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Ridgway was honored by his adopted hometown of Pittsburgh with the entrance to the Soldiers and Sailors National Military Museum and Memorial, located in the city's education and cultural district, being renamed "Ridgway Court". Bearing his name is the Matthew B. Ridgway Center for International Security Studies [73] at the University of ...
- Early Life
- Early Career
- Rising Through The Ranks
- World War II
- Airborne
- Italy
- D-Day
- Market-Garden
- Korean War
- Chief of Staff
Matthew Bunker Ridgway was born on March 3, 1895, at Fort Monroe, Virginia. The son of Colonel Thomas Ridgway and Ruth Bunker Ridgway, he was reared on Army posts across the United States and took pride in being an "army brat." Graduating from English High School in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1912, he decided to follow in his father's footsteps and ...
Commissioned a second lieutenant, Ridgway was quickly advanced to first lieutenant and then given the temporary rank of captain as the U.S. Army expanded due to the war. Sent to Eagle Pass, Texas, he briefly commanded an infantry company in the 3rd Infantry Regiment before being sent back to West Point in 1918 to teach Spanish and manage the athlet...
Completing the course of instruction, Ridgway was dispatched to Tientsin, China, to command a company of the 15th Infantry Regiment. In 1927, he was asked by Major General Frank Ross McCoy to take part in a mission to Nicaragua due to his skills in Spanish. Though Ridgway had hoped to qualify for the 1928 U.S. Olympic pentathlon team, he recognized...
After graduating in 1937, Ridgway saw service as the deputy chief of staff for the Second Army and later the assistant chief of staff of the Fourth Army. His performance in these roles caught the eye of General George Marshall, who had him transferred to the War Plans Division in September 1939. The following year, Ridgway received a promotion to l...
Now a major general, Ridgway oversaw the 82nd's transition into the U.S. Army's first airborne division and on August 15 was officially re-designated the 82nd Airborne Division. Ridgway pioneered airborne training techniques and was credited with turning the unit into a highly effective combat division. Though initially resented by his men for bein...
In the wake of the Sicily operation, plans were made to have the 82nd Airborne play a role in the invasion of Italy. Subsequent operations led to the cancellation of two airborne assaults and instead Ridgway's troops dropped into the Salerno beachhead as reinforcements. They helped hold the beachhead and then participated in offensive operations, i...
In November 1943, Ridgway and the 82nd departed the Mediterranean and were sent to Britain to prepare for D-Day. After several months of training, the 82nd was one of three Allied airborne divisions—along with the U.S. 101st Airborne and the British 6th Airborne—to land in Normandy on the night of June 6, 1944. Jumping with the division, Ridgway ex...
Following the campaign in Normandy, Ridgway was appointed to lead the new XVIII Airborne Corps which consisted of the 17th, 82nd, and 101st Airborne Divisions. He supervised the actions of the 82nd and 101st during their participation in Operation Market-Garden in September 1944. This saw American airborne forces capture key bridges in the Netherla...
Appointed Deputy Chief of Staff in 1949, Ridgway was in this position when the Korean Warbegan in June 1950. Knowledgeable about operations in Korea, he was ordered there in December 1950 to replace the recently killed General Walton Walker as commander of the battered Eighth Army. After meeting with MacArthur, who was the supreme United Nations co...
In May 1952, Ridgway left Korea to succeed Eisenhower as Supreme Allied Commander, Europe, for the newly formed North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). During his tenure, he made significant progress in improving the organization's military structure, though his frank manner sometimes led to political difficulties. For his success in Korea and E...
This paper examines by historical analysis the factors of genius, experience, training, and personal habits which qualified officers for successful army or theater command in battle. General Matthew B. Ridgway serves as the model.
Groves, Bryan N. “MG Matthew Ridgway as the 82d Airborne Division Commander: A Case Study on the Impact of Vision and Character in Leadership.” Arlington, VA: AUSA, 2006.
Jul 22, 2024 · Matthew Bunker Ridgway was a U.S. Army officer who planned and executed the first major airborne assault in U.S. military history with the attack on Sicily in July 1943. A 1917 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, Ridgway was assigned as an instructor at the
- The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
General Matthew B. Ridgway’s astonishing ability to visualize a military campaign matured based on his leader development, the lessons that he learned from failure and from personally mastering operational art.
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A 55-year-old West Pointer, Matthew Ridgway was a resilient, highly regarded combat leader, an instinctive leader of men who learned the craft of command at an early age. A lifelong friend, Colonel Red Reeder, met Ridgway in 1913, the summer that Matt began his plebe year at the academy.
