Major General Eaton with his son Josh (West Point 2002) in Iraq

Paul D. Eaton

Major General, US Army (Retired)

Major General Paul D. Eaton retired from the US Army in 2006 after more than 33 years service.  His assignments include Infantry command from the company to brigade levels, command of the Infantry Center at Fort Benning and Chief of Infantry.  His most recent operational assignment was Commanding General of the command charged with reestablishing Iraqi Security Forces 2003-2004, where he built the command and established the structure and infrastructure for the Iraqi Armed Forces.  Other operational assignments include Somalia, Bosnia and Albania.  Other assignments include the Joint Staff, Deputy Commanding General for Transformation and Stryker Unit Development and Assistant Professor and head of the French Department at West Point.  He is a 1972 graduate of West Point, married to PJ Eaton and father to one daughter, Gina and two sons, Shane and Josh, both Soldiers.

General Eaton’s father, Colonel Norman Dale Eaton was also a West Point Grad 1949.

He was the pilot of a Canberra light bomber which was lost in Savannakhet Province, Laos on January 13, 1969.  The aircraft was apparently struck by hostile fire at about 50 miles SE of the city of Muong Nong.  In 2003, a joint team from the US and Laos recovered Eaton’s identification. The team returned to the site 5 more times (between 2004-2005) before the recovery was complete and confirmed the remains to be that of Colonel Eaton.  He was buried in Arlington Cemetery April 25th 2007, thirty-seven years after being MIA.