Clyde Davis Eddleman
General, U.S. Army

Clyde Davis Eddleman was born on 17 January 1902 in Orange, TX, the son of William Henry and Janie Brown Tureman Eddleman. He graduated from Lake Charles High School in Lake Charles, LA, in 1919 and later entered the U.S. Military Academy. He graduated from West Point in 1924 and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Infantry. Little information is available on his assignments from the time of commissioning until just before World War II got underway.

During the period 1941-43, Eddleman was Chief of Training Division for Third Army, and later, Assistant Chief of Staff, Third Army.

In 1943, Eddleman went to Australia as Assistant Chief of Staff, G-3, of Sixth Army (later promoted to Deputy Chief of Staff) then under the command of General Walter Krueger. He remained there until 1945 and participated in all of Sixth Army's campaigns, including the occupation of Japan. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his activities in the Leyte and Luzon Campaigns, and the Silver Star Medal for reconnaissance under fire at Biak, Leyte, and Manila. While at the Leyte beachhead, he was promoted to Brigadier General.

Side Story

After Leyte, Mindoro was to serve as the advanced base for Army troops arriving in the Philippines for the Battle of Luzon - the most important stage of the Philippines Campaign. The landings at Mindoro were made unopposed on 15 December 1944 and, within two weeks, Australian and American engineers had three airstrips in operation. The way was now clear for the invasion of Luzon. This time, based on different interpretations of the same intelligence data, General Willoughby's G-2 Section at GHQ estimated the strength of General Tomoyuki Yamashita's forces on Luzon at 137,000, while Sixth Army estimated it at 234,000. Brigadier General Clyde D. Eddleman of Sixth Army attempted to lay out the reasons for Sixth Army's assessment, but MacArthur's response was "Bunk!" He felt that even Willoughby's estimate was too high. "Audacity, calculated risk, and a clear strategic aim were MacArthur's attributes," and he was prepared to disregard the intelligence estimates. However, all the estimates were too low: Yamashita had more than 287,000 troops on Luzon. Eddleman's estimate was clearly more accurate than the estimate by MacArthur's personal staff!

Apparently, Eddleman's intelligence estimate of the Japanese at Luzon, and his familiarity with joint operations, had impressed General MacArthur because he selected him to serve as a Member of the Joint Operations Review Board from January to June 1946. He was then selected to be the first Deputy Commandant of the Armed Forces Staff College. For the first four classes, Eddleman was the College's Chairman of the Faculty Board and Director of Instruction.

Eddleman became Deputy Commander of Trieste U.S. Troops (TRUST) and Director General, Civil Affairs, Allied Military Government, in the Free Territory of Trieste in June 1949. He remained in that assignment for more than a year.

In November 1950, he was recalled to Washington to become Chief of Plans Division, G-3, and later G-3 of the Army. He remained in that position until May 1954. During the two years of the Korean armistice negotiations, he participated actively in the formulation of Joint Chiefs of Staff policies on that subject, and during the last three months of his assignment, he headed a task team from the Department of State, Department of Defense, and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to prepare replies to the Commander-in-Chief, Far East, on this subject.

He assumed command of the 4th Infantry Division, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, in May 1954. A year later, he was recalled from his Division command to become Commandant of the Army War College. He remained in that position only four months before his services were required in Washington as the Deputy Chief of Staff for Military Operations and Operations Deputy for Joint Chiefs of Staff activities.

On 1 July 1958, Eddleman assumed command of Seventh Army in Germany. On 1 April 1959, he was promoted to the four-star rank of General and assigned as Commander-in-Chief, U.S. Army, Europe (USAREUR). Eddleman returned to Headquarters, Department of the Army, to serve as Vice Chief of Staff of the Army on 1 November 1960.

General Eddleman served in that position until his retirement from the Army on 31 March 1962.

During World War II, Eddleman took part in more than 50 combat landings in the Pacific, receiving the Army Distinguished Service Medal; Silver Star Medal; and, a battlefield promotion to brigadier general. His other military decorations included the Legion of Merit; the Bronze Star Medal; and the Philippine Distinguished Service Star.

In Retirement

After retiring from active service, Eddleman was a Vice President of Universal Match Corporation for four years; he later became a Director and Corporate Representative. He served on the Board of Directors of the Army and Air Force Mutual Aid Association from 1962 until 1980, at which time he was elected Chairman of the Board. He served as Chairman until 1982.

Death and Burial

General Eddleman died of respiratory failure on 19 August 1992. He is buried at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, VA.

He was survived by his wife, Lorraine Heath Eddleman of Arlington, VA; and a son, John Heath Eddleman of Hurleyville, NY. His wife, Lorraine, died in 1999 and is buried with her husband.