Lars-Erik Wahlgren

Lieutenant General Lars-Eric Malcom Wahlgren (14 May 1929 – 10 October 1999) was a Swedish Army officer. Wahlgren served as commanding officer of Gotland Military Command, as Chief of Home Guard and as Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) and the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR)

Early life Wahlgren was born on 14 May 1929 in Åsele, Västerbotten, Sweden, the son of Eric Wahlgren, a forester, and his wife Ruth (née Ellung).

Career In 1953, Wahlgren was commissioned as an officer in the Swedish Armoured Troops and assigned to the Scanian Armoured Regiment (P 2) in Hässleholm with the rank of second lieutenant. In 1961, he was allowed to serve in the British Army of the Rhine in West Germany as a scholarship holder. Wahlgren received his first position in the United Nations in 1974–1975 as battalion commander of the Swedish Battalion 56M in the Middle East, which was part of the Second United Nations Emergency Force (UNEF II). The posting was short-lived as he was promoted to lieutenant general, and appointed Force Commander of the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). and was promoted to lieutenant general on the same date. He was succeeded as Chief of Home Guard on 1 July 1988 by Major General Reinhold Lahti. However, Wahlgren remained as Chief of Home Guard and Lahti as Acting Chief of Home Guard until Wahlgren left the position and Lahti became regular chief in September 1991. Wahlgren led UNIFIL at the time when the Lebanese Civil War finally ended after fifteen long years with a peace agreement signed in the Saudi Arabian city of Ta'if in August 1990. to succeed General Satish Nambiar as Force Commander of the United Nations Protection Force (UNPROFOR) on 3 March 1993. From the headquarters in Zagreb, he came to command one of the largest and most expensive and most complex UN missions ever. The force numbered about 14,000-23,000 The banns of marriage were issued in February 1957 and the wedding was held on 1 March 1957 in in Helsingborg. They had two daughters, Susanne and Monica.

Dates of rank 1953 – Second lieutenant 1955 – Lieutenant 1964 – Captain 1969 – Major 1972 – Lieutenant colonel 1977 – Colonel 1983 – Major general 1 July 1988 – Lieutenant general

Awards and decorations

Swedish

Foreign

Honours Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences (1983)