America's Five-Star Warriors

By Raymond C. Wilson

Throughout American history, the U.S. Congress has authorized the temporary establishment of a five-star military rank. This aligned the United States' military ranks with those of its allies, thus eliminating the problem of U.S. officers commanding Allied officers of technically higher rank. There have been twelve military officers who have held the five-star rank -- seven from the Army (Washington, Pershing, Marshall, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Arnold, Bradley) and five from the Navy (Dewey, Leahy, King, Nimitz, Halsey). This book tells how these twelve individuals rose through the ranks to become America's five-star warriors. This book is written by the former Administrative Assistant to General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley while stationed at the Pentagon in Washington, D.C.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Raymond C. Wilson
• Release date: Nov 14, 2021
• ISBN: 9781005053468

Raymond C. Wilson

Raymond C. Wilson is a military historian, filmmaker, and amateur genealogist. During his military career as an enlisted soldier, warrant officer, and commissioned officer in the U.S. Army for twenty-one years, Wilson served in a number of interesting assignments both stateside and overseas. He had the honor of serving as Administrative Assistant to Brigadier General George S. Patton (son of famed WWII general) at the Armor School; Administrative Assistant to General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley at the Pentagon; and Military Assistant to the Civilian Aide to the Secretary of the Army at the Pentagon. In 1984, Wilson was nominated by the U.S. Army Adjutant General Branch to serve as a White House Fellow in Washington, D.C. While on active duty, Wilson authored numerous Army regulations as well as articles for professional journals including 1775 (Adjutant General Corps Regimental Association magazine), Program Manager (Journal of the Defense Systems Management College), and Army Trainer magazine. He also wrote, directed, and produced three training films for Army-wide distribution. He is an associate member of the Military Writers Society of America. Following his retirement from the U.S. Army in 1992, Wilson made a career change to the education field. He served as Vice President of Admissions and Development at Florida Air Academy; Vice President of Admissions and Community Relations at Oak Ridge Military Academy; Adjunct Professor of Corresponding Studies at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College; and Senior Academic Advisor at Eastern Florida State College. While working at Florida Air Academy, Wilson wrote articles for several popular publications including the Vincent Curtis Educational Register and the South Florida Parenting Magazine. At Oak Ridge Military Academy, Wilson co-wrote and co-directed two teen reality shows that appeared on national television (Nickelodeon & ABC Family Channel). As an Adjunct Professor at U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, Wilson taught effective communications and military history for eighteen years. At Eastern Florida State College, Wilson wrote, directed, and produced a documentary entitled "Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence" for the Chi Nu chapter of Phi Theta Kappa. Since retiring from Eastern Florida State College, Wilson has devoted countless hours working on book manuscripts.

Book preview

AMERICA’S FIVE-STAR WARRIORS

Written by

RAYMOND C. WILSON

Author of:

Out of Necessity

Commander in Chief

Martyr of the Race Course

The Men Who Saved West Point

Pennsylvania Bucktails: Civil War Sharpshooters

Wounded Warriors - Their Struggle for Independence

European Royal Bloodlines of the American Presidents

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume One)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Two)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Three)

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Volume Four)

If These Walls Could Talk: Huling Hotel and Pack Horse Inn

Beyond the Bighorn: The Afterlife of George Armstrong Custer

Pass in Review - Military School Celebrities (Presidential Edition)

Custer’s Luck Has Run Out: George Armstrong Custer’s Changing Image

AMERICA’S FIVE-STAR WARRIORS

Published by Raymond C. Wilson at Smashwords

Copyright 2021 Raymond C. Wilson

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Table of Contents

Introduction

General of the Armies George Washington

Admiral of the Navy George Dewey

General of the Armies John J. Pershing

Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy

General of the Army George C. Marshall

Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower

General of the Army /Air Force Henry H. Arnold

Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr.

General of the Army Omar N. Bradley

Afterword

Bibliography

About Raymond C. Wilson

Introduction

On 14 December 1944, U.S. Congress passed Public Law 482, authorizing the temporary establishment of a five-star rank: General of the Army and, for the U.S. Navy, Fleet Admiral. This aligned the United States' military ranks with those of its World War II allies, thus eliminating the problem of U.S. officers commanding Allied officers of technically higher rank.

Four American military officers were promoted in 1944 to General of the Army:

General of the Army George C. Marshall (16 December 1944)

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur (18 December 1944)

General of the Army Dwight D. Eisenhower (20 December 1944)

General of the Army Henry H. Arnold (21 December 1944)

After the establishment of the Air Force as a separate service branch in 1947, General Arnold also became General of the Air Force. He is the only American to serve in a five-star rank in two of its military services.

General of the Air Force Henry H. Arnold (7 May 1949)

Omar N. Bradley was promoted to General of the Army in 1950 as a political move because he was the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the Korean War, and he would be in the awkward position of having had a higher ranking Douglas MacArthur underneath him. Since then, no one has been advanced to General of the Army.

General of the Army Omar N. Bradley (20 September 1950)

Four American military officers have been promoted to Fleet Admiral:

Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy (15 December 1944)

Fleet Admiral Ernest J. King (17 December 1944)

Fleet Admiral Chester W. Nimitz (19 December 1944)

Fleet Admiral William F. Halsey, Jr. (11 December 1945)

The only real attempt since WWII to revive the five-star rank occurred in the 1990s when Senator Robert Kasten of Wisconsin lobbied to have four-star Generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell promoted during the Gulf War. The movement stalled and the promotions were never given.

Only three U.S. military officers have held a rank higher than General of the Army or Fleet Admiral. George Dewey held the rank of Admiral of the Navy which was intended to be senior to the four-star admiral rank. Dewey remains the only U.S. naval officer ever awarded this title. In 1944 (during World War II), Admiral of the Navy was formally recognized as senior to the five-star rank of Fleet Admiral. By 1955, the Navy concluded that the rank was honorary. And while they held to the belief that it was equivalent to General of the Armies, the Navy amended its regulations to establish fleet admiral as its highest achievable rank, adhering to the standard set by the law.

Admiral of the Navy George Dewey (2 March 1899)

Admiral of the Navy George Dewey

John J. Pershing and George Washington held the rank of General of the Armies. Since the Army never officially adopted six stars to correspond with this rank, Pershing and Washington are considered the highest ranking officers with precedence over the five-star generals. There is a difference between rank and insignia. Today we can say the rank of a general by the number of stars they have, but stars are just the insignia of the rank. Pershing created his own insignia and he selected four gold stars, to distinguish it from the four-star rank of General, which had four silver stars.

General of the Armies John J. Pershing (3 September 1919)

General of the Armies George Washington (4 July 1976 with precedence over all generals)

General of the Armies George Washington and John J. Pershing

During the United States Bicentennial year of 1976, George Washington was posthumously appointed to the grade of General of the Armies of the United States by the congressional joint resolution Public Law 94-479 passed on 19 January 1976, with an effective date of 4 July 1976 but having rank and precedence over all other generals of the Army, past or present. This restored Washington's position as the most senior U.S. military officer. Since General of the Army Omar N. Bradley was still alive and considered on active duty when George Washington was posthumously promoted to General of the Armies in 1976, it can be logically concluded that General of the Armies is superior in rank and precedence to General of the Army. In the U.S. Armed Forces, a six-star rank was a proposed rank immediately superior to a five-star rank, possibly to be worn by the General of the Armies or Admiral of the Navy; however, this correlation was never officially recognized by the military or by the U.S. Congress. Therefore, George Washington and John J. Pershing are the highest ranking officers with precedence over all other U.S. military officers. The same is true for Admiral of the Navy George Dewey.

It should be noted that on 21 January 1955, a draft resolution was proposed to the U.S. Senate to authorize the then-U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower to appoint Douglas MacArthur, then a five-star General of the Army, to the elevated to the six-star rank of General of the Armies of the United States in recognition of the great services to his country, with such appointment to take effect as of the seventy-fifth anniversary of his birth, 26 January 1955." The proposal had little chance of passing and was never voted on.

Proposed Joint Resolution to promote Douglas MacArthur to General of the Armies

The five-star rank still exists, although no U.S. officers have held it since the death of General Omar Nelson Bradley on 8 April