NATION IN BRIEF : VIRGINIA : Officials Pay Final Tribute to Ridgway

Gen. Matthew B. Ridgway, the commander who led his troops into battle in every theater of World War II and in Korea, was remembered as a “soldier’s soldier” as he was laid to rest at Arlington National Cemetery. “The spirit of every American soldier, past and present, is with us today,” said Gen. Colin L. Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. “More than anything else, Matthew Ridgway was a soldier’s soldier.” Ridgway died Monday at age 98. Among the mourners who joined Powell at Ridgway’s grave on a knoll beneath the Tomb of the Unknowns were Defense Secretary Les Aspin and Sens. Sam Nunn (D-Ga.) and Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).