William C . Chase Major General William Curtis Chase ( 9 March 1895 – 21 August 1986 ) was an American soldier and General in the first half of the 20th century . He is best known for his service in the South West Pacific Area during World War II and in the Occupation of Japan . A graduate of Brown University , Chase enlisted in the Rhode Island National Guard in 1913 and served on the Mexican Border . Commissioned as a second lieutenant in the cavalry in January 1917 , he served on the Western Front in World War I and in the Occupation of the Rhineland . Between the wars , he attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth , later returning as an instructor . Chase was promoted to Brigadier General in March 1943 on assuming command of the 1st Brigade , 1st Cavalry Division . He was chosen to lead the assault on the Admiralty Islands in February 1944 . 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 . From this position , he was able to defeat a series of counterattacks by the numerically superior Japanese garrison . 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 . Chase assumed command of the 1st Cavalry Division on 1 August 1945 . He remained with it in the Occupation of Japan until he returned to the United States in January 1949 . Later , he was chief of staff of the Third Army at Fort McPherson and head of the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan . Retiring from the Army , he earned a Master of Arts degree in history from Trinity University and taught political science at the University of Houston . Education and early life . William Curtis Chase was born in Providence , Rhode Island , on 9 March 1896 , the son of William Beecher Chase and his wife , Doris Evelyn née Curtis . He attended Brown University , graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with a Phi Beta Kappa Society key in 1916 . While at Brown , Chase enlisted in Battery A , 1st Rhode Island Volunteer Artillery of the Rhode Island National Guard ( later Battery A , 103rd Field Artillery ) in 1913 . World War I . On the afternoon of his graduation from Brown in 1916 , Chase , now a sergeant , joined A Battery at Quonset Point , Rhode Island , where it was mobilised for duty on the Mexican Border . The unit remained in the El Paso , Texas , area for a time , but saw no action . While there , Chase passed an examination for commissions in Regular Army . Chase was posted to Fort Leavenworth in January 1917 for a three month course for newly commissioned officers before being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the cavalry . Chase was assigned to the 3rd Cavalry , then based at Fort Sam Houston . 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 . Chase attended a machine gun course at Fort Sill , after which he was posted to the 11th Machine Gun Battalion , part of the 4th Division , in April 1918 . 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 . He participated in the Occupation of the Rhineland before the 4th Division returned to the United States in July 1919 . Inter - war years . On return , Chase was posted to the 16th Cavalry , then in the Rio Grande Valley , although it soon returned to Fort Sam Houston . In 1921 he was posted to $ 3 for duty with the Reserve Officers ' Training Corps . There he met Dorothea Marie Wetherbee . They were married in 1921 . They never had children . Chase attended the United States Army Cavalry School and United States Army Infantry School , followed by duty with the 14th Cavalry at Fort Sheridan , Illinois , from 1927 to 1929 . He then attended the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth . From 1931 to 1934 he served overseas with the 26th Cavalry ( Philippine Scouts ) at Fort Stotsenburg in the Philippines . 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 . World War II . In 1941 Chase , now a lieutenant colonel , was posted to VIII Corps , then commanded by Major General Walter Krueger . As such , he participated in the Louisiana Maneuvers . In December 1941 , he was posted to the Amphibious Force , Atlantic Fleet , then under the command of Major General Holland Smith . Based at Marine Corps Base Quantico , the Amphibious Force practiced Amphibious warfare tactics on Chesapeake Bay . In 1942 , Chase assumed command of the 113th Cavalry , an Iowa National Guard unit . Initially a horse - mechanized unit , the 113th Cavalry soon became fully mechanized . It moved from its original station at Fort Clark , Texas , to Camp Bowie and then to Fort Hood , where it provided school troops for the Tank Destroyer Center . Chase was promoted to Brigadier General in March 1943 on assuming command of the 1st Brigade , 1st Cavalry Division . The division was then stationed at Fort Bliss but was already preparing to move to the South West Pacific . The 1st Cavalry Division had therefore been dismounted , but the division and brigade commanders and their staffs were still on horseback . The 1st Cavalry Division staged at Camp Stoneman . Chase departed from San Francisco on 3 July on the transport . The 1st Cavalry Division arrived in Australia and continued its training at Strathpine , Queensland . Training there was more vigorous than at Fort Bliss , and Chase broke his heel bone in a training accident . In December 1943 , the 1st Cavalry Division sailed for Oro Bay , where it staged for its next operation , the Admiralty Islands campaign . Chase was chosen to lead the assault . Here , his tactical expertise came to the fore . 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 . From this position , he was able to defeat a series of counterattacks by the numerically superior Japanese garrison . The crisis passed , Chase ' s force was reinforced by the rest of the division , and the 1st Cavalry Division was then able to overrun the islands . Chase was awarded the Bronze Star for his role in the campaign . The 1st Cavalry Division remained in the Admiralty Islands until October , when it boarded ships there for the invasion of Leyte , which it assaulted on 20 October 1944 . Chase ' s 1st Brigade ' s initial mission was to reconnoiter the hills on the west side of the Tacloban Valley and establish observation posts from which it could command the entrances to the valley . In November , he was ordered to cover the flank of X Corps ' advance up the Leyte Valley , and later into the Ormoc Valley . Chase had to move his brigade across mountainous , roadless , uncharted jungle in frequently appalling wet weather . The advance made slow progress against Japanese troops that fought tenaciously all the way . The 1st Cavalry Division was down to half strength when it was withdrawn from the front line on Leyte for a brief rest in January 1945 , but few reinforcements arrived before it was ordered to move to Luzon , where it disembarked over the beaches at San Fabian on 27 January 1945 . General of the Army Douglas MacArthur ordered the 1st Cavalry Division ' s commander , Major General Vern D . Mudge , to conduct a rapid advance on Manila . For this , Mudge formed three flying column s . Initially , Chase ' s 1st Brigade ' s mission was to follow one of the columns but on 1 February he was relieved of responsibility for the main body of the 1st Brigade and placed in command of all three flying columns . On 3 February , 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 . A Japanese raiding party destroyed the bridge over Tuliahan River ; Chase ' s security was not good enough . This prevented the main body of the 1st Cavalry Division from linking up with Chase ' s force in Manila . Supplies were dispatched through the 37th Infantry Division ' s zone until engineers could build a new bridge . For his advance on Manila , Chase was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross . He was also awarded the Purple Heart for the burns to his hands . On 7 February 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 . It took Chase a week of hard fighting to reduce this position . A battalion of the 151st Infantry under Chase ' s personal command landed at Mariveles on the southern tip of Bataan on 14 February . The 38th Infantry Division participated in the final actions on Corregidor . Units of the 38th Infantry Division assaulted and captured Caballo Island on 27 March , Fort Drum on El Fraile Island on 13 April , and Carabao Island on 16 April . Meanwhile , other elements of the 38th Infantry Division engaged enemy forces in the mountainous Fort Stotsenburg area . In the midst of these operations , Chase was promoted to Major General in March . In late April 1945 , the 38th Infantry Division moved to the area east of Manila where it relieved the 6th Infantry Division . On 1 May , it began a series of probing attacks prior to an attack on 4 May aimed at capturing the Wawa Dam , an important part of Manila ' s water supply . Chase had to reduce a series of strongly held Japanese positions . By the end of the month , the dam was secure and the Japanese " Kobayashi Force " was broken . Chase assumed command of the 1st Cavalry Division on 1 August 1945 . At this time , the division was in the Lucena City area but slated for Operation Downfall , in which it would assault Ariake , Kagoshima . The end of the war precluded this . Instead , the 1st Cavalry Division participated in the Occupation of Japan . It embarked from Batangas on 25 August and disembarked in Tokyo Bay on 2 September , becoming the first US division in Tokyo . Later life . Chase remained with the 1st Cavalry Division on occupation duties until December 1948 , when he temporarily assumed command of IX Corps . He finally returned to the United States in January 1949 , and became chief of staff of the Third Army at Fort McPherson in April 1949 . From 1951 to 1955 he headed the Military Assistance Advisory Group in Taiwan . He retired from the Army on 31 July 1955 . Chase earned a Master of Arts degree in history from Trinity University . From 1957 to 1965 , he taught political science at the University of Houston . His wife Dorothea died in 1957 . In 1961 he married Mrs Hallie Barlow Olcott . Chase retired in 1965 , having reached the state of Texas ' mandatory retirement age . In 1974 , Chase joined a party of retired generals associated with General MacArthur on a visit to Australia as guests of Lieutenant General Sir Edmund Herring and Dame Mary Herring . In addition to Chase , Leif J . Sverdrup , Hugh John Casey , and LeGrande A . Diller and their wives also made the trip . Chase published his memoirs , entitled " Front Line General : The Commands of Maj . Gen . Wm . C . Chase " , in 1975 . He died on 21 August 1986 and was buried at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery .