US Army General. A decorated combat veteran of World War I, he served as Chief of Staff of the US Army from 1924 to 1926. Following his graduation from high school, he was selected to attend the US Military Academy at West Point, New York in June 1891 with a commission as a 2nd lieutenant of Infantry. His first assignment was with the 2nd Infantry Regiment in Nebraska and Montana. He then served in Cuba during the Spanish-American War and in the Philippines during the Philippine-American War. From 1916 until 1917 he served as adjutant of the Mexican Punitive Expedition under US Army General John J. Pershing in the quest to capture Mexican revolutionary Francisco "Pancho" Villa. During World War I, he experienced a meteoric rise in rank as he was promoted from major to the rank lieutenant colonel in May 1917, then to colonel in November 1917, to brigadier general of the National Army in April 1918, and to temporary major general of the National Army in August 1918. From May to August 1918, he commanded the 1st Brigade, 1st Division that was engaged in combat operations near Berzy-le-Sec, France and in August 1918 he became commander of the 4th US Army Infantry Division and led it during the American operations at St. Mihiel and in the Meuse-Argonne in France until October 1918. The following month he was promoted to the rank of brigadier general of the US Army and took command of 3rd Corps and commanded it during the final engagements of the war and the American occupation of Germany. In March 1921 he was promoted to the rank of major general and in December 1922 he became Deputy Chief of Staff of the US Army in Washington DC and in September 1924 he became the US Army Chief of Staff. In 1926 he became commander of the 9th Corps Area in California until 1930, when he took command of the Department of the Philippines and he retired at that position in May 1932 with 41 years of continuous military service. His military and foreign decorations and awards include the Distinguished Service Cross, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Spanish Campaign Medal, the Army of Cuban Occupation Medal, the Philippine Campaign Medal, the Mexican Service Medal, the World War I Victory Medal, the Army of Occupation of Germany Medal, the British Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George, the French Commandeur Legion d'honneur, the French Croix de guerre, the Belgian Commander Order of Leopold, the Italian Order of the Crown, and the Panama Medal of Solidarity (1918). In June 1940 he was promoted to the rank of general on the retired list (colloquially known as a "tombstone promotion). He died at the of 100. In May 2000 he was honored with a US Postal Service Distinguished Soldiers stamp.