During his education at College he was commissioned as a 2nd Lt in the Officer's Reserve Corps (1928). He enlisted back into the 115th Cavalry eventually earning the rank of Major and given command of the 1st Squadron after which he was promoted to Lt Col and transferred out of the 11th Cavalry (1931-1942).
During WWII he served as the Intelligence officer to the 11th Airborne Infantry; Colonel and battalion commander (1943); Command of the 187th Infantry Regiment in which he fought his way across New Guinea and Leyte (1944), and the Philippines (1945).
After the war he served both in the Philippines and in Japan. He served as area engineer in Manila (1946-1947); command of the 187th Airborne Infantry Regiment (1947); Research and Development Board on Aeronautics, Office of the Secretary of Defense (1948-1950). Colonel Pearson was then rotated overseas to Germany.
He took command of the 508th Regimental Combat Team in the Berlin Command (1953); Deputy Commander of the Berlin Command (1953-1956); Chief of Staff, NATO forces in Denmark (1957). Upon his return home he was assigned to 6th Army Headquarters, Presidio of San Francisco, CA (1958).
He returned to the Wyoming Army National Guard earning the rank Major General until his retirement (1967).
His medals include Silver Star, Legion of Merit (One Oak Leaf Cluster), Bronze Star (Two Oak Leaf Clusters, V Device), Commendation Medal (One Oak Leaf Cluster), Meritorious Unit Commendation Ribbon (Two Oak Leaf Clusters), American Defense Service Medal, Asiatic Pacific Campaign Medal (3 Stars and Arrowhead), American Campaign Medal, WWII Victory Medal, Army of Occupation Medal with Germany and Japan Clasps, National Defense Service Medal, United Nations Korean Service Medal, Philippine Liberation Ribbon with Two Bronze Stars, Philippine Independence Ribbon, Freedom Medal, Combat Infantry Badge, and Master Jump Wing.
Included in the wonderful uniform grouping are the following pieces:
- Class A four pocket officer jacket with incredible bullion embroidered insignia including Colonel Eagles on each lapel, Combat Infantryman Badge, Paratrooper Master Jump wings, Presidential Unit Citation, Infantry and U.S. collar tabs. Additionally ALL his medal ribbons are stitched in place! 11th Airborne patch on right shoulder.
- Ike jacket made just after WW2 by a German Tailor from Berlin which includes label, the jacket all features incredible bullion embroidered insignia including Colonel Eagles on each lapel, Combat Infantryman Badge, Paratrooper Master Jump wings, Presidential Unit Citation, Infantry and U.S. collar tabs. 11th Airborne patch on right shoulder.
- Officers overseas garrison cap with Colonel insignia pin and parachute/glider patch.
Overall an incredible uniform set of the highest quality with custom bullion embroidered insignia that beloved to a Silver Star winner parachutist during World War Two.
The Raid at Los Baños in the Philippines, early Friday morning on 23 February 1945, was executed by a combined U.S. Army Airborne and Filipino guerrilla task force, resulting in the liberation of 2,147 Allied civilian and military internees from an agricultural school campus turned Japanese internment camp. The 250 Japanese in the garrison were killed. It has been celebrated as one of the most successful rescue operations in modern military history.
Under cover of darkness on 21 February 1945, Lt. Skau and his 31-man platoon left the north shore of Laguna de Bay and headed across the lake in three bancas. Lt. Skau and six men led the way while the separate assault team of 23 men followed soon after. Avoiding Japanese patrol craft on the lake, they landed near Nanhaya and met with local guerrillas and some camp escapees at the local schoolhouse. Included in the group were Freddy Zervoulakos and Benjamin Edwards, another young escapee, who sketched the layout of the camp on the schoolhouse blackboard. Lt. Skau decided to split his group into six teams, assigning a number of guerrillas to each team. Edwards and Zervoulakos each accompanied one team. On the night of 22 February, they journeyed through the jungle and rice paddies to their starting points.
At 04:00 on 23 February 1945 the 1st Battalion 511PIR (less B Company) boarded fifty-four amphibious tractors (Amtracs), slipped into Laguna de Bay, and headed for Mayondon Point. They also managed to reach their destination without alerting any Japanese defenders and headed off for the remaining 2 miles (3.2 km) overland journey to the camp, aiming to arrive just after 07:00.
Meanwhile, Lt. Ringler's B Company, 511th PIR together with the Light Machine Gun Platoon, had spent the moonless night of 22 February waiting at Nichols Field where, in the early dawn, they donned their parachutes, put on their equipment, and loaded onto nine C47s of the 75th Troop Carrier Squadron, under the command of Major Don Anderson, for the short flight. Flying unopposed by Japanese aircraft or antiaircraft fire, they soon arrived at their destination, which was clearly marked with green smoke by the Reconnaissance Platoon.
The Recon Platoon teams led by Lt. Skau, and Sgts. Angus, Call and Town took out the guard posts on the north and west side of the camp. The Hunters ROTC guerrillas chased after and killed the Japanese guards.
At 07:00, coming in at the planned 500 feet (150 m) jump altitude and in three "V"s of three aircraft, Lt. Ringler's paratroopers dropped from their aircraft.[1]:48 B Company charged the camp 1520 minutes after the attack was launched, entering through openings cut by the scouts. The firefight was short and intense, and with the Japanese defeated, the internees freed.
The fifty four Amtracs of the 672nd Amphibious Battalion came ashore in nine columns of six vehicles after green smoke grenades were popped on San Antonio beach, by Sgt. Hahn and Marking's guerrillas, at 0658. Led by Burgess, the amtracs reached the camp, knocking out a pillbox and crashed through the camp gate.
Mindful of the need for speed, Lt. Ringler's men rounded up the internees as rapidly as they could. Some prisoners refused to leave, so Lt. Hettlinger's men burned the camps remaining huts, to encourage the internees to the Amtracs. At first, the disabled, along with the women and children, were loaded onto the waiting vehicles, while the more able internees formed a walking column and headed for the beach and freedom.
In the distance, across the lake, intense fire was heard. That sound was from the Soule Task Force. Early that morning, the diversionary force of the 188th Glider Infantry Regiment and Company C of the 637th Tank Destroyer Battalion, together with elements of the 472nd and 675th Field Artillery Battalions under Soule, rolled out into Highway 1 and attacked across the San Juan River. They ran into Japanese opposition near the Lechería Hills where casualties were taken, but by mid-morning they had cleared the area and were marching towards Los Baños and cutting off the road between the Japanese 8th Tiger Division and Los Baños.
From an elevated position, Soule could see, in the distance, the Amtracs on the beach heading back to Mamatid, so he ordered his force to conduct a defensive withdrawal and to re-establish its bridgehead across the San Juan River.Finally, after two trips, the last of the amtracs departed at 1500 for Mamatid. The internees included a three-day-old baby girl Lois Kathleen McCoy. Frank Buckles, who would become the last surviving American veteran of World War I, was also among the prisoners; he had been captured as a civilian in Manila.
The 11th Airborne Division rightfully takes tremendous pride in the liberation of the Los Baños Internment Camp. The regional chapters of the Division Association celebrate that brilliant raid and rescue with a Los Baños Commemoration Dinner on or about 23 February every year. That superb exploit is not forgotten in the town of Los Baños itself. The Hunters-ROTC Filipino guerrillas and other partisan units, who supported the 11th Airborne Division also commemorate the freeing of the prison camp.
