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<em>Paul Williams Thompson</em> was born in Alliance, NE, to Silas W. and June Williams Thompson. Educated in the Alliance public school system, he entered the academy in 1925 and graduated 13th in the Class of ’29. After graduation and into the Engineers, he attended the State University of Iowa, for a bachelor of science degree in civil engineering at Tulane University This broad engineering foundation helped prepare him for his later assignment as Director of the U.S. Waterways Experimentation Station at Vicksburg, MS.</p>
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During the 1930s, after an unusually promising early career in the Corps, Thompson was awarded the American Society of Civil Engineers’ coveted “Freeman Fellowship for Study of Hydraulic Engineering Abroad.” He studied the waterways of Germany, Hungary, Holland, and other European countries and attended graduate classes at the Technische Hochschule in Berlin. Upon completion while assigned to the Office of the American Military Attache in Berlin, Thompson was detailed to various German army engineer units and gained much valuable information and data “upon which many improvements in our own military engineering practice later were based.”</p>
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From these assignments, then COL Thompson gained a knowledge of German forces which, together with his understanding of the capabilities of the Allied forces to be assembled for D-Day, uniquely qualified him to command the European Theater Assault Training Center in England. There he developed the amphibious assault tactics and techniques to be used at the Normandy attack and trained the forces which made the initial assaults.</p>
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As D-Day approached, Thompson sought and was appointed to command the 6th Engineer Special Brigade, which spearheaded the Normandy assault. For his courageous leadership in the initial wave, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Later on D-Day he was seriously wounded and, after a lengthy recovery, was promoted to brigadier general and assigned as Chief of Information and Education with responsibility for Stars and Stripes, the Army weekly magazine lank, and the Armed Forces Radio Network in Europe.</p>
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BG Thompson retired from the Army in 1946. In addition to the Distinguished Service Cross he was awarded the degree of Commander in the French Legion of Honor, the Croix de Guerre with Palms, and many other American and Allied decorations. In 1994 the Association of Graduates recognized his enormous contribution to the nation by naming him a Distinguished Graduate.</p>
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After his retirement from the Army General Thompson joined the Reader’s Digest Association as director of the company’s European operations with the mission to introduce Reader’s Digest editions in France, Germany, Belgium, and Switzerland. Under his stewardship, the expansion in Europe made the Reader’s Digest the world’s most widely read magazine. Later he became director of all international operations, including the Far East, and in 1966 he was named Executive Vice President and General Manager, overseeing expansion into Eastern Europe and Russia.</p>
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In 1971, at the age of 65, he retired from Reader’s Digest despite the urging of DeWitt and Lila Wallace that he stay on. He then turned his extraordinary skills to a variety of purposes. First, as President of the Association of Graduates, he directed a comprehensive reorganization, the most significant element of which was the introduction of a flexible, expanding fund-raising program. Later he was instrumental in the General Douglas MacArthur Foundation’s achievement of similar goals. As President of Boscobel Restoration, he oversaw the transition of a small, privately funded restoration into a significant Hudson Valley museum with wide public appeal.</p>
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Paul Thompson accomplished much, but “Tommy,” as he was known as a cadet, had a personal side which many who knew him came to appreciate. He loved to write, and wrote exceptionally well, frequently for publication. As a senior executive he also personally wrote many of his business letters, frustrating subordinates who toiled to duplicate his style of writing.</p>
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Ever the faithful “Cornhusker,” Tommy never missed a televised Nebraska football game and felt a special pride in Nebraska’s continued dominance. When asked how he could reconcile his support of Nebraska when the Army football team was more in need, he would respond that West Point produces Army officers not professional football players.</p>
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There is no stronger evidence of the spirit and force of BG Thompson’s personality than the determination and joy with which he adopted the computer, much to the admiration of his younger staff members.</p>
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BG Thompson met his first wife, Elfriede Greimelmeier, while stationed in Europe; they were married on 23 Jan 1937. Following WWII, they made their home in Paris, France, and later in Chappaqua, NY. Mrs. Thompson died on 9 May 1980 in Mount Kisco, NY. On 26 Jan 1983, BG Thompson married Josette Berkland in the Cadet Chapel at West Point with a reception at the Superintendent’s quarters. They were living in Florida at the time of his death.</p>
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BG Thompson touched many lives in many different ways. He was the consummate military and corporate leader; he was a loving, caring husband; he was a loyal, trusting friend; and he was a demanding, example-setting boss. Underlying it all were his extraordinary and unwavering love of and devotion to West Point and the United States of America.</p>