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BRIAN SHALL RETURN!! HE SHALL!!!! HE JUST... SHALL!!! THAT'S WTF this thing is about. that, and varied and sundry americana you may enjoy today. like eating a hot dog. cold beer. watch the tigers... go buy cuban rum and cigars in windsor (cuz you still can't buy them here...) ya know, murican things...
I think we can resume attacking days with enthusiasm unknown to mankind tomorrow.
MacArthur also had a lovely infatutation with nuking every nook and cranny in Eastern Asia during the Korean War... yeah... so questionable guy all around after WWII
have let him.
I feel like Brian picked that picture partly because of the Harbaugh 'return' factor.
Great photo.
While we are honoring all those who gave their lives, I thought I might throw out a WW2 statistic that I just recently become familiar with: it is estimated that over 20 million Soviet citizens died in the conflict (some say up to 40 million), including around 10 million military.
This is of course not at all meant to minimize the sacrifice of the nearly half million US soldiers who died in WW2, but what happened on the Eastern Front is staggering. Let's pray we never have another war nearly as significant to compare it to. War is truly a terrible thing.
And that was after Stalin had already killed millions in his own purges.
Life was cheap to the Soviets. That's one of the reasons they were willing to expend so many people so easily. It was essentially one of their military tactics.
The Katyn Massacre, the mass execution of the Polish Officer Corps by the Soviets, is one classic example of this, and of the inhumanity and brutality of mankind in war.
This is an excellent film about it:
In fact, in the last 100 years, the number of innocent civilians killed in all the wars fought in that time dwarfs the number of soldiers and other military people killed. So, when I sit on this day and reflect on my gratitude for all those who died in defending THIS country, I also say a prayer for the tens of millions of innocent civilians (men, women, and children) who also died as a result of these wars - most of which have been senseless.
Never went anywhere without an entourage that included photographers.
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I think that's excessively harsh. He had his flaws, but he was a remarkable field strategist and tactician. In the early years of WWII it was the United States' strategy to pursue "Europe First," and allocate relatively little to the Pacific theater. Macarthur achieved a great deal with relatively little, and sought to fight battles without sacrificing men unnecessarily.
Patton might just as easily be called the most overrated, but I would not myself say that either. Each notable WWII general -- MacArthur, Patton, Bradley, Eisenhower, Marshall -- served in different ways. (Eisenhower was never a field commander, but his adroit handling of the politics of the alliance was masterful.)
In his time George McClellan might well have been the most overrated in all of American history. History casts a more harsh shadow on him now, but initially he was thought to be the savior of the Union cause. He proved anything but.
McClellan may have been overrated in his own time, but I would say that his reputation is not great in most histories I've read. He's basically the "general who wouldn't fight" forcing Lincoln to relieve him. That said, I think that he may be the Bump Elliott of American generals. Bump is no where in the pantheon of Michigan coaches, but certainly helped Bo. Bo's early stars included Dan Dierdorf, Jim Mandich, Reggie McKenzie and Thom Darden -- all Bump recruits. Similarly, McClellan built the Army of the Potomac that a superior general in Grant led to ultimate success. Also, Bump was a 2-point conversion from a national championship in 1964 but then struggled against Ohio State. And McClellan had a major victory against Lee at Antietam but wasn't able to follow up on that success.
MacArthur was the Dave Brandon of World War II.
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blogism
The guy to the left of MacArthur in the photo, looks like Bo.
I happen to be plowing through William Manchester's biography of MacArthur. He was an incredible combination of brilliant and flawed. In the end his egomaniacal hubris destroyed him, when he flat-out ignored obvious signs that the Chinese army was entering North Korea. But MacArthur insisted on driving through North Korea towards the border, leaving his troops criminally exposed with the Chinese attacked. Thousands of American soldiers and Marines paid the price, despite heroics like the Marines at Chosin Reservoir. The fine line between confidence and arrogance is the demarcation between much military success and failure. MacArthur was the embodiment of both.
I read Manchester's "Goodbye, Darkness" and have his books on Krupp and MacArthur.
I happen to be plowing through William Manchester's biography of MacArthur.
A very good book ... I highly recommend it.
In WWII, Macarthur had a strained relationship with the Navy, which is why it was largely (not exclusively) Macarthur and the Army that went up the island chains in the western Pacific while the Navy and Marines in the east. By all accounts he was a brilliant strategist ... making the most of what little resources the Pacific theater received from Marshall.
Like all great men of that caliber, he had his flaws. His hubris served him well in WWII. It did not serve him so well in Korea.
If anyone's interested in Churchill, William Manchester's three-volume "The Last Lion" is simply brilliant biography.
without a single demerit. Hence, the term "Marble Man".
In fact, it isn't Per Wiki: He played left field for the baseball team, and academically earned 2424.12 merits out of a possible 2470.00 or 98.14,"
It is neither. From West Point's Association of Graduates the highest grades were as follows: Irving Hale(1884), Charles Mason(1829), Alexander Davis Bache(1825) and several more. Lee and MacArthur are down the list.
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