Editing Pedro del Valle (section)

===Banana Wars===
[[File:P. Del Valle.jpg|left|thumb|upright=0.7|Pedro del Valle as a midshipman]]

In 1926, del Valle served with the [[Gendarmerie]] of [[Haiti]] for three years and, during that time, he also became active in the war against [[Augusto César Sandino]] in [[Nicaragua]]. In 1929, he returned to the United States and attended the Field Officers Course at the Marine Corps School in [[Marine Corps Base Quantico|MCB Quantico]], [[Virginia]].<ref name=USMCbio/>

In 1931, Brigadier General [[Randolph C. Berkeley]] appointed del Valle to the "Landing Operations Text Board" in Quantico, the first organizational step taken by the Marines to develop a working doctrine for [[Amphibious warfare|amphibious assault]]. In 1932, he wrote an essay titled "Ship-to-Shore in Amphibious Operations" which was published in the ''Marine Corps Gazette''. In his essay, he stressed the importance of a coordinated amphibious assault and of an execution of an opposed landing.<ref name = npsSrUSMCcommanders/>

He worked as an intelligence officer in [[Havana]] in 1933 under Admiral Charles Freeman, following the Cuban Sergeant's Revolt. From 1935 to 1937, del Valle was assistant naval attache, attached to the [[Diplomatic missions of the United States|American Embassy]] to Italy in [[Rome]].<ref name=USMCbio/> While on duty, del Valle participated as an observer with the [[Italian Army|Italian Forces]] during the [[Second Italo-Abyssinian War]]. The experiences which del Valle gained as an observer led him to author the book ''Roman Eagles Over Ethiopia'' where he describes the events leading up to the Italian expedition and the complete movements of combat operations by the Italian Army under Generals [[Emilio De Bono|De Bono]], [[Pietro Badoglio|Badoglio]], and [[Rodolfo Graziani|Graziani]].<ref name = "bookstore"/>

During the course of his service, De Valle revealed himself to be a fervent admirer of [[Benito Mussolini]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Bendersky |first=Joseph W. |title=The Jewish Threat: Anti-Semitic Politics Of The U.S. Army |date=2000 |publisher=Basic Books |isbn=978-0-465-00617-5 |location=New York |pages=411–412 |oclc=44089138}}</ref> He became a close friend of antisemitic propagandist [[James True]] and distributed "subversive" literature from [[George E. Deatherage|George Deatherage]]’s [[Knights of the White Camelia|Knights of the White Camellia]] and [[William Dudley Pelley|William Dudley Pelly]]'s [[Silver Legion of America|Silver Shirts]].<ref name=":0" /> In 1939, he was ordered to attend the [[United States Army War College|Army War College]] in Washington, D.C., and after graduating was named executive officer of the Division of Plans and Policies, USMC.<ref name="USMCbio" /><ref name="bookstore">{{cite web|access-date=2007-10-17|url=http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/ethiopia.html|title=Marine Corps History Bookstore|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070927211120/http://www.scuttlebuttsmallchow.com/ethiopia.html|archive-date=2007-09-27}}</ref>