navy and the Air Force , prevented him from being appointed to a second term . Ridgway retired from the Army on June 30 , 1955 and was succeeded by his one - time 82nd Airborne Division chief of staff , General Maxwell D . Taylor . Even after he retired , Ridgway was a constant critic of President Eisenhower . Retirement . Ridgway remained very active in retirement both in leadership capacities and as a speaker and author . He relocated to the Pittsburgh suburb of Fox Chapel , Pennsylvania in 1955 after accepting the Chairmanship of the Board of Trustees of the Mellon Institute as well as a position on the board of directors of Gulf Oil Corporation among others . The year after his retirement , he published his autobiography , " Soldier : The Memoirs of Matthew B . Ridgway " . In 1967 , he wrote " The Korean War " . In 1960 , he retired from his position at the Mellon Institute but continued to serve on multiple corporate boards of directors , Pittsburgh civic groups and Pentagon strategic study committees . Ridgway continued to advocate for a strong military to be used judiciously . He gave many speeches , wrote , and participated in various panels , discussions , and groups . In early 1968 , he was invited to a White House luncheon to discuss Indochina . After the luncheon , Ridgway met privately for two hours with President Lyndon Johnson and Vice - President Hubert Humphrey . When asked his opinion , Ridgway advised against deeper involvement in Vietnam and against using force to resolve the Pueblo Incident . In an article in " Foreign Affairs " , Ridgway stated that political goals should be based on vital national interests and that military goals should be consistent with and support the political goals , but that neither situation was true in the Vietnam War . Ridgway advocated maintaining a chemical , biological , and radiological weapons capability , arguing that they could accomplish national goals better than the weapons currently in use . In 1976 , Ridgway was a founding board member of the Committee on the Present Danger , which urged greater military preparedness to counter a perceived increasing Soviet threat . On May 5 , 1985 Ridgway was a participant in the Ronald Reagan visit to Kolmeshöhe Cemetery near Bitburg , when former Luftwaffe ace ( fighter pilot ) Johannes Steinhoff ( 1913 - 1994 ) in an unscheduled act firmly shook his hand in an act of reconciliation between the former foes . Ridgway died at his suburban Pittsburgh home at age 98 in July 1993 of cardiac arrest , holding permanent rank of General in the United States Army . He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery . In a graveside eulogy , Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Colin Powell said : " No soldier ever performed his duty better than this man . No soldier ever upheld his honor better than this man . No soldier ever loved his country more than this man did . Every American soldier owes a debt to this great man . " Leadership . During his career , Ridgway was recognized as an outstanding leader , earning the respect of subordinates , peers , and superiors . General Omar Bradley described Ridgway ' s work turning the tide of the Korean War as " the greatest feat of personal leadership in the history of the Army . " A soldier in Normandy remarked about an intense battle while trying to cross a key bridge , " The most memorable sight that day was Ridgway , Gavin , and Maloney standing right there where it was the hottest [ heaviest incoming fire ] . The point is that every soldier who hit that causeway saw every general officer and the regimental and battalion commanders right there . It was a truly inspirational effort . " On the day of the Germans ' furthest advance in the Battle of the Bulge , Ridgway commented to his subordinate officers in the XVIII Airborne Corps : " The situation is normal and completely satisfactory . The enemy has thrown in all his mobile reserves , and this is his last major offensive effort in this war . This Corps will halt that effort ; then attack and smash him . " Ridgway considered leadership to have three primary ingredients : character , courage , and competence . He described character — including self - discipline , loyalty , selflessness , modesty , and willingness to accept responsibility and admit mistakes — as the " bedrock on which the whole edifice of leadership rests . " His concept of courage included both physical and moral courage . Competence included physical fitness , anticipating when crises will occur and being present to resolve them , and being close to subordinates — communicating clearly and ensuring that they are treated and led well and fairly . Monograph published by the US Army 2011 . The United States Army School of Advanced Military Studies published a monograph in 2011 . An excerpt from the abstract ( p . 2 ) :