U.S. Army General Personal Flag, Robert Eicherberger, Commander 8th Army, 1944-1945, WWII.
This is a US Army designating field flag for the grade of full general, which belonged to General Robert Lawrence Eichelberger. In the United States Army all general officers are entitled to display personal rank flags and a corresponding National Color.

The United States Army had originally used a system of identifying commanders in the field, which identified the command echelon of the officer without specifying his rank. By World War I, the Army had adopted another flag system that merely indicated the rank of the officer flying the flag; his command was identified by a second divisional or corps flag. These flags were always displayed with an appropriate US flag. The system employed was simple: using a plain red rectangular field, the generals rank insignia was applied in white in the center, with a single star representing a brigadier-general, two stars a major-general, three stars a lieutenant-general, four stars a general and five a General of the Army.

After graduating from the U.S. Military Academy (USMA) in 1909, Eichelberger embarked on an exceptional career. As an infantry officer, he served in Panama and on the Mexican border. Then, he joined the American Expeditionary Forces in Siberia. Promoted to Major, from 1918 to 1920, Eichelberger observed Japanese movements in Siberia, becoming knowledgeable of Japan and Japanese norms and practices. The Empire of Japan decorated him on three occasions.

In the inter war period Eichelberger saw additional service in Asia, becoming familiar with both China and the Philippines. He attended the US Army Command & Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas and the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. He was promoted through the ranks to the grade of Brigadier General and became the 38th Superintendant of the USMA in 1940. The Superintendency was often a stepping stone to higher prominence within the Army.

Eichelberger was the Superintendent of the United States Military Academy at the time of Imperial Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor. After the attack, many military officers returned their Japanese decorations and medals by sending them to the U.S. Army Air Corps so they could be attached to bombs marked "return to sender." When asked why he kept his, not letting the Air Force return the honors, he famously said: "Hell, no. I'm going to take them back myself." It wasn't long before Eichelberger was promoted to Major-General and appointed to command of the 77th Infantry Division in January 1942. In August, as commander of the United States First Corps, he was ordered to turn back the Japanese Papuan offensive.

In October of 1942 he was promoted to Lieutenant General and General MacArthur ordered "Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive." Eichelberger defeated the Japanese on Buna and continued winning victories with his joint Australian-American Corps. Eichelberger had a reputation as the one United States land commander in the Pacific able to maintain good relationships with his Australian counterparts, unlike the legendary MacArthur.

In September of 1944 Eichelberger took command of the newly formed Eighth Army, leading the invasion of the Philippines. The Japanese met defeat by July 1945. After the Philippines, Eichelberger and his command supervised the surrender of over 50,000 Japanese troops. He was tapped to lead the invasion of the home islands of Japan, but the Japanese surrender after the atomic detonations precluded the necessity. In August Eichelberger's Eighth Army began a three-year Occupation of Japan where he played a role in the rebuilding a devastated country.

After nearly 40 years service, during which he had been awarded Army Distinguished Service Cross twice, the Army Distinguished Service Medal four times and Navy Distinguished Service Medal, General Eichelberger retired in 1948. In recognition of his service, Congress promoted Robert Lawrence Eichelberger to full General in 1954.

This wool Philadelphia Quartermaster Depot (PQMD) flag dates from that period, and is a companion piece to his 48 star United States Flag (ZFC0969), also a PQMD flag.

Flag from the Louise Veninga Collection.

(Obverse Image is inverted.)

ZFC Significant Flag

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