Rizzo, Frank, May 26-27, 1981

Frank Rizzo was born in July 1903 in Palermo, Italy, before moving to Brooklyn, New York, in 1910. He graduated from Cornell University in 1924. After graduation, Rizzo worked as an investment banker on Wall Street before entering the Army in 1942. He attended the Duke University Fiscal Officers School for training. The Army sent him to Japan to work in the Military Government Division, later known as the Government Section. He spent most of his time there with about five or six weeks in the Civil Affairs Division as well. While in the Government Section, Rizzo chaired the Committee that drafted the chapter on finance in the General Headquarters Draft of the Japanese Constitution and was the Chief of the External Affairs Unit, No. 1 (also known as the Opinions Branch), remaining with the Army until his release in 1946. As a civilian, he became a special assistant to the Chief of the Section before replacing General Charles L. Kades as Deputy Chief of the Government Section in 1948. Later, Rizzo succeeded General Courtney Whitney in July 1951 as Chief of Government Section until April 1952. Frank Rizzo has since remained in Japan, managing a business in Tokyo. He is the only member of the Government Section awarded a high class Order by the Japanese Emperor.