Retired Gen. Montgomery Meigs, a former commander of U.S. Army Europe who also served as director of DoD’s Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, died July 6. He was 76.

A native of Annapolis, Maryland, and life member of the Association of the U.S. Army, Meigs graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York, in 1967 and spent his initial assignments in armored cavalry units in Germany and Vietnam. 

He attended the Army Command and General Staff College, taught in the history department at West Point and received his doctorate in history from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1982.

He also served in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Regiment before commanding the 1st Squadron, 1st Armored Cavalry Regiment. He served on the Joint Staff for three years before returning to Germany to command the 2nd Brigade, 1st Armored Division and lead it through a deployment in support of Operation Desert Storm.

Meigs’ other assignments and commands include the 7th Army Training Command in Grafenwoehr, Germany; the 3rd Infantry Division; and the 1st Infantry Division. He deployed to Bosnia in 1996 with the 1st Infantry Division, where he commanded NATO’s Multi-National Division (North) as part of Operations Joint Endeavor and Joint Guard.

In 1998, he assumed command of Army Europe and 7th Army and, including a stint as commander of NATO’s peacekeeping force in Bosnia, served in that role until his retirement in 2002. 

Four years later, Meigs was tapped to lead an expanded DoD effort to counter the threat of improvised explosive devices against U.S. and coalition forces. Then-Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld personally asked Meigs to fill the job. “I thank him for his willingness to resume public service,” he said at the time.

Meigs, a recipient of the Bronze Star with V device and Purple Heart, taught at Syracuse University and was a visiting professor of strategy and military operations at Georgetown University, where he taught courses on defense challenges in the 21st century. He authored Slide Rules and Submarines: American Scientists and Subsurface Warfare in World War II.