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Douglas MacArthur, United States Army General began his career in 1899, served in three major military conflicts and held the highest military office of the United States and of the Philippines during that service.
[edit] Summary of service
[edit] West Point
[edit] Early career
- June 1903: Serves with the 3rd Battalion of Engineers in the Philippine Islands.
- 1904: Assigned to the California Debris Commission.
- April 1904: Promoted to First Lieutenant, becomes acting Chief Engineering Officer for the Army Pacific Division based in San Francisco, California
- October 1904: Reports to Tokyo, Japan to serve as an aide to his father (Major General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.) in the Far East
- December 1906: Serves as aide-de-camp to President Theodore Roosevelt
- August 1907: Attends the "Engineering School of Application" in Washington, D.C.
- February 1908: Assigned as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Improvements Commission, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
- April 1908: Appointed as Commanding Officer, Company K, 3rd Battalion of Engineers. Later that year becomes an instructor at the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas
- April 1909: Becomes Quartermaster for the 3rd Battalion of Engineers
- February 1911: Promoted to Captain and serves as the Officer-in-Charge of the Engineering Depot at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
- November 1912: Assigned to the General Staff Corps, for duty as a Member and Recorder of the Board of Engineering Troops
- April 1913: Appointed as Superintendent of State, War, and Navy Buildings as a member of the General Staff
- April 1914: Becomes the Assistant Engineering Officer of the military expedition to Veracruz, Mexico
- December 1915: Promoted to Major, serves as an Engineering Officer on the Army General Staff
- August 1917: Advanced to the temporary rank of Colonel in the National Army. Reports to Camp Mill, Long Island, New York to begin forming the 42nd Infantry Division.
[edit] World War I
- 1917 – 1918: Becomes Chief of Staff of the 42nd Infantry Division and is credited with naming it the "Rainbow Division". Joins the American Expeditionary Force bound for France
- June 1918: Appointed a Brigadier General in the National Army and in August is appointed as Commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade.
- 1918 – 1919: Cited for extreme battlefield bravery and also is wounded in combat and gassed by the enemy. Was known for personally leading troops into battle, often without a weapon of his own. Begins to develop a negative relationship with General of the Armies John Pershing, after feeling that Pershing is wasting the lives of his troops with bad military tactics.
- May 1919: Returns to the United States a hero, but is distraught over the lack of recognition his Rainbow Division receives for actions in France.
[edit] Inter-war years
- June 1919: Becomes the Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy, West Point
- February 1920: Reverts to peacetime rank, but is one of the few officers who does not lose his World War I position. Becomes a brigadier general in the Regular Army. Receives a negative evaluation report from Pershing, now Chief of Staff, who ranks Macarthur 38 out of 45 generals and states that MacArthur has an "exalted view of himself and should remain in his present grade for several years".
- October 1922: Becomes Commanding General, District of Manila, in the Philippines
- July 1923: While still serving as District of Manila Commander, also becomes Commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade
- January 1925: Promoted to Major General, becoming the youngest two-star general in the U.S. Army. Returns to the United States to become a Corps Commander
- May 1925: Assigned as IVth Area Corps Commander, U.S. Army, encompassing areas of Atlanta and Georgia
- 1926 – 1927: Serves as 3rd Corps Commander, based in Baltimore, Maryland
- 1928: Leads the US Olympic Team to Amsterdam and is then assigned as the Commanding General, Philippine Department, based in Manila.
- October 1930: Becomes the commander of the Ninth Corps Area based in San Francisco, California
- November 21, 1930: Appointed as a full General and becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army
- June 1932: Presides over the destruction of the "Bonus Army", deemed a low point of his tenure as Army Chief of Staff
- October 1935: Completes his tour as Chief of Staff and declines retirement from the Army. Per Army regulations, reverts to his permanent rank of Major General and becomes the Chief Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines
- December 31, 1937: Decides to retire from the United States Army. He reverts back to the rank of Major General for listing on the U.S. Army retired rolls
- 1937 – 1941: Civilian adviser to the Philippine Government on military matters. Is appointed a Field Marshal in the Philippine Army, the only American officer in history accorded with that rank. Begins wearing the cap which is so often associated with him, that being a Field Marshal cover with U.S. Army crest
- April 1937: marries Jean Faircloth
- February 21, 1938: Arthur MacArthur IV is born
[edit] World War II
- July 26, 1941: Recalled to active service in the United States Army as a Major General
- July 27, 1941: Appointed Lieutenant General in the Army of the United States and becomes Commanding General of USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East)
- December 1941: Japanese invade the Philippines
- December 18, 1941: promoted to General in the Army of the United States
- December 1941–May 1942; Allied forces retreat to Bataan and Corregidor
- February–March 1942: Roosevelt orders MacArthur to leave the Philippines and base in himself in Australia; on March 20, in Terowie, South Australia, MacArthur promises, "I came out of Bataan and I shall return."
- 1942: MacArthur is appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin gives MacArthur control of the Australian military, which commences the New Guinea campaign.
- 1943: MacArthur implements Operation Cartwheel, the Joint Chiefs of Staff plan to isolate the major Japanese base at Rabaul.
- 1943 – 1944: argues with the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding reconquest of the Philippine Islands. Chiefs propose bypass; MacArthur appeals to President Roosevelt.
- October 1944: U.S forces land at Leyte and begins reconquest of Philippines
- December 1944: Promoted to the newly created rank of five star General of the Army becoming second highest ranking active duty officer of the U.S. Army, second only to George Marshall
- 1944 – 1945: Due to logistics issues the Joint Chiefs decided to invade the Philippine Islands. MacArthur again must fight to convince his superiors to invade the entire Philippine Islands, whereas initial plans call for only an invasion of the south. The Joint Chiefs at last agreed that MacArthur is to invade the Philippine Islands at Leyte Gulf and strike toward Manila.
- February 5, 1945: MacArthur fulfills his promise to return and liberates Manila
- Summer 1945: in Manila to plan invasions of Japan in October, 1945. Is stunned when the atomic bomb ends the war abruptly, quoted that "this apparatus will make men like me obsolete".
- September, 1945: Presides over the Japanese surrender ceremony and is appointed military governor of Japanese home islands. Threatens the Soviet Union with armed conflict should Red Army soldiers attempt to occupy any part of Japan.
[edit] Occupation of Japan
- December 15, 1945: Orders the end of Shinto as the state religion of Japan
- 1945 – 1948: Begins sweeping reforms, drafts a new constitution for Japan, and puts an end to centuries of Emperor god-worship.
[edit] Korean War
- July 8, 1950: Following the invasion of North Korea into South Korea, MacArthur is named Commander of all United Nations forces in Korea.
- July 31, 1950: Travels to Taiwan and conducts diplomacy with Generalissimo Chiang Kai-Shek
- September 15, 1950: Leads UN forces at the Battle of Inchon, seen as one of the greatest military maneuvers in history
- October 15, 1950: Meets with President Truman on Wake Island after heavy disagreements develop regarding the conduct of the Korean War. When meeting Truman, it is very noticeable that MacArthur does not salute his Commander-in-Chief but rather offers a handshake. Truman awards MacArthur a fourth oak leaf cluster on his Distinguished Service Medal.
- November – December 1950: With China committed to all-out war against the US on the Korean peninsula, MacArthur advocates for the same in return against China but is prohibited. He is outraged when military leaders in Washington restrict the war to only the Korean theater, meaning that he cannot bomb even the bridges of the Yalu river over which Chinese troops, supplies, and material are streaming across. He is further restricted from bombing their bases in Manchuria. MacArthur expressed his outrage later, saying that "The order not to bomb the Yalu bridges was the most indefensible and ill-conceived decision ever forced on a field commander in our nation's history."
- April 11, 1951: After several public criticisms of White House policy in Korea, which were seen as undercutting the Commander-in-Chief's position, Harry Truman removes MacArthur from command and orders him to return to the United States. Some suggest Truman may have exchanged MacArthur for a sound nuclear policy in Korea since he did not trust "Brass Hat MacArthur" with nuclear weapons. Some disagree with this, however, since (as David Horowitz noted in The Free World Colossus) MacArthur later came out against Truman's use of the bomb against Japan and there seems to be no concrete evidence of a major change in his views.
- April 19, 1951: At a farewell address before the United States Congress, MacArthur gives his famous "Old Soldiers Never Die" speech [1]
- May 1951: Retires a second time from the U.S. Army, but is listed as permanently on active duty due to the regulations regarding those who hold Five Star General rank. For administrative reasons, he is assigned in absentee to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff
[edit] Later life
- 1952: Allows name to be placed on primary ballots for Republican nomination, but does not campaign or announce as a candidate. Senator Robert Taft promises supporters to name MacArthur as candidate for Vice President, but Taft loses nomination to Eisenhower.
- 1955: Is considered for promotion to General of the Armies. The promotion is declined by MacArthur due to logistics involving retirement pay benefits and seniority listings within the Army.
- May 12, 1962: Gives famous Duty, Honor, Country valedictory speech at West Point
- Active in U.S. Olympic affairs
- April 5, 1964: Douglas MacArthur dies of liver and kidney failure following gallbladder surgery at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C..
[edit] Dates of rank
| No pin insignia in 1903 |
Second Lieutenant, United States Army: June 11, 1903 |
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First Lieutenant, United States Army: April 23, 1904 |
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Captain, United States Army: February 27, 1911 |
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Major, United States Army: December 11, 1915 |
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Colonel, National Army: August 5, 1917 |
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Brigadier General, National Army: June 26, 1918 |
| Brigadier General rank made permanent in the Regular Army: January 20, 1920 |
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Major General, Regular Army: January 17, 1925 |
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General for temporary service as Army Chief of Staff: November 21, 1930 |
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Reverted to permanent rank of Major General, Regular Army: October 1, 1935 |
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Retired in grade as a General on Regular Army rolls: December 31, 1937 |
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Recalled to active service as a Major General in the Regular Army: July 26, 1941 |
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Lieutenant General in the Army of the United States: July 27, 1941 |
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General, Army of the United States: December 18, 1941 |
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General of the Army, Army of the United States: December 18, 1944 |
| General of the Army rank made permanent in the Regular Army: March 23, 1946 |
In 1955, a bill passed by the United States Congress authorized the President of the United States to promote Douglas MacArthur to the rank of General of the Armies (a similar measure had also been proposed unsuccessfully in 1945). However, because of regulations involving retirement pay and benefits, as well as MacArthur being junior to George C. Marshall (who had not been recommended for the same promotion), MacArthur declined promotion to what may have been seen as a Six Star General[citation needed].
A graphical representation of Douglas MacArthur's American medals, as they would be displayed today.
[citation needed]
[edit] Awards and decorations
During his military career, General MacArthur was awarded the following decorations from the United States and other allied nations. The awards listed below are those which would have been worn on a military uniform and do not include commemorative medals, unofficial decorations, and non-portable awards.
[edit] Decorations
[edit] Foreign awards
[edit] Posthumous Awards
[edit] References
