Philip De Witt Ginder

Philip De Witt Ginder (September 19, 1905 - November 7, 1968) was an American career soldier who rose to the rank of Major General during the Korean War. He was born in Plainfield, New Jersey and graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1927.

During World War II, Ginder was among the first ashore during the Normandy Landings on D-Day, June 6, 1944. He was in command of forces which captured the German town of Hürtgen as part of the Battle of Hürtgen Forest. It was for this action that he received the Distinguished Service Cross for actions on November 28, 1944, when then-Colonel Ginder led his reserve company in an attack against the heavily-defended town of Hürtgen, armed only with his pistol and a hand grenade, and led his troops through the town in bitter house-to-house fighting. By the end of the war he was in the Czechoslovakian town of Rokycany near Pilsen.

Following the end of the war, from 1946 to 1949, Ginder attended the National War College in Washington. He also served in the Far East on the staff of General Douglas MacArthur.

Before retiring from the Army with the rank of Major General in 1963, Ginder would command the 6th Infantry Regiment (United States), Berlin (1951 through 1952), the 45th Infantry Division (United States), Korea (1953), the 37th Infantry Division (United States), Fort Riley (1954) and serve as Commander General of the Fifth United States Army in 1955. He went to Korea as a Colonel, and was awarded the two-star rank of Major General in less than two years of service there, making him the youngest American general to command a combat division in Korea. His service in Korea included nearly 18 months spent north of the 38th parallel.

Ginder was married to Jean Dalrymple, the head of the City Center Drama and Light Opera Companies, whom he met in 1951 while she organized United States participation at the Berlin Arts Festival on behalf of the United States Department of State. The couple had an apartment at 150 West 55th Street and in Danbury, Connecticut.

Ginder died at age 63 on November 7, 1968 in Trafalgar Hospital after suffering a cerebral hemorrhage.