Ridgely Gaither was a United States Army lieutenant general prominent as commander of the 40th Infantry Division during the Korean War, and commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps, US Army Caribbean Command and Second United States Army.
23 Facts About Ridgely Gaither
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Ridgely Gaither graduated from St John's College in the state capital of Annapolis, Maryland and received his commission as a second lieutenant of Infantry in the United States Army in 1924.
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Ridgely Gaither served in positions of increasing responsibility and rank, including assignments in the continental United States, Alaska, Hawaii and China.
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Ridgely Gaither graduated from the Infantry Officer Course in 1933 and the Command and General Staff College in 1939.
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An early advocate of using paratroopers in offensive military operations, from 1943 to 1944 Ridgely Gaither commanded the Army Parachute School, receiving promotion to brigadier general.
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In 1945, Ridgely Gaither went to Europe to take part in fighting against Nazi Germany, including a combat parachute jump with the 17th Airborne Division.
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Ridgely Gaither landed east of the Rhine River, almost on top of a German anti-aircraft battery.
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The Americans took the position, and Ridgely Gaither said later that one group of Germans might have been taken prisoner sooner if he had not shot down their white flag of surrender, which was so dirty he did not immediately recognize it.
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Later in 1945, General Ridgely Gaither was assigned as assistant division commander of the 86th Infantry Division in the Philippines, where he served until the end of the war and immediately afterwards.
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Ridgely Gaither served as a member of the Allied commission that established the new international border, and as military governor of the Italian port city of Trieste, and as president of the War Crimes Court for the Allied Powers in Florence, Italy.
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Ridgely Gaither briefly commanded the famous 82nd Airborne Division from July to October 1949.
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From 1949 to 1951, Ridgely Gaither served in the Operations Division of the Office of the Army's Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations.
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Ridgely Gaither commanded the 11th Airborne Division from 1951 to 1953.
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General Ridgely Gaither was commander of the 40th Infantry Division from 1953 to 1954 and saw combat during the Battle of Heartbreak Ridge.
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In 1955, Ridgely Gaither was assigned as commander of the XVIII Airborne Corps.
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From 1955 to 1956, Ridgely Gaither served as the US Army's assistant chief of staff for Intelligence, G-2, and was promoted to lieutenant general.
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Ridgely Gaither was deputy commander of the Continental Army Command from 1957 to 1958, with duty as commander of Army Reserve Forces.
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From 1958 to 1960 Ridgely Gaither was commander of the US Army Caribbean Command.
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Ridgely Gaither became a hereditary member of the Maryland Society of the Cincinnati in 1960.
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Ridgely Gaither was assigned as commander of the Second United States Army in 1960, where he remained until his retirement in 1962.
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Ridgely Gaither's awards included two Army Distinguished Service Medals, two Silver Stars, the Legion of Merit and the Bronze Star Medal.
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Ridgely Gaither lived in semi-retirement in Annapolis, the state capital of Maryland along the Chesapeake Bay where he was commissioner of police for 8 years, from 1966 to 1973.
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Ridgely Gaither died of congestive heart failure on 26 October 1992, at the Fairfield Nursing Center in Annapolis, 19 years after retiring a second time from his 8 years leadership of the Annapolis Police Department as Police Commissioner.