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First Name: Montgomery

Last Name: Meigs

Birthplace: Annapolis, MD, USA

Gender: Male

Branch: Army (1784 - present)



Home of Record: Holderness, NH
Middle Name: Cunningham



Date of Birth: 11 January 1945

Date of Death: 11 January 2021

Rank: General

Years Served: 1967-2002
Montgomery Cunningham Meigs

   
Graduate, U.S. Military Academy, Class of 1967

Engagements:
•  Vietnam War (1960 - 1973)
•  Gulf War (1990 - 1991)
•  Kosovo War (1998 - 1999)

Biography:

Montgomery Cunningham Meigs
General, U.S. Army
31st Commander of U.S. Army Europe

Montgomery Cunningham Meigs was born on 11 January 1945 in Annapolis, MD, the son of U.S. Army Lieutenant Colonel Montgomery Cunningham Meigs who was killed in action in World War II before he was born [Honoree Record ID 112113]. He is the great-great-great grandnephew of Montgomery C. Meigs (1816-1892), a career U.S. Army officer (Brigadier General / Brevet Major General), civil engineer, construction engineer for a number of facilities in Washington, DC, and Quartermaster General of the U.S. Army during and after the American Civil War.

Meigs graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1967. He served as a cavalry troop commander in the Vietnam War. After study at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a year at the Army's Command and General Staff College, he taught in the History Department at West Point and spent the 1981-82 academic year at Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an International Affairs Fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations.

He received his Ph.D. in history from Wisconsin in 1982 before reporting to 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment as its Executive Officer. In 1984, Meigs commanded the 1st Squadron, 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment. Following a stint at the National War College as an Army Fellow, he worked as a Strategic Planner on the Joint Staff in Washington for three years. Returning to Germany, he assumed command of the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division on 26 September 1990 and commanded it through Desert Storm. He subsequently commanded the 7th Army Training Command in Grafenwoehr and served as Chief of Staff of V Corps and Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the U.S. Army, Europe, and 7th Army. Meigs commanded the 3rd Infantry Division from July 1995 until its reflagging as the 1st Infantry Division in February 1996. In October 1996, he deployed with the 1st Infantry Division to Bosnia, serving nine months in command of NATO's Multi-National Division (North) in Operations Joint Endeavor and Joint Guard.

He commanded the NATO Stabilization Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina from 23 October 1998 to October 1999, concurrent with his command of U. S. Army Europe/7th Army.

General Meigs retired from active Army service in 2002.

Medals and Awards

Army Distinguished Service Medal
Bronze Star Medal with Valor Device
Purple Heart
National Defense Service Medal
Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal
Southwest Asia Service Medal
Humanitarian Service Medal
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Saudi Arabia
Kuwait Liberation Medal (Kuwait)

In Retirement

After Meigs left active military service, he was a professor at the Maxwell School at Syracuse University and served as a military consultant to The Pentagon.

He is currently Visiting Professor of Strategy and Military Operations at Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service. In December 2007, he left his previous position as Director of the U.S. Department of Defense's Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization (JIEDDO).

Starting 1 January 2010, he became the president and CEO of Business Executives for National Security (BENS), a national security public interest group.



Honoree ID: 285   Created by: MHOH

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