DeLuca set to lead Corps of Engineers’ Mississippi Valley Division

VICKSBURG, Miss. – Brig. Gen. Peter A. “Duke” DeLuca will assume command of the Mississippi Valley Division from Maj. Gen. John W. Peabody in a formal change of command ceremony Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Vicksburg, Miss.

The ceremony will be officiated by the Corps' Chief of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, and will take place at 10 a.m. in the Vicksburg Convention Center.

DeLuca comes to Vicksburg from Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., where he was the United States Army Engineer School, United States Army Maneuver Support Center of Excellence commandant. He also served as the Corps’ North Atlantic Division commanding general in Brooklyn, N.Y.

As division commander, DeLuca is responsible for the Corps’ water resources programs in a 370,000-square-mile area that includes portions of 12 states; its boundary extends from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. He will also command six districts with offices located in St. Paul, Minn.; Rock Island, Ill.; St. Louis, Memphis, Vicksburg, and New Orleans.

In addition, DeLuca will be the Mississippi River Commission president-designee. The presidentially appointed agency oversees the comprehensive Mississippi River and Tributaries flood control and navigation project, as well as the entire Mississippi River and its tributaries.

Peabody served as the Mississippi Valley Division commander and Mississippi River Commission President since November 2011. He will now serve as the deputy commanding general for civil and emergency operations for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in Washington, D.C. 

The nearly 700 U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, employees working at more than 40 sites in five upper-Midwest states serve the American public in the areas of environmental enhancement, navigation, flood damage reduction, water and wetlands regulation, recreation sites and disaster response. Through the Corps’ Fiscal Year 2011 $175 million budget, nearly 2,800 non-Corps jobs were added to the regional economy as well as $271 million to the national economy. For more information, see www.mvp.usace.army.mil.

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