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Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Admire - Day 57 #CY365

General Douglas MacArthur was one of only five men ever to rise to the rank of 5 Star General of the U.S. Army, and the only man ever to become a field marshal in the Philippine Army. A hero of World War II, he received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign, which made him and his father Arthur MacArthur, Jr., the first father and son to be awarded the medal. He officially accepted Japan's surrender on September 2, 1945, and oversaw the occupation of Japan and its rebuilding from 1945 to 1951. He led the United Nations Command in the Korean War until he was removed from command by President Harry S. Truman. The relief of the famous general by the unpopular politician for communicating with Congress led to a constitutional crisis, and a storm of public controversy. Polls showed that the majority of the public disapproved of the decision to relieve MacArthur. Truman's approval rating fell to 22 percent, it remains the lowest Gallup Poll approval rating recorded by any serving president.

This is the Douglas MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia. The statue is a duplicate of the one at West Point where he recorded the third highest academic score ever and graduated first in his 93-man class in 1903. Following World War he served as Superintendent of the U.S. Military Academy leading a wave of academic reform and modernization. While his military career is also noted for controversy, his admirers continue to come to the memorial every day, many of them Philippine Americans and visitors from the Philippines. Source - Wikipedia.

iPhone 5, Camera+ app.

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