Alfred Gruenther

ALFRED GRUENTHER d1983. United States Army officer, Red Cross president and bridge player. After being commissioned towards the end of WW1, he served in the army throughout the interwar period and into World War II, where he was primarily a staff officer. Several years later (at the age of 52) he became the second youngest four-star general in the history of the United States Army (after Douglas MacArthur) and succeeded General Matthew Ridgway as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander in Europe (SACEUR) serving from 1953 to 1956. He died in Washington aged 84 on May 30th 1983