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General who rose from the ranks of the 14th Infantry
Gen. Ernest F. Easterbrook
6 August, 1908 - 19 February, 1989
General Easterbrook was born August 6, 1908 at Fort Worden, Washington into an Army family. His father was a chaplain in the US Army, and eventually became Chief of Chaplains of the Army from 1928 to 1929.
In 1926 he joined the Virginia National Guard and subsequently won an appointment to the United States Military Academy, entering in 1927 and graduating in 1931. His first assignment was with the 29th Infantry at Fort Benning, GA. Following attendance at the Infantry School, he was assigned to the 14th Infantry at Fort Davis, Panama. After a brief assignment with the 16th Infantry and CCC duty at Fort Dix, New Jersey, he was assigned to the Department of Tactics at West Point.
In 1941 he joined the newly activated 7th Division at Fort Ord, California. Following a four-month assignment with the Marines at Camp Pendleton, California, he was assigned to the China-Burma-India Theater in November 1942. In the CBI he helped to train Chinese troop at Ramgarh, India and subsequently was with those troops as military executive to General Stilwell as they fought their way back into northern Burma. In 1945 he was given command of the 475th Infantry Regiment in the final push to clear northern Burma and reopen the Burma/Stilwell Road.
Immediately after World War II, he served on the faculty of the Infantry School at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the Canadian Army Staff College at Kingston, Ontario. During the Korean War he commanded the 7th Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Infantry Division in the successful defense of the Chorwan Valley.
His next assignment was on the faculty of the Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth. He was promoted to general officer in 1955 and assigned to the Headquarters of the Allied Land Forces Central Europe in Fountainbleau, France.
In 1957 he entered the Army Aviation program, becoming qualified as a fixed wing and rotary wing pilot. He served as Director of Army Aviation in the Pentagon and later commanded the US Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker, Alabama from 1959 to 1962.
His last three assignment prior to his Army retirement in 1967 were commanding the 25th Infantry Division in Hawaii; Chief JUSMAG in Bangkok, Thailand; and Deputy Commanding General, Sixth Army at the Presidio of San Francisco.
He was the Trade Representative for the State of California for two years immediately after his Army retirement, and then fully retired to Carmel, California where he died of a heart attack on February 19, 1989.
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1st Lt. Ernest F. Easterbrook was in Company M in Panama in 1934 and early 1935, then aide to a general officer. He revisited Company M during Regimental Day, 1935, and was hailed by the enlisted men as one of the finest officers they'd ever served under. I saw him on that occasion, but had no contact with him. I saw in (I think) the Army Times that he had retired after being CG, 25th Div. in Viet Nam. I wrote and asked if he were the same officer who'd been in Company M. He replied that he was the same. I've lost track of his letter. He was a Major General.
Lester Cundiff, Col. AUS, (Ret.)
