William C. Chase Military person
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.
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Military person
| allegiance | United States |
|---|---|
| award | |
| military operations | |
| military branch | |
| military command | 1st Cavalry Division 38th Infantry Division 1st Brigade 1st Cavalry Division 113th Cavalry |
| service start | 1916 |
| service end | 1955 |