FAMOUS PEOPLE WITH EVERYDAY PROBLEMS
PARKINSON'S DISEASE - GENERAL MACARTHUR

d

World War II

After the United States entered World War II, MacArthur became Allied commander in the Philippines. He "courted controversy" on several occasions, especially when he over-ruled his air commander, General Lewis H. Brereton, who had requested permission to launch air attacks by the US Far East Air Force (FEAF) against Japanese bases on nearby Taiwan, a plan that MacArthur had labeled suicide. MacArthur instead ordered the planes to be moved, to conserve them from Japanese raids; only half had been when FEAF was all but destroyed on the ground, the prelude to a Japanese invasion.

His headquarters during the Philippines campaign of 1941-42 was on the island fortress of Corregidor; his single trip to the front lines in Bataan led to the disparaging moniker and ditty, "Dugout Doug." Nevertheless, MacArthur's fortress was clearly marked, and was the target of Japanese air attacks, until Manuel Quezon cautioned MacArthur "not to subject himself to danger". In March 1942, as Japanese forces tightened their grip on the Philippines, MacArthur was ordered by US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to relocate to Melbourne, Australia, after Quezon and his wife had already left. With his wife and four-year-old son, and a select group of advisers and subordinate military commanders, MacArthur at last fled the Philippines on PT-41 commanded by Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley, and successfully evaded an intense Japanese search for the escaping American general.

MacArthur reached the island of Mindanao on March 13, and boarded a B-17 bomber three days later; on 17 March, he arrived at Batchelor Airfield in Australia's Northern Territory, and took The Ghan railway through the Australian outback to Adelaide. His famous speech, in which he said "I came out of Bataan and I shall return", was made at Terowie, South Australia on March 20. During this period, President Manuel L. Quezon decorated MacArthur with the Philippine Distinguished Conduct Star.

MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area (SWPA). To remove all ambiguity, the Australian Prime Minister, John Curtin put MacArthur in direct command of the Australian military, which numerically dominated MacArthur's forces at the time, augmented by a small number of U.S., Dutch and other Allied forces. One of MacArthur's first missions was to reassure Australians, who apprehended a Japanese invasion. The fighting at this time was predominantly in and around New Guinea and the Dutch East Indies. On July 20, 1942 SWPA headquarters was moved to Brisbane, Queensland, Australia, taking over the AMP Insurance Company building (later known as MacArthur Central).

Australian successes at the Battle of Milne Bay and the Kokoda Track campaign came in late 1942, the first victories by Allied land forces anywhere against the Japanese. When it was reported that many officers in the U.S. 32nd Infantry Division, a hastily-mobilized National Guard unit, had proved incompetent in the Allied offensive against Buna and Gona, the major Japanese beachheads in north-east New Guinea, MacArthur told the U.S. I Corps commander, Robert L. Eichelberger to assume direct control of Allied operations:

Bob, I'm putting you in command at Buna. Relieve Harding ... I want you to remove all officers who won't fight. Relieve regimental and battalion commanders; if necessary, put sergeants in charge of battalions and corporals in charge of companies ... Bob, I want you to take Buna, or not come back alive ... And that goes for your chief of staff, too. [Emphasis added.]

During 1943 and early 1944, MacArthur was ordered by the Allied Combined Chiefs of Staff to implement a new Allied grand strategy, known as Operation Cartwheel, which aimed to isolate the major Japanese base at Rabaul and let the forces there "wither on the vine", as well as taking strategic points to use as forward bases. In the process, increasing numbers of US Army forces arrived in the theater, including the Sixth Army (a.k.a. Alamo Force), and later the Eighth Army.

Allied forces under MacArthur's command landed at Leyte Island , on October 20, 1944, fulfilling MacArthur's vow to return to the Philippines. They consolidated their hold on the archipelago in the Battle of Luzon after heavy fighting, and despite a massive Japanese naval counterattack in the Battle of Leyte Gulf. With the reconquest of the islands, MacArthur moved his headquarters to Manila, to plan the invasion of Japan in late 1945. The invasion was pre-empted by the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, and in September, 1945 MacArthur received the formal Japanese surrender which ended World War II.

MacArthur was awarded and received the Medal of Honor for his leadership in the Southwest Pacific Theater. Philippine President Sergio Osmeña also decorated him with the Philippines' highest military award, the Medal of Valor.

Post-World War II Japan

After World War II, MacArthur served as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers (SCAP). His first responsibility was overseeing the reconstruction, re-organization and re-supply of the people (most of them were nearly starving) in Japan. Though it was officially an effort of the Allies, the US was firmly in control, and MacArthur was effectively the leader of Japan during this period. In 1946, MacArthur's staff created the constitution that is in use in Japan to this day and has greatly contributed to the stability and prosperity of the country. MacArthur handed over power to the newly-formed Japanese government in 1949, and remained in Japan until relieved by President Truman on April 11, 1951. Truman replaced SCAP leader MacArthur with General Matthew Ridgway of the US Army.

In late 1945, Allied military commissions tried 4,000 Japanese officers for war crimes. About 3,000 were given prison terms and 920 were executed; the charges included the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, and the sack of Manila. Some critics say that the main Japanese commander in the Philippines General Yamashita Tomoyuki had lost control of his soldiers and should not have been executed. However he did not resign his post and therefore retained command responsibility; this case has become a precedent and is known as the Yamashita Standard. PBS has called the trials "hasty".

Korean War

After the surprise attack on MacArthur's army in June 1950 started the Korean War, the United Nations General Assembly authorized a United Nations (UN) force to help South Korea. MacArthur led the UN coalition counter-offensive, noted for a daring and overwhelmingly successful amphibious landing behind North Korean lines in the Battle of Inchon. The maneuver successfully out-flanked the North Korean army, which had been trying to annihilate the surrounded and cut-off American forces remaining in Korea. The North Korean forces, containing Chinese soldiers and Russian and Chinese pilots flying Russian-made jets, fled and retreated north, pursued by the Americans and their military allies.

As MacArthur's forces approached the Korea-China border, the Chinese warned that they would become involved, rather than watch the North Koreans be defeated. During his trip to Wake Island to meet with President of the United States President Harry S. Truman, MacArthur was specifically asked by President Truman about Chinese involvement in the war. MacArthur did not care for the danger, advising absolute defeat for the North Korean forces, and famously-advising, "There is no substitute for victory." On November 25, 1950, Chinese military forces attacked across the Yalu River, forcing the U.N forces to enter on a long retreat. MacArthur repeatedly requested authorization to strike Manchuria and major Chinese cities with thirty to fifty nuclear weapons, an action which Truman and the State Department feared would draw China's ally, the Soviet Union, into the conflict. Angered by Truman's desire to maintain a "limited war," MacArthur began issuing important statements to the press, warning them of a crushing defeat. In March of 1951, after a painfull U.N. counterattack commanded by Matthew B. Ridgway turned the tide of the war in the U.N.'s favor, Truman alerted MacArthur of his intention to initiate 'cease-fire' talks. Such news ended any hopes the general had retained of leading a full-scale war against China, and MacArthur quickly issued his own ultimatum to Red China. Mocking the Chinese lack of military power and industrial strength, MacArthur's declaration threatened the expansion of the war, and was by his own aide's later admission 'designed to undercut' Truman's negotiating position. Such an act unquestionably qualified as rank insubordination, and was so contrary to MacArthur's long and distinguished military service that General Omar Bradley later speculated that MacArthur's disappointment over his inability to wage war on China had "snapped his brilliant but brittle mind." On April 11, 1951 President Truman relieved General MacArthur of his military command. General Matthew B. Ridgway replaced MacArthur and stabilized the situation near the north 38th parallel.

Return to America

MacArthur returned to Washington (his first time in the continental US in 11 years), where he made his last public appearance in a farewell address to the U.S. Congress, interrupted by thirty ovations. In his closing speech, he mused: "Old soldiers never die, they just fade away." 'And like the old soldier of that ballad, I now close my military career and just fade away - an old soldier who tried to do his duty as God gave him the light to see that duty. Good-bye.'

On his return from Korea, after his relief by Truman, MacArthur encountered massive public adulation, which aroused expectations that he would run for the US presidency as a Republican in the 1952 election. However, a U.S. Senate Committee investigation of his removal, chaired by Richard Russell, contributed to a marked cooling of the public mood and MacArthur's presidential hopes died away. (MacArthur, in his Reminiscences repeatedly stated that he had no political aspirations.)

In the 1952 Republican presidential nomination contest, rumors were rife that Sen. Robert Taft of Ohio offered the vice presidential nomination to MacArthur. Had a Taft-MacArthur ticket defeated Democrat Adlai Stevenson in November, the general would have become President upon Taft's sudden death eight months later in July 1953. Taft, who was initially favored to win the GOP nomination, lost the nomination to Dwight Eisenhower. MacArthur later became head of the Remington Rand Coporation.

MacArthur spent the remainder of his life quietly in New York, except for a spectacular "sentimental journey" to the Philippines in 1961, when he was decorated by President Carlos P. Garcia with the Philippine Legion of Honor, rank of Chief Commander. During one of his visits, the Pan-Philippine Highway was renamed to MacArthur Highway in his honor.

President John F. Kennedy solicited MacArthur's counsel in 1961. The first of two meetings was shortly after the Bay of Pigs fiasco. According to White House staffer Kenneth P. O'Donnell, MacArthur was extremely critical of the Pentagon and its military advice to Kennedy. MacArthur also cautioned the young President to avoid a U.S. military build-up in Vietnam, pointing out that domestic problems should be given a much greater priority. Kennedy was said to have come out of the more than three-hour meeting 'stunned' and 'enormously impressed'.

Death and Legacy

MacArthur and his second wife, Jean Faircloth, are entombed together in downtown Norfolk, Virginia; their burial site is in the rotunda of a memorial building/museum (formerly the Norfolk city hall) dedicated to his memory, and there is a major shopping mall (MacArthur Center) named for him across the street from the memorial.

The couple's son changed his surname and now lives anonymously as a saxophonist in the New York area.

MacArthur's nephew, Douglas MacArthur II (a son of his brother Arthur), served as a diplomat for several years, including the post of Ambassador to Japan and several other countries.

West Point

• June 13, 1899 - appointed as a Cadet at the United States Military Academy, West Point, New York
• 1900: Is the victim of hazing and becomes involved in a serious scandal where one Cadet is left dead by upperclassman abuse. Maintains his honor, and does not appear as a snitch, by only naming cadets who hazed him who were already expelled from West Point or had previously confessed
• June 1903 - Graduates first in his class, commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers

Early career

• June 1903: Serves with the 3rd Battalion of Engineers in the Philippine Islands.
• 1904: Assigned to the California Debris Commission.
• April 1904: Promoted to First Lieutenant, becomes acting Chief Engineering Officer for the Army Pacific Division based in San Francisco, California
• October 1904: Reports to Tokyo, Japan to serve as an aide to his father (Major General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.) in the Far East
• December 1906: Serves as aide-de-camp to President Theodore Roosevelt
• August 1907: Attends the "Engineering School of Application" in Washington, DC
• February 1908: Assigned as the Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Improvements Commission, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
• April 1908: Appointed as Commanding Officer, Company K, 3rd Battalion of Engineers. Later that year becomes an instructor at the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas
• April 1909: Becomes Quartermaster for the 3rd Battalion of Engineers
• February 1911: Promoted to Captain and serves as the Officer-in-Charge of the Engineering Depot at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas
• November 1912: Assigned to the General Staff Corps, for duty as a Member and Recorder of the Board of Engineering Troops
• April 1913: Appointed as Superintendent of State, War, and Navy Buildings as a member of the General Staff
• April 1914: Becomes the Assistant Engineering Officer of the military expedition to Veracruz, Mexico
• December 1915: Promoted to Major, serves as an Engineering Officer on the Army General Staff
• August 1917: Advanced to the temporary rank of Colonel in the National Army. Reports to Camp Mill, Long Island, New York to begin forming the 42nd Infantry Division.

World War I

• 1917 - 1918: Becomes Chief of Staff of the 42nd Infantry Division and is credited with naming it the "Rainbow Division". Joins the American Expeditionary Force bound for France
• June 1918: Appointed a Brigadier General in the National Army and serves as Divisional Chief of Staff, 84th Infantry Brigade, and is later appointed as the Divisional Commander
• 1918 - 1919: Cited for extreme battlefield bravery and also is wounded in combat and gassed by the enemy. Was known for personally leading troops into battle, often without a weapon of his own. Begins to develop a negative relationship with General of the Armies John Pershing, after feeling that Pershing is wasting the lives of his troops with bad military tactics.
• May 1919: Returns to the United States a hero, but is distraught over the lack of recognition his Rainbow Division receives for actions in France.

Inter-war years

• June 1919: Becomes the Superintendent of the US Military Academy, West Point
• February 1920: Reverts to peacetime rank, but is one of the few officers who does not lose his World War I position. Becomes a brigadier general in the Regular Army. Receives a negative evaluation report from Pershing, now Chief of Staff, who ranks Macarthur 38 out of 45 generals and states that MacArthur has an "exalted view of himself and should remain in his present grade for several years".
• October 1922: Becomes Commanding General, District of Manila, in the Philippines
• July 1923: While still serving as District of Manila Commander, also becomes Commander of the 23rd Infantry Brigade
• January 1925: Promoted to Major General, becoming the youngest two-star general in the U.S. Army. Returns to the United States to become a Corps Commander
• May 1925: Assigned as IVth Area Corps Commander, U.S. Army, encompassing areas of Atlanta and Georgia
• 1926 - 1927: Serves as 3rd Corps Commander, based in Baltimore, Maryland
• 1928: Leads the US Olympic Team to Amsterdam and is then assigned as the Commanding General, Philippine Department, based in Manila.
• October 1930: Becomes the commander of the Ninth Corps Area based in San Francisco, California
• November 21, 1930: Appointed as a full General and becomes Chief of Staff of the United States Army
• June 1932: Presides over the destruction of the "Bonus Army", deemed a low point of his tenure as Army Chief of Staff
• October 1935: Completes his tour as Chief of Staff and declines retirement from the Army. Per Army regulations, reverts to his permanent rank of Major General and becomes the Chief Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines
• December 31, 1937: Decides to retire from the United States Army. Is advanced back to the rank of General for listing on the U.S. Army retired rolls
• 1937 - 1941: Civilian advisor to the Philippine Government on military matters. Is appointed a Field Marshal in the Philippine Army, the only American officer in history accorded with that rank. Begins wearing the cap which is so often associated with him, that being a Field Marshal cover with U.S. Army crest
• April 1937 - marries Jean Faircloth
• February 21, 1938 - Arthur MacArthur IV is born

World War II

• July 26, 1941: Recalled to active service in the United States Army as a Major General
• July 27, 1941: Appointed Lieutenant General in the Army of the United States and becomes Commanding General of USAFFE (United States Army Forces in the Far East)
• December 1941: Japanese attack and defeat US Air Force in Philippines
• December 1941: promoted to General in the Army of the United States
• December 1941-May 1942; retreat to Bataan and Corregidor in face of Japanese invasion
• February 1942: Roosevelt orders MacArthur out of the Philippines; MacArthur promises, "I shall return."
• 1942 - 1943: rebuilds Australian morale; begins the reconquest of the island of New Guinea
• 1943 - 1944: argues with the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding reconquest of the Philippine Islands. Chiefs propose bypass; MacArthur appeals to President Roosevelt.
• October 1944: lands at Leyte and begins reconquest of Philippines
• December 1944: Becomes a General of the Army and is ranked the second highest ranking officer of the U.S. Army, second only to George Marshall
• 1944 - 1945: Due to logistics issues the Joint Chiefs decided to invade the Philippine Islands. MacArthur again must fight to convince his superiors to invade the entire Philippine Islands, whereas initial plans call for only an invasion of the south. The Joint Chiefs at last agreed that MacArthur is to invade the Philippine Islands at Leyte Gulf and strike towards Manila.
• February 5, 1945: MacArthur fulfills his promise to return and liberates Manila
• Summer 1945: in Manila to plan invasions of Japan in October, 1945. Is stunned when the atomic bomb ends the war abruptly, quoted that "this apparatus will make men like me obsolete".
• September, 1945: Presides over the surrender of Japan and becomes military governor of Japanese home islands. Threatens the Soviet Union with armed conflict should Red Army soldiers attempt to occupy any part of Japan.

Occupation of Japan

• December 15, 1945 - Orders the end of Shinto as the state religion of Japan
• 1945 - 1948: Begins sweeping reforms, drafts a new constitution for Japan, and puts an end to centuries of Emperor god-worship

Korean War

• July 8, 1950: Following the invasion of North Korea into South Korea, MacArthur is named Commander of all United Nations forces in Korea.
• July 31, 1950: Travels to Taiwan and conducts diplomacy with Chiang Kai-Shek
• September 15, 1950: Leads UN forces at the Battle of Inchon, seen as one of the greatest military maneuvers in history
• October 15, 1950: Meets with President Truman on Wake Island after heavy disagreements develop regarding the conduct of the Korean War. When meeting Truman, it is very noticeable that MacArthur does not salute his Commander-in-Chief but rather offers a handshake
• November - December 1950: With China committed to all-out war against the US on the Korean peninsula, MacArthur advocates for the same in return against China but is prohibited. He is outraged when military leaders in Washington restrict the war to only the Korean theater, meaning that he cannot bomb even the bridges of the Yalu river over which Chinese troops, supplies, and material are streaming across. He is further restricted from bombing their bases in Manchuria. MacArthur expressed his outrage later, saying that "The order not to bomb the Yalu bridges was the most indefensible and ill-conceived decision ever forced on a field commander in our nation's history."
• April 11, 1951: After several public criticisms of White House policy in Korea, which were seen as undercutting the Commander-in-Chief's position, Harry Truman removes MacArthur from command and orders him to return to the United States. Truman put up with MacArthur's high profile for some time, however, and he may have in fact exchanged MacArthur for a sound nuclear policy in Korea since he did not trust the "Brass Hat MacArthur" with nuclear weapons.
• April 19, 1951: At a farewell address before Congress, MacArthur gives the famous Old Soldiers Never Die speech
• May 1951: Retires a second time from the U.S. Army, but is listed as permanently active duty due to the regulations regarding those who hold Five Star General rank. For administrative reasons, is assigned in absentee to the Office of the Army Chief of Staff

Later life

• 1951 - 1952: Loses a great deal of public support after Senate hearings investigate into why MacArthur was relieved and it is revealed MacArthur had advocated a full scale war with China and, if necessary, nuclear war in the Korean conflict. Historical documents revealed after the fact that MacArthur was right about the Soviet Union not being inclined to intervene in such an event, however, due in part to Stalin's declining health.
• 1952: Runs for President on the Republican platform. Is distraught when his former aide, Dwight Eisenhower secures the Republican nomination and later becomes President of the United States. He could still have conceivably won nomination at the convention after he delivered the keynote address, except that Senator Robert Taft of Ohio would not transfer his delegates to him.
• January 1955: Is nominated by the United States Congress for promotion to General of the Armies. Declines the promotion as it would have meant a loss of retirement pay and benefits associated with being a Five Star General.
• May 12, 1962 - Gives famous Duty, Honor, Country valedictory speech at West Point
• April 5, 1964: Douglas MacArthur dies at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Dates of rank

• Second Lieutenant, United States Army: June 11, 1903
• First Lieutenant, United States Army: April 23, 1904
• Captain, United States Army: February 27, 1911
• Major, United States Army: December 11, 1915
• Colonel, National Army: August 5, 1917
• Brigadier General, National Army: June 26, 1918
• Brigadier General rank made permanent in the Regular Army: January 20, 1920
• Major General, Regular Army: January 17, 1925
• General for temporary service as Army Chief of Staff: November 21, 1930
• Reverted to permanent rank of Major General, Regular Army: October 1, 1935
• Retired in grade as a General on Regular Army rolls: December 31, 1937
• Recalled to active service as a Major General in the Regular Army: July 26, 1941
• Lieutenant General in the Army of the United States: July 27, 1941
• General, Army of the United States: December 18, 1941
• General of the Army, Army of the United States: December 18, 1944
• General of the Army rank made permanent in the Regular Army: March 23, 1946

In 1955, a bill passed by the United States Congress authorized the President of the United States to promote Douglas MacArthur to the rank of General of the Armies (a similar measure had also been proposed unsuccessfully in 1945). However, due to regulations involving retirement pay and benefits, as well as MacArthur being junior to George C. Marshall (who had not been recommended for the same promotion), MacArthur declined promotion to what many view would have been seen as a Six Star General.

Awards and decorations

During his military career, General MacArthur was awarded the following decorations from both the United States and other allied nations. The awards listed below are those which would have been worn on a military uniform and do not include commemorative medals, unofficial decorations, and non-portable awards.

Decorations

• Distinguished Service Cross with two oak leaf clusters
• Army Distinguished Service Medal with four oak leaf clusters
• Navy Distinguished Service Medal
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Silver Star six(6) silver oak leaves
• Bronze Star Medal with Valor device
• Purple Heart with one oak leaf cluster
• Presidential Unit Citation with 1 silver and 1 bronze oak leaf cluster
• Air Medal
• Philippine Campaign Medal
• Mexican Service Medal
• World War I Victory Medal with five battle clasps (Aisne-Marne, Champagne-Marne, St. Mihiel, Meuse-Argonne and Defensive Sector)
• Army of Occupation of Germany Medal
• American Defense Service Medal with -Foreign Serviceâ? clasp
• Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with two silver service stars and arrowhead device
• World War II Victory Medal
• Army of Occupation Medal with -Japanâ? clasp
• National Defense Service Medal
• Korean Service Medal with three bronze service stars and arrowhead device
• United Nations Service Medal
• Command Aviator Badge
• Army General Staff Identification Badge
• Fourteen Overseas Service Bars
• Expert Badge with Rifle and Pistol bars

Foreign awards

• Knight Grand Cross of the Military Division of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath
• French Legion d'honneur
• French Croix de Guerre
• French Medaille Militaire
• Australian Pacific Star
• Philippine Medal of Valor
• Philippine Distinguished Service Star
• Philippine Legion of Honor, Degree of Chief Commander
• Philippine Defense Medal with one service star
• Philippine Liberation Medal with four service stars
• Republic of the Philippines Presidential Unit Citation
• Philippine Independence Medal
• Order of the Belgium Crown
• Belgian Croix de Guerre
• Belgian Order of the Cross
• Czechoslovakian Order of the White Lion
• Polish Virtuti Militari
• Polish Grand Cross of Polonia Restituta
• Grand Cross Netherlands Order of Orange-Nassau
• Yugoslavian Order of the White Eagle
• Japanese Order of the Rising Sun
• Republic of Korean Presidential Unit Citation
• Korean Grand Cross of the Order of Military Valour and Merit
• Italian Grand Cross of the Military Order
• Italian War Cross
• Cuban Grand Cross of Military Merit
• Ecuadorian Grand Cross Order of Abdon Calderon
• Chinese Cordon of Pau Ting
• Greek Medal of Honor
• Guatemalan Cross of Military Merit
• Hungarian Grand Cross of Military Merit
• Order of Mexican Military Merit
• Grand Cross Order of Romanian Military Merit
• Fulfilled his dream as being one of history's greatest men

d