GENERAL MATTHEW B. RIDGWAY - TYPESCRIPT SIGNED - HFSID 169065

MATTHEW RIDGWAY
He signs a typescript discussing the prolonged cease-fire talks in Korea.
Typescript signed: "M. B. Ridgway", 1 page, 8½x11. In full: "I was not unfamiliar with the Communist tactic of trying to wear down an opponent through endless and pointless argument, for in two and a half years with the United Nations I had experienced plenty of it, but I could not begin to foresee the wearying months of fruitless discussion that lay ahead. While both sides had immediately agreed that hostilities should continue during negotiations, it seemed to me, with a cease fire faintly visible on the horizon, that I should do all I could to keep our losses at a justifiable minimum. I notified my commanders therefore that we would conduct no major offensives but would seek to retain the initiative through the use of strong patrols and local attacks designed to seize key terrain which would extend our observation and curtail the enemy's. When the first anniversary of the opening of hostilities arrived, I thought peace might be just around the next corner. Yet there were still two years and many lives and more blood between us and the constant dream of every soldier." The World War II General who saw action at Salerno, Normandy (parachuted on D-Day) and the Battle of the Bulge, was Commander of the Eighth Army in Korea. When he took over in December 1950, he moved immediately to revitalize the seriously demoralized Army and succeeded so well that by late January 1951, the Eighth Army took the offensive again. He replaced General MacArthur as Allied Commander of the U.N. forces in the Far East after MacArthur was recalled by President Truman in April 1951. Under his leadership, the Korean armistice talks began in July 1951. He succeeded Eisenhower as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in Europe in 1952 and was Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army from 1953-1955. Fold crease, not near signature. Fine condition.