Ralph Hospital

Brigadier General Ralph Hospital was born January 27, 1891, in Washington, D.C. He was commissioned in November 1913 as a Field Artillery officer and saw service with the 13th Cavalry Regiment during the Mexican Campaign in both Douglas, Arizona, and Columbus, New Mexico. He served as an Artillery officer in France during World War I and then took an instructor job at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, where he remained for most of the 1920s and 1930s.

Lieutenant Colonel Hospital pinned on Colonel in 1941 and saw service in World War II, first as commander of the 75th Field Artillery Brigade and then was frocked to Brigadier General and placed as Commanding General of the 91st Division Artillery. In Spring 1944 they sailed for north Africa and then Italy, making the push for the Po River Valley and the Gothic Line. General Hospital was awarded the Silver Star for his heroism in the Italian campaigns. He retired in January 1951 and was officially promoted to Brigadier General in February 1951 on the U.S. Army Retired List. He returned to Ithaca, New York, as Professor of Military Studies and Tactics until the mid-1960s.

General Hospital died on December 20, 1972, and was buried at Arlington National Cemetery near the JFK grove.

Hospital is the maternal grandfather of musician John Flansburgh, one half of the alternative rock duo They Might Be Giants, and Paxus Calta (born Earl S. Flansburgh), anti-nuclear activist.