Douglas MacArthur was a 5-star American General, and one of only five men who earned the title 'General of the Army' in the U.S army. He had nicknames such as Big Chief, Dugout Doug and Gaijin Shogun translated to The Foreign Generalisimo. He was called to active duty in 1941 as Commander of the U.S Army forces of the Far East. Due to the invasion of the Philippines by Japan, he and his troops retreated to Bataan where the Bataan Death March took place. This was the forced march of Filipino and American prisoners of war under brutal conditions by the Japanese military.
Many people recalled the general as being "flamboyant" and "egotistical". At the beginning of the Korean War he came up with very useful and productive ideas that helped South Korea dodge the success of pushy Communist North Korea. The General was on his high horse and argued with President Truman about pushing all the way into North Korea to completely stop communist forces. Truman worried that communist China would take this as a threat and get involved. MacArthur couldn't accept Truman's better judgment so Truman relieved him of his duties. |
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