Walter Krueger - Early Military Service

Early Military Service

On 17 June 1898, Krueger, along with many of his fellow high-school students, enlisted for service in the Spanish-American War with the 2nd Volunteer Infantry. He reached Santiago de Cuba a few weeks after the Battle of San Juan Hill. Mustered out of the volunteers in February 1899, he returned home to Ohio, planning to be a civil engineer.

However, many of his comrades were re-enlisting for service in the Philippine-American War and in June 1899 Krueger re-enlisted as a private in M Company of the 12th Infantry. Soon he was on his way to fight Emilio Aguinaldo's Insurrectos as part of Major General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.'s 2nd Infantry Division. He took part in the advance from Angeles City to Tarlac City, Aguinaldo's capital. But Aguinaldo had fled, and the 12th Infantry pursued him vainly all the way through Luzon's central plain to Dagupan City. While serving in an infantry unit in the Philippines, he was promoted to sergeant. On 1 July 1901, he was commissioned a second lieutenant and posted to the 30th Infantry on Marinduque.

Krueger returned to the United States with the 30th Infantry in December 1903. The regiment moved to Fort Crook, Nebraska. In September 1904, he married Grace Aileen Norvell, whom he had met in the Philippines. They had three children: James Norvell, who was born on 29 July 1905; Walter Jr., who was born on 25 April 1910; and Dorothy Jane, who born on 24 January 1913. Both James and Walter Jr. attended the United States Military Academy, James graduating with the class of 1926, and Walter Jr. with the class of 1931. Dorothy married an Army officer, Aubrey D. Smith, of the class of 1930.

In 1904, Krueger attended and graduated from the Infantry-Cavalry School at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas. This was followed by the Command and General Staff College in 1907. He then joined the 23rd Infantry at Fort Ontario, New York. After a second tour in the Philippines, he returned to the United States in June 1909, and was assigned to Department of Languages at Fort Leavenworth as an instructor in Spanish, French and German, which he could speak fluently. He also taught National Guard officers at Camp Benjamin Harrison, Indiana, and Pine Camp, New York. He published translations of several German military texts, most notably William Balck's Tactics. The book attracted the attention of the Chief of Staff of the United States Army, Major General Leonard Wood, and was widely read.