COMMAND: The Airborne Grenadier

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There was no bypassing the enemy. A unit would push into an area, then consolidate and mop up before moving on. But, despite the slower pace, Ridgway encouraged greater mobility. He ordered his G-4 section to strip down its cumbersome supply system. Eighth Army's infantry began to hear the old paratrooper slogan: "Throw away the extra weight."

Ridgway explained his approach: "The infantry has learned a long, bitter lesson. It was learned before at Kasserine Pass—you must dominate the heights before you can operate in the valleys. We have neglected that principle at times and have paid through the nose. Perhaps it was because we are lazy; it is hard work to climb those hills—I've climbed them. But we have made a phased advance, with coordination between units, leaving no hostile hill masses between them. Working behind the air and artillery, the infantry has gone in and killed the enemy in their foxholes . . ."

A famous U.S. regimental commander realistically summed up Ridgway's effect on the new Eighth Army: "He not only made us attack but he made us win. He made this into a professional army. The boys aren't up there fighting for democracy now. They are fighting because the platoon leader is leading them and the platoon leader is fighting because of the command, and so on right up to the top." A Pointer Is Stationary. Well into 1942, after the other officers of the 82nd Division had switched to jeeps, Ridgway reviewed troops mounted on a horse. The grenade that Ridgway now carries in his harness has caused as much comment among G.I.s and marines in Eighth Army as the horse did in the 82nd Division. Although the general is aware of the showmanship value of his grenade, no one who knows his past record doubts that he would welcome a chance to throw it. Cracked a marine sergeant, after seeing Ridgway at close quarters, "At least the damn grenade wasn't polished like somebody said it was."

The Eighth Army commander lives in a comfortable trailer at his headquarters. Each morning he is at his desk for the 6 o'clock briefing, and he insists on being briefed in a hurry. One morning an officer, late, hurried into the briefing session, his pointer nervously waving over the map as he tried to locate the areas in his notes. Snapped Ridgway: "Please put that pointer on something."

Although he often gets in bed by 9, he is apt to get up and write down plans he has been mulling over. Aides keep nine pads and pencils scattered at strategic points around his quarters. He frequently hands a sheaf of notes to one of them when he turns out at 5:30.

Ridgway is a man of formidable energy. In Africa during World War II, he would go out evenings and scan the horizon. Anyone who wandered near would be accosted with, "Look at that peak. Let's climb it." And off the general and the unfortunate would go. His aides used to duck into the nearest tent when the general came out to scan the evening sky. At home he plays deck tennis, handball, likes camping and hunting. In Korea he gets most of his exercise by walking. Sometimes, to channel some of his physical energy, he climbs a hill and strides endlessly back & forth along the skyline above his camp. Said an aide, "It is a terrifying sight."