A graduate of Brown University, Chase enlisted in the Rhode Island National Guard in 1913 and served on the Mexican Border.

He resisted the temptation to swiftly overrun the island, and thereby overextend his forces, and formed a defensive perimeter that made good use of the terrain.

In February 1945, Chase's columns pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila, liberating some 3,700 internees at the University of Santo Tomas which had been turned into an internment camp.

He took over command of the 38th Infantry Division, which was confronted by enemy fortifications at Zig-Zag Pass on the Bataan Peninsula that took a week of hard fighting to reduce.

Later, he was chief of staff of the Third Army at Fort McPherson and head of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan.

He attended Brown University, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with a Phi Beta Kappa Society key in 1916.

[2] On the afternoon of his graduation from Brown in 1916, Chase, now a sergeant, joined Battery A at Quonset Point, Rhode Island, where it was mobilised for duty on the Mexican Border.

Shortly after the United States declared war on Germany, he was promoted to first lieutenant and posted to the 6th Cavalry on the Mexican frontier.

[5] He served on the Western Front with the 4th Division, participating in the Battle of Saint-Mihiel, but came down with jaundice and missed all but the last days of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.

Returning to the United States, he was posted as an instructor in Tactics, first at the Cavalry School at Fort Riley and then, from 1938 to 1940, at the Command and General Staff College.

[9] In 1941 Chase, now a lieutenant colonel, was posted to VIII Corps, then commanded by Major General Walter Krueger.

In December 1941, he was posted to the Amphibious Force, Atlantic Fleet, then under the command of Major General Holland Smith.

He resisted the temptation to overrun the island of Los Negros, and thereby overextend his forces, and instead formed a defensive perimeter that made good use of the terrain.

Chase had to move his brigade across mountainous, roadless, uncharted jungle in frequently appalling wet weather.

[22] On February 3, Chase's columns pushed into the northern outskirts of Manila and seized a vital bridge over the Tuliahan River, which separated them from the city proper.

Chase, controlling his columns by radio, suffered slight burns to his hands when a Japanese truck exploded.

A squadron of the 8th Cavalry, guided by two Filipino guerrillas reached the sprawling campus of the University of Santo Tomas which had been turned into an internment camp, liberating some 3,700 internees.

[25] On February 7, 1945, Chase took over command of the 38th Infantry Division, which was then confronted by enemy fortifications at Zig-Zag Pass on the Bataan Peninsula.

[26] A battalion of the 151st Infantry under Chase's personal command landed at Mariveles on the southern tip of Bataan on February 14.

From the assembly area in Hara-Machida, Chase lead the convoy through the ruins of the country side, and at the city border stepped out of the jeep and crossed the demarcation line making him the first US officer setting foot in Tokyo, and giving the distinction to the 1st Cavalry Division as "First in Tokyo"[33][34] Chase remained with the 1st Cavalry Division on occupation duties until December 1948, when he temporarily assumed command of IX Corps.

In addition to Chase, Leif J. Sverdrup, Hugh John Casey, and LeGrande A. Diller and their wives also made the trip.