Matthew Bunker Ridgway (1895-1993) Ridgway planned the July 9, 1943, midnight assault on Sicily, the first nighttime airborne assault in U.S. history. The following year, 1944, he was in command of the XVIII Airborne Corps, directing the Allied assault through the Netherlands, Belgium, and on into Germany. His units overran 5,000 square miles of enemy held terrain, taking 500,000 German POW's.