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Show 4 H A4 THE SAMPLER .to irilbinLft ' sum r - ' PENTAGON FEBRUARY 1948 General of tHe Army decessor General Omar N. Bradley is sworn Eisenhower, as President in as Army chief of staff by his pre- - Dwidll - . GERMANY - FEBRUARY N. graphs the helmet of Pvt. John Powell, Syracuse, N.Y., at the 9th Division command post near Hurt gen. 1945 Bradley, U.S. Amy Group commander, auto A ' "For, moat men, the matter of. learning is one of peraonal preference. But for Army officer the obligation to learn , the grow in their profession is clearly a public duty.9 - General of the Army Omar N. Bradley General of the Army Omar N. never Bradley the GIs General shirked from performing what he called his public duty during his long and distinguished military his rank and commission until he died. Omar N. Bradley didn't let any- career. Part of that duty was to command approximately 1.3 million combat troops during World War 11 and serve four years as the first chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. ANOTHER part of it was to establish a rapport with his troops and to look out for their interests. He did this so well that he earned the title the and the lasting afGIs General fection and respect of the men he led. thing stop him from performing Ids Job even In his final years. Though confined to a wheel chair, he attended countless official functions, advising presidents, lieutenants and more importantly keeping the values he held alive thru hb successors. Some of those values are featured here. . It is for this man that the M-- 2 Brad- ley Fighting Vehicle is named. Both have similar characteristics, strong armor, massive firepower, mobility and the ability to last . . . but perhaps the best characteristic shared by both the M-- 2 and the soldier whos name it bears Is that both are true friends of , the Infantryman. t General Bradley died In April 1981 as he. was. being wheeled from the Club 21 in New York after receiving a Gold Medal from the National Institute of Social Sciences. He was laid to rest In Arlington National Cemetery April 14, 1981. - j FRANCE - JULY 1944 - Lt. Gen. . . . even-hande- stateside Army posts in many capacities, including tactics instructor at his alma mater in West Point, N.Y. D-Da- y. GENERAL Bradley took com-- . . maind of the 82d Infantry Division t later redesignated the 82d Airlxjrne Division within two months after Pearl Harbor. Early in 1943, he was selected by General Dwight D. Eisenhower, the supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, as the latters personal representative in the field in North Africa. Later he commanded II Corps in the Tunisian campaign. During the summer of 1943, General Bradley was selected to com- mandthe U.S. First Army in the Normandy invasion. On June 6, 1944, General Bradley landed in France with the First Army to break the Atlantic Wall. At St. Lo on July 26, the First Army successfully broke through enemy lines. : Omar N. Bradley, U.S. First Army commander, talks with Lt. Gen.' George S. Patton, commander of the - U.S. Third Army, and Field Marshall Sir Bernard L. Montgomery, com- - - niander of the British 21st Army Group. . he had assumed command of the U.S. 12th Army Ninth and Fifteenth American Armies. Known for keeping-hi- s V r ?v i & - - , ,, . .. command -- d, for the Citizens Committee tor Peace in Vietnam In 1967, the general and Mrs. Bradley visited US. forces throughout the Republic of Vietnam. In June 1969, they visited Normandy, he was the senior United States military representative to the ceremonies comme-th- e 25th anniyersarv of (Army News Features - ANF) an BY AUGUST, Group, which eventually comprised the combat forces erf the First, Third, post close to the front lines. General Bradley was called the finest army group commander by General of the Army George C. Marshall, Army chief of staff during World War II. After the war, the general became administrator of Veterans Affairs and assisted in the post-wdemobilization of American forces. He relinquished that post in December, 1947, to become Army chief of staff effective Feb. 7, 1948. IN 1949 the post of chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was created and General Bradley was the first to fill that position the highest one an officer of the U.S. Armed Forces can attain. On Sept. 22, 1950, General Bradley was promoted to the rank of General of the Army. In. 1951, the general authoried A Soldiers Story", in which he related his World War II experiences. Commentator Edward R. Murrow called it the best command liook to emerge from the l&st war. . .It is an judicious and brilliant account. If Im permitted to recommend a single book telling how the late war was fought and who fought A it, this would be my choice Soldiers Story. GENERAL Bradley joined Bulova Watch Comany in 1953. In 1958, he was named chairman of the board of - directors. The GIs General continued to le concerned with the welfare of the men who served him and the country long after the war was over. He served as a memlier of the Presidents Committee for the Employment of the Physically Handicapped, a director for the United States Wheel Chair Sports Fund and a trustee for the Joseph Bulova School of Watchmaking. GENERAL Bradley also chaired the board erf directors of the George C. Marshall Research Foundation, served as trustee of the Freedoms ' Foundation at Valley Forge and was ar ar Gen. Omar N. Bradley, commander of the First Army, meet on a French beachhead after 1 . General Bradley performed his duties so well that he became one of only five Army officers in history to reach the rank of five-stGeneral of the Army. He was bom in Clark, Mo., Feb. 12, 1893. His military career began in 1911 when he entered the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. He graduated in the class of 1915 as an infantry officer and holds the distinction of being the first member of that class to become a brigadier general. During and after World War I, General Bradley served at several i - soldiers story . t Any soldier who ever went before a promotion board between WWI and - General Bradley's death in 1981 knew of this great soldier statesman as one of only five Army officers to hold this rank. Bradley was unique In the latter part of this century. Justifiably, General Bradley held FRANCE GenJUNE 1944 eral Henry II. Arnold, commanding general U.S. Army Air Forces, and Lt. look on. Amy Kenneth C. Royall . Lt. Gen. Omar 12th Harry S. Truman and Secretary of the D-Da- y. |