General Douglas MacArthur.doc

General Douglas MacArthur
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (26 January 1880 – 5 April 1964) was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and was an outstanding leader in the Pacific war during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign. Arthur MacArthur Jr. and Douglas MacArthur were the first father and son to each be awarded the medal. He was the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army.
Douglas, who had always been an excellent student, first started to show his intellectual gifts when his father was posted to San Antonio, Texas, in 1893. He attended the West Texas Military Academy there. By his remarkable scores there, his family's political connections, Douglas received an appointment to the United States Military Academy at West Point in 1898. Over the next four years, he achieved the finest records in West Point history. This record is still unbroken today. General Arthur MacArthur, back from the Philippines, where he had helped defeat the Spanish and served as military governor, looked on proudly as his son graduated first in the class of 1903.
Even though his record to that point had been excellent, the war was Douglas MacArthur's only real measure of fame. He was quickly promoted to brigadier general. During the following several years, he really achieved a little success. However, Japanese gave MacArthur's poor showing in the Philippines. He had to withdraw to Australia. MacArthur left his men facing sure destruction, comforted only by the belief that he might lead an army back to rescue them. For the next three years, the world watched as his personal quest, "I shall return", became almost synonymous with the war in the Pacific. In October of 1944 the world watched as he dramatically waded ashore at Leyte, and in the following months liberated the rest of the Philippines. On September 2, 1945, he presided over the Japanese surrender on board the "USS Missouri," bringing an end to World War II.
His place as a leading figure of the 20th century already secure, MacArthur may have made his greatest contribution to history in the next five and a half years, as supreme commander of the Allied Powers in Japan. MacArthur became a synonym with the highly successful occupation. But in June of 1950, the sudden outbreak of the Korean War thrust MacArthur back into the limelight. The result of the war turned out to be a lose-lose game. MacArthur became the first American to sign in the capitulation under the pressure of PLA's attending the war.
True to his word, the old soldier "faded away" from the public eye, living quietly in New York until his death in 1964. While it's questionable whether his storied life ever brought him complete satisfaction, one thing is clear: Douglas MacArthur had more than fulfilled his self-imposed destiny of becoming one of history's great men.
"You couldn't shrug your shoulders at Douglas MacArthur. There was nothing bland about him, nothing passive about him, nothing dull about him. There's no question about his patriotism, there's no question about his courage, and there's no question, it seems to me, about his importance as one of the protagonists of the 20th century." Historian David McCullough said. And what I want to say couldn't more than that.

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