Enlisting in the U. Army in , Middleton was first assigned to the 29th Infantry Regiment , where he worked as a clerk. Here he did not become an infantryman as he had hoped, but he was pressed into service playing football, a sport strongly endorsed by the army.
Following two years of enlisted service, Middleton was transferred to Fort Leavenworth , Kansas, where he was given the opportunity to compete for an officer's commission. Of the individuals who were vying for a commission, 56 were selected, and four of them, including Middleton, would become general officers.
As a new second lieutenant , Middleton was assigned to the 7th Infantry Regiment in Galveston, Texas , which was soon pressed into service, responding to events created by the Mexican Revolution. Middleton spent seven months doing occupation duty in the Mexican port city of Veracruz , and later was assigned to Douglas, Arizona , where his unit skirmished with some of Pancho Villa 's fighters.
Three months later, following some minor support roles, his unit led the attack during the Meuse-Argonne Offensive , and Middleton became a regimental commander. Because of his exceptional battlefield performance, on 14 October he was promoted to the rank of colonel , becoming, at the age of 29, the youngest officer of that rank in the American Expeditionary Force AEF. He also received the Army Distinguished Service Medal for his exemplary service. Army School of Infantry , the U.
He retired from the army in to become dean of administration and later comptroller and acting vice president at LSU. His tenure at LSU was fraught with difficulty, as Middleton became one of the key players in helping the university recover from a major scandal where nearly a million dollars had been embezzled.
