John William Kilbreth

In 1912, Kilbreth was assigned to the Mounted Service School at Fort Riley, where he was the commander of the Training School for Bakers and Cooks.^[11]

When the United States entered World War I in April 1917, Kilbreth was stationed at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii with the 9th Artillery.^[4] He was promoted to major in May, and temporary lieutenant colonel the following August. From August 1917 to May 1918, Kilbreth was director of the Department of Firing at the United States Army Field Artillery School, and he was promoted to temporary colonel in February 1918.^[4]

In May 1918, Kilbreth was assigned to duty in France as chief of operations for First United States Army Artillery, and he was subsequently assigned as First Army Artillery's chief of staff.^[4] In October, he was promoted to temporary brigadier general and assigned to command the 55th Field Artillery Brigade, a unit of the 30th Division. He remained in command through the end of the war in November 1918, and in December was assigned to staff duty at the American Expeditionary Forces headquarters.^[4] In March 1919, he ended his post-war occupation duty and returned to the United States. Kilbreth received the Army Distinguished Service Medal to recognize his wartime service.^[4] The citation for the medal reads:

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Army Distinguished Service Medal to Lieutenant Colonel (Field Artillery John W. Kilbreth, United States Army, for exceptionally meritorious and distinguished services to the Government of the United States, in a duty of great responsibility during World War I. As Director of the Department of Firing, School of Fire for Field Artillery, Fort Sill, Oklahoma, from September 1917 to May 1918, Lieutenant Colonel Kilbreth displayed professional attainments of the highest and most progressive order. He was primarily responsible for the excellent grounding received by thousands of officers in the principles of artillery firing, including those applicable to open warfare.^[2]

Kilbreth demobilized at Camp Shelby, Mississippi, and was assigned to command the post.^[4] In May 1919, he was assigned as deputy commandant of the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill and returned to his permanent rank of major. In July 1919, he received promotion to permanent lieutenant colonel. From 1920 to 1921, Kilbreth was a student at the General Staff College (now the United States Army Command and General Staff College), and in 1921 he was assigned to staff duty in the office of the Chief of Field Artillery.^[4] Kilbreth retired from the Army in 1922.^[1]

On December 15, 1922, Kilbreth married Gertrude O. Barclay (d. 1961), the widow of Julien Stevens Ullman.^[1] They had no children, but with her first husband, Mrs. Kilbreth was the mother of three sons and a daughter.^[12] In 1930, the United States Congress enacted a law permitting World War I general officers to retire at their highest rank, and Kilbreth was promoted to brigadier general on the retired list.^[1]

Kilbreth died in Southampton, New York on July 24, 1958.^[13] He was buried at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati, Ohio.^[14]