Background
Meloy was born in Lanham, Maryland on September 4, 1903.
Meloy was born in Lanham, Maryland on September 4, 1903.
He graduated from West Point in 1927 with a Bachelor of Science degree and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the infantry.
After graduating from McKinley Technology High School in Washington District of Columbia, he was appointed to the United States Military Academy. One of his early assignments was with the first tank destroyer battalion to be organized in the United States Army. He followed this assignment by attending the British Army"s anti-tank school, and upon his return to the United States. was assigned to Camp Hood (later Fort Hood) as one of the first five officers at the now defunct Tank Destroyer Center.
During World World War II he served in Europe as chief of staff of the 103rd Infantry Division, and was chief of staff of the Airborne Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina.
From 1946 to 1948 he was professor of military science and tactics at Texas Agricultural and Mechanical University. He next served as commander of the 19th Infantry Regiment(United States) of the 24th Infantry Division at Camp Chickamauga in Beppu, Kyushu, Japan.
He deployed to the Korean War, where as a high-ranking officer he was seriously wounded. Later he commanded the United States Army Infantry School at Fort Benning, and the 1st Infantry Division in Europe, where he oversaw the unit"s redeployment to Fort Riley.
He was the Chief of Public Information at the Department of the Army and later commanded Fifth United States Army at Fort Sam Houston in 1958 and then served as the commander of VII Corps in Europe.
He received his fourth star in 1961 and became the commander-in-chief of the United Nations Command, of Korea, commander United States Forces of Korea, commanding general of Eighth United States Army and commanding general of the Seventh United States Army in Stuttgart Headquarter - West Germany. He retired at the age of 60 in 1963, and died on December 14, 1964. In retirement, he served as mayor of Terrell Hills, Texas, and was active in the San Antonio chapter of the Association of the United States Army, which established a scholarship in his name in 1970.
