Robert Beightler
Major General - United States Army
A native of Ohio, Robert Sprague Beightler had come from a long line of soldiers, with his ancestors fighting in every major conflict since the American Revolution. After college, he enlisted in the Ohio National Guard in 1911, and as an NCO he was deployed with General Pershing’s forces to the Mexican border in 1916. Shortly after the entry of the United States into the First World War Beightler received a commission as a Second Lieutenant, and after service in France with the American Expeditionary Force he returned to the United States and civilian life.
In 1930 Beightler attended the Army War College as a National Guard officer, and in 1932 he returned to active duty. He served on the Army General Staff, a relatively uncommon feat for a National Guard officer, using his civilian degree in engineering to work on preliminary plans for what would become the Interstate Highway System. Afterward he would return to Ohio as Chief of Staff for the 37th Infantry Division, working also with his old friend John Bricker, the new Governor of the state, on development of state highways. By 1940 Beightler had become commanding officer of the 37th.
General Beightler (seated, center) confers with other officers on Bougainville
With the US entry into the ongoing global conflict in late 1941 with the attack on Pearl Harbor, Beightler and the 37th Infantry would be deployed to the Pacific in 1942, and would see their first action on New Georgia in July of 1943, before moving on to Bougainville, where they would be engaged in heavy jungle fighting from November of 1943 to 1944.
They would spend some time refitting and training before January of 1945, when they took part in the landings on Luzon in the Philippines, facilitating MacArthur’s famous return at Lingayen Gulf. After engaging in heavy fighting at Clark Field and dealing with other Japanese strongpoints, the 37th was beaten by hours into Manila by the 1st Cavalry, but as the battle for the city began they would take a large share of the brutal urban combat in the capitol.
