Charles Cumont

Charles Cumont was one of three Belgian competitors in the modern pentathlon at the 1928 Amsterdam Olympic Games where he placed equal 35th alongside Josef Schejbal of Czechoslovakia. A lieutenant in the 6th artillery regiment and student of the Military Institute of Physical Education at the time, Cumont served in various officer and staff officer positions over the next few decades, and eventually rose up in the military ranks to Lieutenant General, notably becoming highest-ranking member of the Belgian Armed Forces as Chief of the General Staff from 1959–63. He was also chairman of the NATO Military Committee from 1962–63.

Having changed his surname to “de Cumont” in 1961, Cumont was made a member of the nobility in March 1963, becoming Baron de Cumont. Reaching mandatory retirement age, he retired from the Belgian Armed Forces in July 1963, but received an auxiliary commission less than a year later in January 1964 to once again serve as chairman of the NATO Military Committee, this time until 1968. Afterwards, Cumont later served as president of l’Association Atlantique Belge from 1968–78, and Front unique national des Anciens Combattants (FUNAC) from 1974–88. He was married and had six children.