Paul W. Thompson

Paul Williams Thompson was born in Alliance, Nebraska, on 19 December 1906, the son of Silas W. and June Williams Thompson. He entered the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, on 1 July 1925 and graduated on 13 June 1929, ranked 13th in his class. As a cadet, he acquired the nickname "Tommy". In October 1935, he was awarded a Freeman Fellowship to study abroad. He attended graduate classes at the and studied the waterways of European countries. On completion of his studies, he was assigned to the Office of the American Military Attaché in Berlin and was detailed to some German Army engineer units. While there, he met Elfriede Greimelmeier, whom he married on 23 January 1937. He returned to the Waterways Experiment Station in February 1937. == World War II==

Promoted to captain on 13 June 1939, Thompson commanded the United States Army Assault Training Centre at Woolacombe in the UK from April 1943 to March 1944, with the rank of colonel from 4 July 1943.. In this role he trained troops and developed tactics for the amphibious assault on Normandy. In April 1945, he became the Information and Education officer of the Communications Zone, the logistics arm of the U.S. Army in the European Theater of Operations. As such, he was the officer responsible for the American Forces Network in Europe, the publication of Stars and Stripes and other G.I. periodicals, the many unit histories published for the men and women who served in them, and the re-education of large numbers of soldiers either headed home, or seeking reassignment in the Asiatic-Pacific theater prior to the capitulation of Japan. He was promoted to brigadier general on 6 July 1945, and was awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Legion of Merit. Thompson was retired at his own request on 31 June 1946 with his substantive rank of major, but was promoted in retirement to his wartime rank of brigadier general on 29 June 1948. In addition to his distinguished American decorations, he had also been awarded the French Commander of the Legion of Honour and Croix de Guerre (1939–1945) with palm, and made Commander of the Belgian Order of Leopold II and an honorary Officer of the Order of the British Empire. ==Later life==

Thompson was hired by ''Reader's Digest as the head of its European operations in 1946. In this role, he started foreign-language editions of the Reader's Digest'' in Belgium, France, Germany and Switzerland. He rose to become its director of international operations in 1957, and as such oversaw its expansion into Asia. and he retired in 1971 when he reached that age. ==Dates of rank==