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To: Tallguy

Re Bonus march: You're right, of course, didn't realize that Mac had such a high rank that long ago. He was involved in another protest years earlier, when he was a colonel, was he not, with which I think I was was confused.


664 posted on 12/22/2005 12:45:28 PM PST by luvbach1 (Near the belly of the beast in San Diego)
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To: luvbach1

If he was, I don't recall. MacArthur made rank very young --- possibly due to the fact that his father, Arthur, was a high ranking general officer. Douglas MacArthur was a full colonel at the outset of WW1 serving as chief of staff, then deputy commander of the 42 (Rainbow) Infantry Division. He got his first star when he took over the division.

While many other officers were reverting to lower ranks in the peacetime army, MacArthur continued to advance rapidly. He was retired & living in the Philippines (Chief of Staff of the Filipino Army) until FDR called him out of retirement just before WW2.

When you throw Korea into the mix, MacArthur had an incredibly long career. Imagine that he grew up on frontier army posts during the Indian Wars and served until the dawn of the nuclear age. How many of the officers on this list can come close to mastering the technological changes that came to warfare during his career?


667 posted on 12/22/2005 12:54:23 PM PST by Tallguy (When it's a bet between reality and delusion, bet on reality -- Mark Steyn)
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To: luvbach1; Tallguy

Luvbach,

I think you are remembering the Bonus March involvement of Eisenhower and Patton, both of whom were Majors at the time serving under MacArthur. Eisenhower was the liason with the overwhelmed capital police and Patton led the calvary that day.

Not a glorious moment for either.


670 posted on 12/22/2005 1:08:01 PM PST by KC Burke (Men of intemperate minds can never be free....)
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