Posted by Paula Lucy Delosh on April 22, 2008:

Andrew Pick O'Meara, 98, an Army general who retired in 1967 after serving two years in Heidelburg, Germany, as commander in chief of the U.S. Army in Europe and NATO's Central Army Group, died Sept. 20 at his home in Arlington. He had a stroke. A decorated war veteran, Gen. O'Meara was from 1961 to 1965 commander in chief of the U.S. Southern Command, based in the Panama Canal Zone. He oversaw Army operations affecting military assistance, counter-subversion and civic action programs in Latin America, the New York Times reported in January 1964. At the time, he led the Army response to rioting in the zone. Gen. O'Meara was a native of West Bend, Wis., and a 1930 graduate of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. He also was a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College and the National War College. Early in his career, he was in the horse artillery, was a physics instructor at the academy and reportedly wrote the first field manual on tank gunnery. During World War II, he had several command positions with the artillery in Europe. During the Korean conflict, he was artillery commander for the 7th Infantry Division and artillery commander of IX Corps. As a brigadier general, he received the Silver Star in 1953 for performing dangerous reconnaissance work on a contested hill near Kumhwa, North Korea. From 1959 to 1961, he was based in France as director of military assistance for the U.S. European Command. Besides the Silver Star, his decorations included two awards of the Distinguished Service Medal, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star and the Air Medal. He settled in the Washington area after retiring. He was a squash player and ordered the installation of squash courts for all U.S. troops during assignments in West Germany and Panama. His wife, Ellen Fraser O'Meara, whom he married in 1933, died in 1995. A daughter, Ellen Johnson, died in 2000. Survivors include two children, Louisa Heiberg of Arlington and retired Army Col. Andrew P. O'Meara Jr. of Pawleys Island, S.C.; 13 grandchildren; and 26 great-grandchildren.

admin