Happy Memorial Day Comment Count

Brian

Douglas_MacArthur_lands_Leyte1[1]

Douglas MacArthur, Leyte, July 1944

Enjoy your varied and sundry Americana today. We will return tomorrow.

Comments

echoWhiskey

May 25th, 2015 at 10:58 AM ^

I hate to be that guy, but this post is a bit off. It's not a "happy" day, it's a day of remembrance and reverence to those who died in battle. And MacArthur, while a great leader, did not. Not trying to be a nag, but we should all be aware what this day means.




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elhead

May 25th, 2015 at 11:20 AM ^

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...

mgobobb

May 25th, 2015 at 11:46 AM ^

As Memorial Day is to honor those who paid the supreme sacrifice for the USA. Veterans Day is the holiday to honor all of past and present military so I really can't argue your point.

However, I think it was used simply to show a great soldier in MacArthur and JH has returned.

Optimism Attache

May 25th, 2015 at 12:00 PM ^

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. 

True Blue Grit

May 25th, 2015 at 3:22 PM ^

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.  

DonAZ

May 25th, 2015 at 7:05 PM ^

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.

PeteM

May 25th, 2015 at 10:40 PM ^

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.

 

Blueroller

May 25th, 2015 at 4:11 PM ^

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.

DonAZ

May 25th, 2015 at 6:56 PM ^

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.

mgobobb

May 25th, 2015 at 5:27 PM ^

And Snopes answered what I relayed to posters: highest grades in his class of 1903, highest in last 25 years prior to 1903 and NO demerits.

Try it.

sokenuyuh

May 26th, 2015 at 4:08 PM ^

  

 
 
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