involved an advance on Manila by the lightly equipped 11th Airborne Division. The audacious advance made rapid progress until it was halted by well-prepared positions on the outskirts of Manila. MacArthur awarded Eichelberger another Silver Star. Eighth Army's final operation of the war was that of clearing out the southern Philippines, including the major island of Mindanao, an effort that occupied the soldiers of the Eighth Army for the rest of the war. In six weeks, the Eighth Army conducted 14 major and 24 minor amphibious operations, clearing Mindoro, Marinduque, Panay, Negros, Cebu, and Bohol. In August 1945, Eichelberger's Eighth Army became part of the Occupation of Japan. In the one instance when the Japanese formed a self-help vigilante guard to protect women from rape by off-duty GIs, the Eighth Army ordered armoured vehicles in battle array into the streets and arrested the leaders, and the leaders received long prison terms. He was awarded an oak leaf cluster to his Distinguished Service Medal for his services as commander of I Corps, a second for his command of Eighth Army in the Philippines, and a third for the occupation of Japan. He also received the Navy Distinguished Service Medal, two oak leaf clusters to his Silver Star Medal, the Bronze Star Medal, and the Air Medal. He also received a number of foreign awards, including Grand Officer of the Order of Orange Nassau with swords from the Netherlands, Grand Officer of the Legion of Honour from France, Grand Officer of the Order of the Crown and the Croix de Guerre with palm from Belgium, the Order of Abdon Calderón from Ecuador, the Distinguished Service Star, Liberation Medal, and Legion of Honor from the Philippines, and Grand Officer of the Military Order of Italy. Retirement and death After nearly 40 years of service, Eichelberger retired with the rank of lieutenant general on 31 December 1948. In 1950, he moved to Asheville, North Carolina, where he lived with his wife Em for the rest of his life. He suffered from a number of health problems, including hypertension and diabetes, and had his gall bladder removed. His name appeared in a series of articles for the Saturday Evening Post on his campaigns in the Southwest Pacific, actually written by ghostwriter Milton MacKaye. They subsequently expanded the articles into a book, Our Jungle Road to Tokyo, which one reviewer described as "a straightforward and modest