A 1909 graduate of the United States Military Academy at West Point, he saw service in Panama and on the Mexican border before joining the American Expeditionary Force Siberia in 1918.

He instituted a number of reforms, cutting back activities such as horseback riding and close order drill, and substituting modern combat training, in which cadets participated in military exercises alongside National Guard units.

As Commanding General of the newly formed Eighth Army, Eichelberger led the invasion of the Southern Philippines, clearing the islands of Mindoro, Marinduque, Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol.

[5] In 1904, Eichelberger persuaded his father's former law partner, William R. Warnock, now the congressman for Ohio's 8th congressional district, to appoint him to the United States Military Academy at West Point.

Some 28 of them ultimately wore the stars of general officers, including Jacob L. Devers, John C. H. Lee, Edwin F. Harding, George S. Patton and William H. Simpson.

[8] In March 1911, the 10th Infantry was despatched to San Antonio, Texas, where it became part of the Maneuver Division, which was formed to undertake offensive operations during the Border War with Mexico.

President Woodrow Wilson had agreed to support the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, and Graves would command the American Expeditionary Force Siberia (AEFS).

American policy called for protecting the Trans-Siberian Railway, but this was under the control of Admiral Alexander Kolchak's White Army forces, whom Eichelberger considered to be "murderers" and "cutthroats".

His citation read: For extraordinary heroism in action 28 June – 3 July 1919, while serving as assistant chief of staff, G-2, American Expeditionary Forces, Siberia.

On 28 June, at the imminent danger of his own life, he entered the partisan lines and effected the release of one American officer and three enlisted men in exchange for a Russian prisoner.

[24] Eichelberger transferred back to the infantry in July 1937, although he remained Secretary of the War Department General Staff until October 1938, in the rank of colonel from 1 August.

[23] The new Chief of Staff, General Malin Craig offered Eichelberger command of the 29th Infantry, the demonstration regiment based at Fort Benning, Georgia.

Major General Edwin "Pa" Watson interceded with President Franklin Roosevelt to have Eichelberger appointed the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at West Point.

[27] He cut back activities such as horseback riding and close order drill, and substituted modern combat training, in which cadets participated in military exercises alongside National Guard units.

Through Pa Watson, he was able to persuade the Surgeon General of the United States Army to waive weight restrictions to allow heavier players to be recruited, and hired Earl Blaik to coach the team.

For his chief of staff, Eichelberger chose Clovis Byers,[29] an officer who had also attended Ohio State and West Point, and had been a fellow member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity.

Eichelberger was nominated to command American forces in Operation Torch, and he was ordered to conduct training in amphibious warfare with the 3rd, 9th, and 30th Infantry Divisions in Chesapeake Bay in cooperation with Rear Admiral Kent Hewitt.

Harding was confident that he could capture Buna "without too much difficulty",[44] but poor staff work, inaccurate intelligence, inadequate training and, above all, Japanese resistance, frustrated the American efforts.

Despite the risk, he purposefully wore his three silver stars while at the front, even though he knew Japanese snipers targeted officers, because he wanted his troops to know their commander was present.

[51] After the fall of Buna, Eichelberger was placed in command of the Allied force assembled to reduce the remaining Japanese positions around Sanananda, with Australian Major General Frank Berryman as his chief of staff.

MacArthur informed the War Department that "Among many outside the immediate staff of this officer, there was criticism of his conduct of operations which while not detracting from his personal gallantry led to grave considerations at one time of his relief from command.

Later, it asked if he could be released to command the Ninth United States Army, but this was also refused, and this job went to Eichelberger's West Point classmate William H.

[59] Hoping to avoid a repeat of Buna, Eichelberger meticulously planned the operation, and implemented a thorough training program that emphasized physical fitness, individual initiative, small unit tactics, and amphibious warfare.

On 23 April a single Japanese plane ignited a fuel dump, which caused a fire that resulted in 124 casualties and the loss of 60 per cent of the ammunition stockpile.

While the Americans were better trained and equipped than at Buna, so too were the Japanese, who employed their new tactics of avoiding costly counterattacks and exacting the maximum toll for ground gained.

[66] While still on Biak, Eichelberger learned that MacArthur had selected him to command the newly formed Eighth United States Army,[67] which arrived at Hollandia in August 1944.

In six weeks, the Eighth Army conducted 14 major and 24 minor amphibious operations, clearing Mindoro, Marinduque, Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol.

They subsequently expanded the articles into a book, Our Jungle Road to Tokyo, which one reviewer described as "a straightforward and modest account of the campaigns of the Army ground forces from the Buna operation to the Philippines and victory.

[83] The United States Congress, in recognition of his service, promoted Eichelberger, along with a number of other officers who had commanded armies or similar higher formations, to general in 1954.

[81] Jay Luuvas, a historian at Allegheny College, published his letters in 1972 as Dear Miss Em: General Eichelberger's War in the Pacific 1942–1945.