Serial Fibber Brian Williams: JFK Served Under General Eisenhower in WWII

Newsbusters ^ | October 15, 2018 | P.J. Gladnick

[PJ-Comix]

Serial fibber Brian Williams told yet another whopper on Friday night from his home in MSNBC exile known as The 11th Hour with Brian Williams. So what else is new? What makes his latest historical untruth ironically special is it came as Williams along with historian Michael Beschloss were fact checking President Donald Trump for a supposed error he made during his speech at a rally in Lebanon, Ohio on Friday.

For years following the Civil War, many historians as well as much of the public in general discounted the military abilities of General Ulysses S. Grant by claiming he was able to accomplish his victories primarily due to the overwhelming men and material of the North as well as being willing to expend both in a more than necessary manner on the battlefield. So when Trump mentioned in his speech that Grant is finally being respected as a great general as has happened, this set both Brian Williams and Beschloss off in snark mode.

[Billthedrill]

I too was a skeptic, but Brian Williams was actually there. How could anyone challenge the credibility of the guy who shot down Richtofen over the Shores of Tripoli?

[hirn_man]

“The painting of Washington crossing the Delaware in PT 109 is seared in my memory.”

That painting is indelible on my hippocampus.

[William Tell]

Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy 15 December 1944
General of the Army George Marshall 16 December 1944
Fleet Admiral Ernest King 17 December 1944
General of the Army Douglas MacArthur 18 December 1944
Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz 19 December 1944
General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower 20 December 1944
General of the Army & Air Force Henry H. Arnold 21 December 1944

This list reveals the importance of "time in grade" to the military.

People who have not been in the military may not realize the importance of determining "who is in charge", whether in the heat of battle or otherwise. The military today has enlisted ranks which are denoted as "E-1", the lowest, to "E-9". Ignoring "Warrant Officers", officers are denoted as "O-1", the lowest commissioned officer to "O-11".

All E-6s outrank all E-5s. All O-4s outrank all O-3s, and so on. Of two military personnel with the same rank, the one who has the longest "time in grade" is the ranking person. This reality is reflected in the table above, indicating that Leahy outranked Marshall. Both were promoted to the same rank but Leahy was promoted one day earlier. This meant that he would always have one day more "time in grade" than Marshall.

This mechanism for determining who outranks whom is essential for ensuring that military units, whether in the heat of battle or otherwise would always be able to determine who is in command. This mechanism is fully reinforced by mandating that every chain-of-command in the military recognizes this same ranking.

One consequence of using this mechanism universally was the challenge that Lincoln faced when he wished to place Grant, who was lower ranked than other officers over which Grant was to be commander, over the Army of the Potomac. My recollection is that Grant received a promotion to make that assignment possible.

[Figment]

Nimitz?

[New Jersey Realist]

Good one!