Admiral Erhard Jørgen Carl Qvistgaard (1898–1980) was a Danish admiral who was the first Danish

Chief of Defence A chief of defence (or head of defence) is the highest ranked Officer (armed forces), commissioned officer of a nation's armed forces. The acronym CHOD is in common use within NATO and the European Union as a generic term for the highest national ...

, from 1950 to 1962, and also

Chairman of the NATO Military Committee The Chair of the NATO Military Committee (CMC) is the head of the NATO Military Committee, which advises the North Atlantic Council (NAC) on military policy and strategy. The CMC is the senior military spokesperson of the 32-nation alliance and pr ...

from 1953 to 1954. After training at the Naval Officers' School, Qvistgaard became a second lieutenant in 1919, a first lieutenant in 1920 and a lieutenant captain in 1928. In 1925-31 and again in 1935–38, he was commander of several of Denmark's submarines. In 1931-35 he was a teacher at the Naval Officers' School, and 1936-38 was a teacher at the submarine school for naval officers. In 1937 he became a naval captain, and from 1938 to 1945 he was an adjutant to

King Christian X Christian X (; 26 September 1870 – 20 April 1947) was King of Denmark from 1912 until his death in 1947, and the only King of Iceland as Kristján X, holding the title as a result of the personal union between Denmark and independent Ice ...

. In 1946, he was appointed Marine and Air Attaché at the Danish Embassy in London - a task he served in sufficientlyBjerg, Hans Christian. such that the then-

Minister of Defense A ministry of defence or defense (see spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and military forces, found in states where the government is divid ...

Hans Rasmus Hansen Hans Rasmus Hansen (16 August 1896 – 10 October 1971) was a Danish politician and a cabinet minister. He was the minister of defense for two terms: between 1947 and 1950 and between 1953 and 1956.He was also a long-term member of the Parliament ...

sent him on to the United States in 1949 with the temporary rank of Rear Admiral to act as a naval attaché and to lead the Danish delegation to the Washington group that was planning and setting up NATO. Qvistgaard was given the job as the first Danish

in 1950. He was given the task of uniting the armed forces after the war, where there had been major friction between the three branches. He is the longest serving CoD to date.

References

Literature

* Bjerg, Hans Christian. "Qvistgaard, Erhard Jørgen Carl". In Svend Cedergreen Bech (ed). Danish biographical lexicon. 3rd edition. Copenhagen: Schultz, 1979–84. Volume 11

* Lidegaard, Bo. ''In The King's Name: Henrik Kaufmann in Danish Diplomacy 1919-1958.'' Copenhagen: Samleren, 1996. ISBN 87-568-1377-5.

External links

*http://gravsted.dk/person.php?navn=ejcqvistgaard NATO military personnel 20th-century Royal Danish Navy officers 1898 births 1980 deaths {{Denmark-mil-bio-stub