This is the service summary of Douglas MacArthur, a General in the United States Army, who began his career in 1903 as a second lieutenant and served in three major military conflicts, going on to hold the highest military offices of both the United States and the Philippines.
1900: Is the victim of hazing and becomes involved in a serious scandal where one cadet is left dead by upperclassman abuse. During the investigation he implicates only cadets who were already expelled from West Point or had previously confessed.
Acting Chief Engineer Officer, Pacific Division, July 1905 to October 1905.
November 1905: Reports to Tokyo, Japan to serve as an aide to his father (Major General Arthur MacArthur, Jr.) in the Far East. Sees service in numerous locations in the Far East.
August 1906: Takes three month furlough. Returns to United States.
March 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.
27 February 1911: Promoted to captain and serves as the Officer-in-Charge of the Engineering Depot at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
25 September 1913: Assigned to the General Staff Corps, for duty as a member and recorder of the Board of Engineering Troops.
April 1914: Becomes the assistant engineering officer of the military expeditiontoVeracruz, Mexico. Conducts an unauthorized reconnaissance mission during which he engages in three gun fights in which he kills a total of seven Mexicans.[1]
11 December 1915: Promoted to major, serves as an engineering officer on the Army General Staff.
26 June 1918: Appointed a brigadier general in the National Army and in August is appointed as commander of the 84th Infantry Brigade, which is part of the 42nd Division. Briefly commands the 42nd Division from 10 to 22 November 1918.
1918 – 1919: Receives two Distinguished Service Crosses and seven Silver Star Citations (later converted to Silver Stars) for battlefield leadership and bravery and also is wounded in action 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 ArmiesJohn Pershing, after feeling that Pershing is wasting the lives of his troops with bad military tactics.
May 1919: Returns to the United States as a hero, but is distraught over the lack of recognition his Rainbow Division receives for actions in France.
20 January 1920: Appointed as a brigadier general in the Regular Army.[2] Is one of the few officers who retain their wartime rank. 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".
17 January 1925: Promoted to major general, becoming the youngest two-star general in the U.S. Army.
1 February 1925: Returns to the United States to become a corps commander.[2]
1 May 1925: Assigned as 4th Corps Area Commander, encompassing the southeastern states with headquarters in Atlanta.[2] Quickly reassigned as local residents did not welcome MacArthur because his father was a Union officer during the Civil War.
25 July 1925: Relieved of assignment as 4th Corps Area Commander.
1 August 1925 – 3 September 1928: Serves as 3rd Corps Area Commander, with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland.[2]
22 February 1932: Re-establishes the Purple Heart on the 200th anniversary of the birth of George Washington. Previously, wound chevrons were worn on the right sleeve of the uniform.
27 February 1932: Installed as the Supreme Paramount Carabao of the Military Order of the Carabao in Washington, D.C.
June 1932: Presides over the dispersal of the "Bonus Army", deemed a low point of his tenure as Army Chief of Staff.
16 July 1932: Establishes the Silver Star decoration for valor in combat to replace the Silver Citation Star which was worn on the appropriate campaign medal.
1 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.
October 1935: Meets heiress Jean Faircloth on his voyage to the Philippines.
3 December 1935: Mary Pinkney "Pinkie" Hardy MacArthur (b. 1852) dies in Manila.
14 January 1936: Made a Master Mason at Sight by Samuel R. Hawthorne, Grand Master of the Philippines.
24 August 1936: Commissioned as a field marshal in the Philippine Army. Only person to ever hold that rank in the Philippine Army. Begins wearing the "scrambled eggs" cap often associated with his image.
26 July 1941: Recalled to active service in the United States Army with the rank of major general and appointed as commanding general of United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE).
15 January 1942: $500,000 from the Philippine treasury is deposited by wire into MacArthur's personal bank account. It is a gratuity to MacArthur from Philippine President Manuel Quezon for his services to the Philippines.
22 February 1942: Ordered by President Roosevelt to leave the Philippines and go to Australia.
12 March 1942: Departs the Philippines by PT boat and later takes a plane from Mindanao to Australia.
1 April 1942: Awarded the Medal of Honor by War Department General Order No. 16 for his efforts to defend the Philippines.
9 April 1942: Major General Edward P. King surrenders the last American and Filipino forces on the Bataan peninsula.
18 April 1942: Appointed Supreme Allied Commander, South West Pacific Area (SWPA) with headquarters in Melbourne. Australian Prime Minister John Curtin gives MacArthur control of the Australian military, which commences the New Guinea campaign. MacArthur also commands American, Dutch and New Zealand forces.
6 May 1942: Fall of Corregidor island. Lieutenant General Jonathan Wainwright IV surrenders remaining American and Filipino forces in the Philippines.
21 July 1942: Moves headquarters to the Australian Mutual Provident (AMP) Building in Brisbane, Australia.
5 September 1942: I Corps, commanded by Lieutenant General Robert Eichelberger, arrives in Australia and is assigned the 32nd and 41st Infantry Divisions. I Corps serves as the headquarters for US ground forces assigned to SWPA and is initially subordinate to the Australian First Army.
15 September 1942: The 126th Infantry Regiment of the 32nd Infantry Division arrives in New Guinea. This marks the beginning of the New Guinea campaign.
19 September 1942: Awarded Distinguished Service Medal by the American Legion.
6 November 1942: Moves tactical headquarters of SWPA to Port Moresby, New Guinea. Main headquarters remains in Brisbane.
16 November 1942 until 22 January 1943: Battle of Buna–Gona. American and Australian forces under MacArthur engaged in a hard-fought campaign eliminated a Japanese stronghold in southwestern New Guinea. Allied casualties were high and much was learned about conducting jungle warfare.
16 February 1943: The Sixth United States Army is formed under the command of Lieutenant General Walter Kruger. The Sixth Army serves as the headquarters for all US ground forces in the South West Pacific Area.
2-4 March 1943: Battle of the Bismarck Sea. Allied air forces under MacArthur's command sink 8 transports, 4 destroyers and destroy 20 fighter planes with light casualties. The victory greatly reduces Japan's ability to reinforce its forces on New Guinea.
30 June 1943 to March 1944: MacArthur implements Operation Cartwheel, consisting of 10 individual operations with the goal of isolating the major Japanese base at Rabaul. The operation is based on the principles of avoiding strongly held areas and using "island hopping" to gain positional advantages.
1943 – 1944: Argues with the Joint Chiefs of Staff regarding reconquest of the Philippine Islands. Chiefs propose bypass; MacArthur has a conference with President Roosevelt and Admiral Chester Nimitz in July 1944 to argue for invading the Philippines. Due to logistics issues the Joint Chiefs decided to invade only the southern the Philippine Islands. MacArthur again must fight to convince his superiors to invade the entire Philippine Islands. The Joint Chiefs eventually agree that MacArthur is to lead the invasion the Philippine Islands at Leyte Gulf and strike toward Manila.
28 July 1944: Meets with President Roosevelt, Admiral William Leahy and Admiral Chester Nimitz in Honolulu, Hawaii to discuss the alternatives of invading the Philippines or Taiwan prior to an invasion of Japan. MacArthur is successful in convincing Roosevelt to have him lead the invasion of the Philippines.
20 October 1944: MacArthur fulfills his promise to return to the Philippines. U.S. forces landed at Leyte and began reconquest of Philippines.
18 December 1944: Promoted to the newly created rank of General of the Army becoming second highest ranking active duty officer of the U.S. Army after Army Chief of Staff George Marshall.
5 February 1945: Forces under MacArthur's command liberate Manila. Moves headquarters to Manila.
7 March 1945: Returns to Corregidor after its recapture.
11 March 1945: Awarded the Medal of Valor by the Commonwealth of the Philippines.
Summer 1945: Begins planning the invasion of Japan (codenamed Operation Downfall) with a tentative starting date of 1 November 1945.
26 July 1945: Briefed by Brigadier General Thomas F. Farrell about the atomic bomb.
6 August 1945: MacArthur stunned by the news of the use of the atomic bomb to destroy Hiroshima. He is quoted as saying that "this apparatus will make men like me obsolete".
15 August 1945: The Philippine Congress bestows on him honorary citizenship and decrees that his name will be carried in perpetuity on the rolls of the Philippine Army.
30 August 1945: Arrives in Japan and assumes command of the occupation of Japan and is appointed military governor of Japanese home islands.
2 September 1945: Presides over the Japanese surrender ceremony in Tokyo Bay on board the battleship USS Missouri. Threatens the Soviet Union with armed conflict should Red Army soldiers attempt to occupy any part of Japan.
2 October 1945: Establishes his headquarters at the Dai Ichi Building in Tokyo.
15 December 1945: Orders the end of Shinto as the state religion of Japan.
1945 – 1948: Begins sweeping reforms, drafts a new constitution for Japan granting women the right to vote, and puts an end to centuries of Emperor god-worship.
January 1946: Decides not to prosecute Emperor Hirohito for war crimes because the Emperor was invaluable to MacArthur's efforts to reform Japan.
19 January 1946: The International Military Tribunal sits in Tokyo to conduct war crimes trials. MacArthur is given final authority to approve convictions and to carry out sentences.
23 March 1946: Permanently promoted to General of the Army.
10 April 1946: First free elections in Japan's history. Japanese women vote for the first time.
10 May 1946: Visited in Tokyo by Army Chief of Staff Dwight D. Eisenhower. Its the first time the men have met since December 1939.[3]
4 July 1946: The Philippines become an independent nation. MacArthur, representing the United States Army, attends the celebration in Manila.
14 December 1946: Invested with the Grand Cross of the French Legion of Honor.
1 January 1947: Far East Command established with headquarters in Tokyo.
3 May 1947: Japan's new constitution, greatly influenced by MacArthur, goes into effect.
15 September 1950: Leads UN forces at the invasion at Inchon, which is seen as one of the greatest military operations in history.
1 October 1950: Calls on North Korean forces to lay down their arms.
15 October 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. Truman awards MacArthur a fourth oak leaf cluster on his Distinguished Service Medal.
19 October 1950: China intervenes in North Korea with 200,000 troops.
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."
25 March 1951: MacArthur is directed to clear his press releases with Washington prior to making them public.
5 April 1951: Republican Congressman Joseph Martin reads a letter written to him by MacArthur on 20 March 1951 to the House of Representatives. In the letter MacArthur supports Martin's view that Chinese Nationalist forces should be employed in the Korean War. This position is in conflict with the policies of the Truman administration.
10 April 1951: President Truman meets with senior officials regarding, in Truman's opinion, MacArthur's insubordination.[4] It is decided that MacArthur should be relieved of command of United Nations forces in Korea.
11 April 1951: After several public criticisms of White House policy in Korea, which were seen as undercutting the Commander-in-Chief's position, President Truman removes MacArthur from command and orders him to return to the United States. Some suggest Truman may have exchanged MacArthur for a sound nuclear policy in Korea since he did not trust "Brass Hat MacArthur" with nuclear weapons. Some disagree with this, however, since MacArthur later came out against Truman's use of the bomb against Japan and there seems to be no concrete evidence of a major change in his views.[5] MacArthur's commands are turned over to Lieutenant General Matthew B. Ridgway.
8 September 1951: Peace treaty with Japan signed. Position of Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) abolished.
3-5 May 1951: Appears before the Senate committees on Foreign Relations and Armed Services. MacArthur answers questions about the conduct of the Korean War and his relief from command. The hearings continue until 27 June 1951.
May 1951: Retires a second time from the U.S. Army, but is listed as permanently on active duty due to the regulations regarding those who hold the rank of General of the Army. For administrative reasons, he is assigned in absentee to the office of the Army Chief of Staff. Makes his residence at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
13 June 1951: Addresses the Texas State Legislature in Austin. Warns against a policy of appeasement.
25 July 1951: Addresses the Massachusetts State Legislature in Boston. He states that it is a dangerous concept for members of the military to owe their primary allegiance to those in temporary authority in the executive branch of government rather than to their country and its Constitution.
1952: Allows name to be placed on primary ballots for Republican nomination, but does not campaign or announce as a candidate.
July 1952: Delivers the keynote address at the 1952 Republican National Convention. Senator Robert Taft promises supporters to name MacArthur as candidate for vice president, but Taft loses to nomination to Eisenhower on the 1st ballot. MacArthur received 10 votes on the 1st ballot before shifts and only 4 votes after shifts.
1952: Nominated for president, without his consent, by both the Constitution Party and the America First Party, with Senator Harry F. Byrd as the nominee for vice president. Receives 17,205 votes nationwide.
17 December 1952: At the request of President-elect Eisenhower, MacArthur meets with him and Secretary of State designate John Foster Dulles at the Waldorf Astoria to discuss MacArthur's suggestions for ending the Korean War. This is the first meeting between the two in six years.
18 March 1954: Meets with President Eisenhower at the White House.
1955: Is considered for promotion to the rank of General of the Armies. The promotion does not take place, various difficulties having arisen.
30 July 1957: Addresses stockholders meeting of the Sperry Rand Corporation. Comments on the negative economic impact of taxation.
1 December 1959: Addresses Football Hall of Fame dinner in New York City.
1960: Active in U.S. Olympic affairs.
21 June 1960: Invested with the Grand Cordon with Paulownia Flowers of the Japanese Order of the Rising Sun. (This makes MacArthur one of the few generals in history to be honored by a country he fought against.)
6 March 1964: Has surgery for removal of his gallbladder and of gallstones, which had been causing obstructive jaundice.
March 1964: Visited by President Lyndon Johnson while recovering from surgery.
5 April 1964: General of the Army Douglas MacArthur dies of liver and kidney failure following gallbladder surgery at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, D.C. President Johnson orders all US flags be flown at half staff until after MacArthur's burial.
8-9 April 1964: Lies in state at the United States Capitol rotunda in Washington, D.C. Eulogies are given by the chaplains of the House and Senate and President Johnson lays a wreath on MacArthur's casket. Admiral of the Navy George Dewey and General of the Armies John Pershing are the only other military officers who were not presidents or senators to have lain in state at the Capitol.
In 1955, legislation was in the early stages of consideration by the United States Congress which would have authorized the President of the United States to promote Douglas MacArthur to the rank of General of the Armies.[10][11] A similar measure had also been proposed unsuccessfully by Stuart Symington in 1945.[12] However, because of several complications which would arise if such a promotion were to take place, the bill was withdrawn.[citation needed]
Note 1 - General MacArthur received every U.S. Army decoration and service medal which he was potentially eligible for except for the Legion of Merit.
Note 2 - General MacArthur was awarded a total of 14 overseas service insignias - 3 gold chevrons for World War I, 9 overseas service bars for World War II and 2 for the Korean War.
In addition to the military awards and national honors listed above, General MacArthur received numerous other honors and awards. Below is a partial listing.
Army and Navy Club Gold Medal (1935)
American Legion Distinguished Service Medal (1942)
General MacArthur appeared on the cover of Time magazine a total of eight times. He was also featured on the cover of Life magazine six times. In addition, his trademark "scrambled eggs" hat appeared on the cover of Life magazine following his death in 1964.
In 1942 he received the American Legion's Distinguished Service Medal.[16] On 13 October 1951, he was elected an honorary national president of the Society of American Legion Founders.[17]
On 17 January 1936, MacArthur was made a Freemason at sight by Samuel Hawthorne, Grand Master of Masons in the Philippines in a two-hour ceremony. After being raised to the degree of Master Mason, MacArthur joined Manila Lodge No.1. On 19 October 1937, he was elected Knight Commander Court of Honor, and on 8 December 1947, he was coroneted to the honorary 33rd Degree at the American Embassy in Tokyo. He was also a life member of the Nile Shrine in Seattle, Washington.[citation needed]
