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Douglas MacArthur

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Douglas MacArthur (January 26, 1880 - April 5, 1964) was a US General of the Army and recipient of the United States Army Medal of Honor.

MacArthur was the son of the civil War veteran General Arthur MacArthur and grew up on Army bases. He was accepted to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898 and graduated first in his class in 1903, as a 2nd Lieutenant of engineers

During World War I, he served in France, first with the 42nd Division and, upon his promotion to brigadier general (the youngest ever in the U.S Army), as commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade. He spent most of the inter-war period on different assignments in the Philippines. He left the U.S. Army in 1937 to command the Philippines Army, but returned in July of 1941 as commander of US Army Forces - Far East.

During World War II, MacArthur fought in south-east Asia against Japan: after the defeat of his forces in the Philippines, he was made Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific and took command of Australian, American, Dutch and other Allied forces defending Australia, fighting mainly in and around New Guinea. MacArthur's forces were eventually successful, overrunning Japanese resistance in 1943 and 1944; afterwards, American forces under MacArthur's command they took back the Philippines from October 1944. In September 1945 MacArthur received the formal japanese surrender which ended WWII; he then served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Japan until June 1950.

After the surprise attack of the communist North Korea army in 1950 started the Korean War, the United Nations General Assembly authorized a U.N. Force to re-unify the Korean peninsula in October. MacArthur led the U.N. coalition (whose back bone was the American military) counter-offensive, noted for a amphibious landing behind North Korean lines at Inchon. As his forces approached the Korea-China border, the Chinese warned they would become involved and on October 25 1951, the PLA attacked across the Yalu River forcing the U.N forces on a long retreat. MacArthur sought an extension of the conflict into China and was relieved of duty by Truman in April 1951. He was replaced by General Matthew B. Ridgway who stabilized the situation near the 38th parallel. MacArthur's last public appearance was a farewell address to Congress, interrupted by thirty ovations.

He returned from Korea to considerable public adulation, there was talk of him running for the presidency in 1952. When these hopes died away he spent the remainder of his life quietly in New York.

Early Life

MacArthur was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and was the son of Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur and Mary Pinkney Hardy MacArthur of Norfolk, Virginia. Douglas' older brother, Arthur, attended the United States Naval Academy and died in 1923, as a Captain. His other brother, Malcolm, died in 1883.

Military Career

1919 -- becomes Superintended of the USMA

-- incomplete

Douglas MacArthur’s Military Promotion History

  • First Lieutenant Apr 23, 1904
  • Captain Feb 27, 1911
  • Major Dec 11, 1915
  • Colonel (National Army) Aug 5, 1917
  • Brigadier General (National Army) Jun 26, 1918
  • Brigadier General (Regular Army) Jan 20, 1920
  • Major General (Regular army) Jan 17, 1925
  • General (Chief of Staff) Nov 21, 1930
  • Major General Oct 1, 1935
  • Lieutenant General (Temporary) Jul 27, 1941
  • General (Temporary) Dec 18, 1941
  • General of the Army Dec 18, 1944

National Military Decorations and Governmental Awards

on Leyte.

    • The Thanks of the Philippine Congress
    • Honorary Pilipino Citizenship
    • Permanent Membership in every Filipino Military organization.
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