Robert Eichelberger

Robert Lawrence Eichelberger (born March 9, 1886 in Urbana , Illinois , † September 26, 1961 in Asheville , North Carolina ) was a general in the United States Army who commanded the Eighth United States Army in the Pacific during World War II .

Life

In 1909 he graduated from West Point , served in Panama , in the border war with Mexico (which lasted from 1910 to 1919) and in the American Expeditionary Force Siberia (1918) in Vladivostok and the surrounding area, for which he received the Distinguished Service Cross . In 1921 he returned to the USA in the Far East section of the General Staff Reconnaissance Department. In 1925 he moved to the Adjutant General's Office in Washington, DC He attended Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth (together with Dwight D. Eisenhower ) and the Army War College in 1924 and was Secretary of the General Staff under Chief of Staff Douglas MacArthur . In 1938 he became a colonel, returned to the infantry and commanded the 30th Infantry Regiment in the Presidio in San Francisco .

In 1940 he became brigadier general and superintendent at West Point, whose training he modernized. When the USA entered the war , he looked for active service and was given command of the 77th Infantry Division in Fort Jackson and, in June 1942, of the I. Corps , consisting of the 8th , 30th and 77th Infantry Divisions. In August he was subordinate to MacArthur in the Pacific and was corps commander of the 32nd and 41st Infantry Divisions in Australia. He was personally commissioned by MacArthur to take command of the 32nd Infantry Division in the Battle of Buna-Gona in New Guinea after setbacks against the Japanese, which resulted in heavy losses but ended victorious for the Allies in January 1943. Eichelberger received the Distinguished Service Cross again and became a KBE . In 1943 he accompanied Eleanor Roosevelt on her visit to Australia. In 1944 he commanded the landing near Hollandia in New Guinea and then in the Battle of Biak , for which he received the Silver Star .

After the New Guinea campaign, MacArthur appointed him commander in chief of the 8th Army, which replaced the 6th Army in the conquest of Leyte Island in the Philippines . He received another Silver Star for the conquest of Manila on the main island of Luzon in early 1945. Then he conquered other islands in the south of the Philippines including Mindanao with the 8th Army . From August 1945 the 8th Army was part of the occupying power in Japan. Eichelberger came back to the USA at the end of 1948 as Lieutenant General . In 1954 he retired as a general.

He was married to Emmaline Guder Eichelberger (1888–1972, Miss Em ).

US awards

	Distinguished Service Cross (2 ×) with oak leaf cluster (Eichenlaub)
	Army Distinguished Service Medal (4 ×) with (oak leaves)
	Navy Distinguished Service Medal
	Silver Star (3 ×) with (oak leaves)
	Legion of Merit
	Bronze Star Medal
	Air Medal
	Mexican Border Service Medal
	Victory Medal
	American Defense Service Medal
	Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
	World War II Victory Medal
	Army of Occupation Medal

Foreign awards

	Knight Commander des Order of the British Empire (KBE), United Kingdom
	Companion des Distinguished Service Order (DSO), United Kingdom
	Grand officer of the Orde van Oranje-Nassau with swords, Netherlands
	Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor , France
	Order of the Rising Sun , Japan
	Order of the Sacred Treasure , Japan
	Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown , Belgium
	Grand Officer of the War Cross with Palm Tree, Belgium
	Order of Abdon Calderón First Class, Ecuador
	Distinguished Service Star , Philippines
	Liberation Medal , Philippines
	Legion of Honor , Philippines
	Grand Officer of the Ordine militare d'Italia , Italy

literature

Jay Luvaas (Editor): Dear Miss Em: General Eichelberger's War in the Pacific, 1942-1945 , Westpoint, Connecticut, 1972
John F. Shortal: Forged by Fire: General Robert L. Eichelberger and the Pacific War , Columbia, South Carolina 1987
Paul Chwialkowski: A "Near Great" General: the Life and Career of Robert L. Eichelberger , Dissertation, Duke University 1991
Paul Chwialkowski: In Caesar's Shadow: The Life of General Robert Eichelberger , Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press 1993
Robert Eichelberger: Our Jungle Road to Tokyo , New York: Viking Press 1950

swell

↑ Robert L. Eichelberger Papers (Wayback Machine)

Web links

personal data
SURNAME	Eichelberger, Robert
ALTERNATIVE NAMES	Eichelberger, Robert Lawrence
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American general
DATE OF BIRTH	March 9, 1886
PLACE OF BIRTH	Urbana , Illinois
DATE OF DEATH	September 26, 1961
Place of death	Asheville , North Carolina

[1] Robert L. Eichelberger Papers (Wayback Machine)