[Eaker]

Hate to tell you this, it was the grunt that won that war and democratized Japan not the general.

Granted a General is nothing without his grunts, but grunts without a leader are lost in the big picture. In the small picture they have performed phenomenally, but they alone could not have beaten Japan.

They needed a leader. MacArthur was their leader.

[RunningJoke]

He was the leader selected. That does not mean another leader could not have prospered, perhaps one not as vainglorious as MacArthur. Correct me, if I'm wrong but the Pacific theatre was more of a naval war. Our game plan was to go around the heavily fortified islands.

"Granted a General is nothing without his grunts, but grunts without a leader are lost in the big picture."

It's funny you bring that up. My father's unit would target the German officers because although the Germans were excellent soldiers they were more dependent on their leaders. The American soldier as well as the American citizen in general, especially during WWII, were more independent and could actually fight with the absence of officers; they would fight for each other, in what most people would call Esprit de corps. It was your job, to keep moving and take objectives. That is the greatest single point to bring home about the American fighting man. It is not blind faith in his leaders but his willingness to get the job done.

This above paragraph is what my father knew to be true and most of history is willing to write off about Americans or misplace credit to the Generals.

And here's news, the atomic bomb was probably more effective than any single reason that broke the Japanese resolve. My father was ecstatic that Truman dropped the bombs. His unit had just received his orders to ship out to the Pacific. He had already missed death three times in ETO's combat. He figured he had used up most of his luck.