Wallace H. Nutting

Nutting was born on June 3, 1928, in Newton, Massachusetts.

Nutting's military service began when he served in the Maine National Guard. After graduating from Phillips Exeter Academy in 1946,[3] he received an appointment to the United States Military Academy, graduating in 1950. He saw combat in the Korean War and served as a commander during two tours in the Vietnam War. His commands include the 1st Squadron, 10th Cavalry, 4th Infantry Division in Vietnam;[4] the 11th Armored Cavalry Regiment;[5] the 3rd Armored Division; United States Southern Command from 1979 to 1983;[6] and United States Readiness Command from 1983 to 1985.[7]

Nutting retired in 1985 and settled with his wife Jane in Biddeford, Maine, where he served as mayor from 2003 to 2007. Nutting has also served as a Senior Fellow at the Institute of Higher Defense Studies at the National Defense University and is an Associate Fellow at the Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. He was chairman of the University of Southern Maine's Senior College board.[8]

On May 28, 2008, Nutting received the West Point Distinguished Graduate Award from the academy's Association of Graduates in a ceremony at West Point.

In 1987 General Nutting denied Panamanian charges that, as CINCSOUTH, he’d been complicit in the 1981 death of Manuel Noriega’s mentor General Omar Torrijos.[9]

He and two others were acquitted in 1993 after trial in the U. S. District Court in Tampa on charges Sooner Defense of Florida, Inc., had sold defective munitions for the Bradley fighting vehicle. He joined the company reluctantly, and was appointed its president two weeks before its bankruptcy. Six other codefendants were convicted.[10] The charges had been brought in 1991.[11]