The famous General Douglas MacArthur was the only American general who also had the rank of a field marshal in the Philippine Army.
On this day Douglas MacArthur, a famous American General, was born. In the U.S. Army he rose to a very high rank of a five-star General (“General of the Army”). But, interestingly enough, Douglas MacArthur was also a field marshal in the Philippine Army. Namely, the Philippines were once a United States colony, and since 1935 they were autonomous state under U.S. supervision, so called “The Commonwealth of the Philippines”. Precisely in this autonomous state, U.S. General MacArthur became a sort of a head military advisor and, as such, received the rank of field marshal in the Philippine Army.
MacArthur was one of the military commanders most deserving for the U.S. victory over Japan in World War II. After the war, he was appointed Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers in Japan, extremely powerful position, which made him the effective ruler of Japan. Even the Emperor of Japan was like a puppet in his hands. In the Korean War MacArthur was placed at the head of the UN forces. A disputable situation occurred when he supported the idea of a nuclear attack on the Chinese forces aiding the Korean communists. After that incident, President Truman removed him from command.
