Matthew Ridgway was one of the most accomplished American generals of the twentieth century, a brilliant battlefield commander best remembered for rescuing the United Nations cause in the Korean War. A graduate of West Point, he served in a variety of posts between the world wars before rising to prominence as a pioneer of airborne warfare.
During the Second World War, Ridgway commanded the 82nd Airborne Division and then the XVIII Airborne Corps, leading paratroopers in the invasions of Sicily and Italy, the D-Day landings in Normandy, and the bitter fighting in the Battle of the Bulge. His coolness under fire and his presence among his men, often near the front lines, earned him a reputation as a soldier's general.
His finest hour came in Korea. In late 1950, with the Chinese intervention having thrown the United Nations forces into headlong retreat, Ridgway took command of the demoralized Eighth Army. Through sheer force of leadership he restored its fighting spirit, reorganized its tactics, and turned the rout into a stand, then drove the communist forces back — a remarkable feat of generalship that stabilized the war.
When General Douglas MacArthur was relieved of command in 1951, Ridgway succeeded him as supreme commander in the Far East, and later served as NATO's supreme commander in Europe and as Army Chief of Staff. He died in 1993, honored as one of the great American military leaders of his age.