Capt. Robert S. Beightler (left) and Col. Benson Hough outside of the headquarters for the 166th Infantry Regiment in Germany in 1919. When Beightler was not at Hough’s side as regimental adjutant, he was going to the front lines to conduct personnel inspections for Hough. Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler (seated) discusses a tactical situation with Brig. Gen. Leo Kreber in the jungles of New Georgia in July 1943. The 37th Infantry Division fought for more than a month to remove the Japanese from the island. Two of his Soldiers, Frank Pertrarca and Rodger Young, where later awarded the Medal of Honor; Beightler himself was decorated with the Distinguished Service Medal.   Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler accepts the surrender of Japanese forces in the Cagayen Valley, Luzon, in August 1945. Beightler would later accept the surrender of all Japanese forces on Luzon from Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, and was made commander of the Luzon Area Command. Maj. Gen. Robert S. Beightler, commanding general, 5th Service Command, Ft. Hayes, Ohio, 1948.

By Staff Sgt. Joshua Mann

Joint Force Headquarters, Historian

In 1911, an Army captain watched as a young man named Pvt. John Paul Sellers fired his weapon on the ranges of Camp Perry, Ohio, while training with their local National Guard company.  Impressed with the young, crack shot, the captain asked him to join the regimental rifle team. There was only one problem with his request—the uneasy man standing before the captain wasn’t Sellers. 

In fact, Sellers wasn’t even at Camp Perry that day. Instead, Robert S. Beightler, a civilian who agreed to stand in for his friend at summer training, stood nervously before the captain. Unable to continue the ruse, he came clean with the officer. Rather than send him to the guard house, however, he instead offered Beightler an enlistment in the Ohio National Guard. He accepted and was sworn in as a private, bringing to close this bizarre event and launching the military career of one of the most distinguished generals that Ohio has ever produced.

As a tribute to this accomplished Soldier, the citizens of Marysville, Beightler’s hometown, will dedicate a historical marker in his honor at 11 a.m. on Sept. 28. 

“It makes sense, we need to do something for this great National Guard general,” said Eric Phillips, chief executive officer for the Union County Chamber of Commerce.

The marker will be placed at the southeast corner of 5th and Main Streets in downtown Marysville. This is the second time Marysville has recognized its hometown hero. In 1969, 5th Street was named General Beightler Way and a permanent sign was hung near the intersection. However, in 1999, the sign, which had become aged, was removed when the city updated its streetscape.

In 2001, when the Ohio National Guard approached the City of Marysville about building a new armory in the city, Phillips began researching the Guard’s history in the community and Union County and realized something needed to be done.

“We applied for a grant from the Ohio Historical Society and were one of 10 recipients that received $750 toward the marker,” Phillips said. The remaining cost of the $2,500 marker was covered by the city and multiple veteran service organizations in the community.

After rising through the enlisted ranks, Beightler was commissioned as a lieutenant in 1911 and served on the Mexican Border from 1916 to 1917. During World War I, he dutifully served as an adjutant with the 166th Infantry Regiment although he really wanted to command a rifle company. However, his performance as the regiment’s adjutant was considered indispensable to the operations of the organization by Col. Benson Hough, the regimental commander. 

Following the war, he excelled in both military and civil affairs. After holding several engineer positions with the state he started his own contracting firm in 1930 and was appointed director of highways in 1939. In the Guard, he served in various regimental, brigade and division staff positions, including a stint with the war department general staff.

In 1940, he was named commander of the 37th Division on the eve of its entrance into federal service.  For the next 17 months, Beightler worked to get the “Buckeye” division ready for combat, while at the same time fighting off critics who felt a National Guard officer was not fit to command a division.

When the war ended in 1945, Beightler had successfully led his division through five years of active service including 592 days of non-stop combat on New Georgia, Bougainville and Luzon. The 37th earned the nickname “Heavyweight” and carried the reputation as one of the best Army divisions in the Pacific. Beightler himself was rewarded with a regular army commission and was the only National Guard division commander to sustain his command from start to finish.

His post-war assignments varied, but were highlighted by his 1950 appointment as commanding general of the Rykukyus Command and deputy military governor of Okinawa. In 1952, Beightler suffered a severe heart attack and was forced to retire from the Army. He returned to Ohio and oversaw the construction of the Ohio turnpike, retiring in 1962. He died on Feb. 12, 1978, from his ninth heart attack and was laid to rest at Oakdale Cemetery in his hometown of Marysville.

“With you, I lived many of my greatest moments, from which I have many of my fondest memories,” Beightler said in 1969. “Memories of Marysville during my 28 years here are among my warmest thoughts.”

The marker will be near the recently completed Union County Veterans Monument and Veterans Memorial Hall—all of which are part of a movement to revitalize downtown Marysville, Phillips said. 

Performing for the ceremony will be the Ohio Army National Guard’s 122d Army Band, whose ancestor unit, the 37th Infantry Division Band, played at countless events for Beightler during the war. Also, an exhibit of Beightler’s personnel and military items—currently on display at the Ohio Adjutant General’s Department at his namesake armory in northwest Columbus—will be available for viewing before and after the ceremony.