American History In Video: General Omar Bradley
General Omar Bradley from The History Channel (A&E Television Networks, 2002) 46:59.
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FBI WARNING Federal law provides severe civil and criminal penalties for the unauthorized reproduction, distribution or exhibition of copyrighted motion pictures, video tapes or video discs. Criminal copyright infringement is investigated by the FBI and may constitute a felony with a maximum penalty of up five years in prison and/or a $250,000 fine. A Home VIDEO Biography A Biography.
Jack Perkins Hello. I'm Jack Perkins . Welcome to Biography. General Omar Bradley was the last of America's Five-Star Generals. He led the American assault on Normandy Beach on D-day. He assumed command of the largest combat force in U.S Military history, 1.3 million troops and yet Bradley entered the war never having seen combat experience. For most of his army career which then spend a quarter of a century, he had been a teacher. He taught military science, mathematics and tactics. Three areas which would be the cornerstones of his command and help lead to the Allied victory. This is his story. Join us now as Biography presents, The life of General Omar Bradley .
UNIVERSAL NEWSREEL FIRST PICTURES INVASION OF FRANCE
NARRATOR June 6th, 1944 , D-day. The long awaited invasion of Nazi-occupied France arrives at last. Allied armies stormed ashore on five beaches in Normandy . The fighting is ferocious. Off the American beach called Omaha, General Omar N. Bradley , Supreme Commander Dwight Eisenhower's choice to lead the American infantry has to make the battle's toughest decision. Should he abandon the beachhead to cut his already heavy loses before what seems inevitable defeat? Or fight forward at all costs relying on American courage to defeat the dug in German fire power. General Bradley doesn't hesitate to give the command. "Fight on," he says. Omar Bradley's faith in his men is unshakable.
GENERAL OMAR BRADLEY
Jack Perkins They cast him in bronze, send him shuffling into history. Omar Nelson Bradley . Put him in command of a million and a quarter soldiers in the greatest military campaign his country ever fought. Put five stars on his shoulders, called him "the GI's general," called him everything under the sun and left him a mystery to most.
Clair Blair Omar Bradley , as Eisenhower said One of the greatest battlefield generals that we had ever produced in this country.
Chester Hansen General Bradley was a head in charge above all field commanders in World War II.
Martin Blumenson Underneath that mask, I have the feeling that he was a very cold and ruthless and ambitious person.
Elizabeth Dorsey My father really took to the, to the motto, the first day he entered West Point, "Duty, Honor, Country."
He is a giant on the American stage.
Jack Perkins They called him Brad and he was a giant, a very quiet giant.
[sil.]
Jack Perkins America in 1893 had only 44 states, fewer than a 150 miles of paved highway existed but that was alright because Henry Ford's first car was still three years away. Fewer than 2% of Americans had a telephone and there was still no such thing as a radio or an electric ice box. Grover Cleveland was in the White House, the nation's 24th president. There had been no wars for almost two generations. The business of America was peace and hope for prosperity. Of the 76 million people who lived in the U.S.A. in 1893 , about six out of every ten lived on a farm. On February 12th of that year, Omar Nelson Bradley was born on one of them.
CLAY BLAIR Bradley Biographer
Clay Blair I couldn't hardly imagine a more humble beginning. He was a son of a Missouri backwoods ah, folks, traditionally farmers, but who had pulled up a notch and his father was a school teacher.
ELIZABETH DORSEY Bradley Daughter
Elizabeth Dorsey His father had been one of nine children in his family. He really had the example of his father stepping out from his background, made it by hard work being able to make something of himself.
Jack Perkins John Smith Bradley was a curious blend of frontiersman, sportsman, farmer and intellectual. Powerfully built and fearless, he was a superb hunter and shot. A self-educated man who became a teacher in a rural school district. Everywhere he taught, he created small libraries for his students and his son. Young Omar Bradley fell in love with books. Because John Bradley was one of the few teachers able to discipline the older often unruly farm boys, he was much sought after and taught at nearly a dozen rural schools in and around Higbee, Missouri . Omar Bradley grew to boyhood in the countryside outside of Higbee . In February 1900 , his mother gave birth to a second son, Raymond Calvert . In a few days before his second birthday, Raymond died of Scarlet fever. John and Sarah Bradley had no more children. The family could not afford a horse and buggy so Omar and his father walked to and from school everyday carrying their lunch baskets. Said Omar Bradley , "We would talk on those long walks together about everything in the universe. I idolized my father." When Omar Bradley was 12, the family bought a house at a sheriff's auction and moved into the town of Higbee . To help carry the payments, Omar along with his mother and two cousins who lived with them, operated a switchboard for a rural system of about 90 telephones.
CLAY BLAIR Bradley Biographer
Clay Blair Bradley himself was a sort of a loner kid. Ah, he, he kept pretty much to himself and he was, ah, fascinated by mathematics.
ELIZABETH DORSEY Bradley Daughter
Elizabeth Dorsey On cold nights he would go and climb into bed with his mother and father and then his dad would give him these math games to do in his head.
Jack Perkins During summers when he wasn't working, young Omar Bradley followed his father's passion and played baseball. "Furiously," he said. The winter of 1907-'08 was especially harsh, hard on Omar's father who had a six-mile roundtrip walk to school each day. In January, John Smith Bradley came home one day and took to his bed. Within days, he died of pneumonia. Said Bradley , "He left no real estate but he left me with a priceless legacy. A love and appreciation of the outdoors, hunting, and sports. A sense of justice and respect for my fellowmen." "No son," said Bradley . "Could have asked for more of his father or been more grateful for his example." "I was determined," Bradley said, "No matter how poor we might be not to squander the gifts he gave me. To work hard and continue my education right through college somehow, no matter what."
Jack Perkins Young Omar Bradley agonized over his father's death. Sensing the need for change, his mother moved the family 15 miles north to the new big city called Moberly , home of the Brown Shoe Company and the Wabash Railroad.
Elizabeth Dorsey My dad had all kinds of jobs. He delivered newspapers. He sometimes used to go out and shoot game or rabbits. He could sell a rabbit for something like five cents or ten cents and that would put something on the table.
Jack Perkins Omar Bradley entered the grand new Moberly High School. In the senior class of 1910 was a pretty young woman named Mary Elizabeth Quayle . The Quayles lived right across the street from the Bradleys and were members of the same church. So Omar got to know Mary Elizabeth very well.
Elizabeth Dorsey When my dad finished high school, he'd thought he wanted to be a lawyer and had planned to go to the University of Missouri. But of course, there was so little money, he had to work on the Wabash railroad to earn some money to go to college. And then one day, a chance remark by the superintendent of the Sunday school, John Curson , came up with the idea "Well, why don't you go to West Point?"
Jack Perkins The more Omar thought about West Point, the more he wanted to go there. He wrote to his Congressman but was disappointed to learn that under existing law, the man could name a new cadet only every four years and the appointment had been made. But then, the law was changed to three years and the spot was available. One spot and another youth was applying along with Omar .
Elizabeth Dorsey And my dad had just about six days to get himself together to go to St. Louis to take the exam. He didn't have the money to get to St. Louis and he wasn't sure he could get time off. He said, "Alright, if the Wabash Railroad will give me a pass and if they'll give me today, then I'll go.
Jack Perkins Omar Bradley passed the entrance test, the other young man failed. Cadet Bradley left Moberly with $100, his entire fortune in his wallet and Mary Elizabeth Quayle in his heart. At West Point, Omar Bradley continued his love affair with baseball. Some say he was one of the best ball players the Point ever had. He graduated from West Point in 1915 , 44th in a class of a 164 cadets. The class of 1915 became known as "the class the stars fell on" because so many of its graduates went on to become the great generals of World War II. His classmate and editor of the yearbook, Dwight Eisenhower , wrote this of Bradley , "His most promising characteristic is getting there, and if he keeps up the clip he has started, some of us will someday be bragging to our grandchildren that, sure, General Bradley was a classmate of mine."
[sil.]
Jack Perkins Shortly after Bradley's graduation from West Point, he and Mary Elizabeth Quayle were married. Their wedding day in Columbia, Missouri was a glorious reunion. They hadn't seen each other for 15 months.
Elizabeth Dorsey So they were married and ah, brief honeymoon, and then they were off and I think Fort Huachuca, Arizona was one of the first stations that they went to down on the border. And those were the days when Pancho Villa was causing a lot of trouble. General Pershing was in charged to chase him and various regiments were, were after him, they never caught him. That was my mother's introduction to army life living in a tent.
Jack Perkins In April 1917 , America was pulled into the European war that had been raging for three years. Bradley would say that the next 16 months, professionally speaking, were the most frustrating of his early army career. He tried everything possible to get assigned to an outfit that was headed for France . Nothing worked. While others went to war, Omar Bradley was sent to guard copper mines in Butte, Montana . In August 1918 , Bradley newly promoted to major received what you called "electrifying news." He was ordered to sail for France to command the Second Battalion of the 14th Infantry. But before the unit could sail, an armistice was declared. The fighting was over. Omar Bradley had missed the war to end all wars. After World War I, Omar Bradley's skills as an instructor landed him back at West Point. His boss was the academy's 39-year-old superintendent, Douglas MacArthur whose postwar reforms had greatly broadened and liberalized West Point's academic curriculum. In 1923 , Mary gave birth to Elizabeth Lee . The Bradley family was soon on its way to Georgia's Fort Benning. At Benning's Infantry School, Bradley became a specialist in tactics, terrain, and the problems of fire and movement, Sherman's open warfare. He came to passionately believe like Sherman that the rapid sweeping, massed movement of forces deep into the enemy's heartland was the best way to destroy an opposing army. In 1925 , the Bradleys moved duty in Hawaii where Brad would meet and begin a professional love- hate relationship with one of the U.S. Army's most flamboyant and unpredictable officers, George Patton . 1930 , Omar Bradley returned to Fort Benning as an instructor in the Infantry School. At Benning, he worked with his idol, George C. Marshall , helping to simplify in streamline command procedures and revolutionizing the way battles should be commanded and fought. "No one," Bradley said, "had a more profound influence on me either professionally or personally than George Marshall ." In 1936 , after another tour as an instructor at West Point, Omar Bradley was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and joined George Marshall for duty with the War Department's general staff in Washington . In September 1939 , Adolf Hitler's forces pushed in to Poland , honoring their military treaty with the Poles, England and France declared war on Germany . The greatest conflict in history had begun. Though stunned by the crashing brutality of the German blitzkrieg, United States remained cautiously neutral. Said Bradley , "Militarily, the Nazi's operated with awesome efficiency. Their coordination between air and ground, tanks and motorized Infantry exceeded anything we had ever dreamed of in the United States Army. We were shocked and dumbfounded shaking our heads in disbelief." Bradley knew that the United States Army had years of catching up to do, and little time in which to do it. In the fall of 1940 , Japan joined Germany and Italy in a tripartite military agreement. Global war now threatened. While America continued to maintain its neutrality, US factories frantically turned out the tools of war. In this tense atmosphere, George Marshall promoted Omar Bradley to Brigadier General, skipping him over the rank of full colonel and making him the first member of his West Point class to achieve the rank of general officer. Bradley returned once again to Fort Benning, this time to command the Infantry School and promote the growth of the new armor and airborne forces. They would play a critical role in the war soon to come. Bradley also started the first Officers Candidate School, known as the "OCS Program", such schools would turn out thousands of young officers to lead an army that would eventually number some 90 divisions.
CHESTER HANSEN "A General's Life"
Chester Hansen Before the OCS Program was established, most of the officers came out of ah, the reserve corps. They had taken ROTC training in college. We now needed many more of them, literally, I guess hundreds of thousands before the war ended; primarily troop leaders, platoon leaders, lieutenants.
Jack Perkins Pearl Harbor, the attack exploded America in to war. Now, George Marshall had bigger challenges in mind for Omar Bradley to take command of the reactivated 82nd Infantry Division. With another star on his shoulder, Major-General Bradley found new ways to greet what he called "civilian soldiers". He clearly understood that these were not professional military men and the Army should never treat them as such. He created a tough obstacle course, a combat course in firing at targets less than 50 meters away. He gave quick close combat training. The 82nd Division grew lean and hungry for battle. Bradley longed to lead it to Europe or the Pacific, but he became a victim of his own success as an instructor. As a reward for his achievements with the 82nd, General Marshall offered Bradley another challenge to straighten out the 28th Infantry Division. After wistfully turning the 82nd over to a West Point classmate, Matt Ridgway , Bradley watched the men he had trained sail off to war. He wondered if others would always put into operation the innovations he had pioneered, wondered again if he was destined only to teach and train. The 28th Division was a National Guard outfit that was riddled with politics. It needed some hard training to make it ready for combat. Bradley put some of his 82nd Division innovations into play, with one addition, a 25-mile nighttime hike with full pack.
Elizabeth Dorsey My dad went on the 25-mile hike with the soldiers and he didn't have anything on to distinguish that he was any different from the rest of the soldiers, no insignia, no general star. And the soldier next to him said, " My gosh, who ever thought of these ideas of the 25-mile march overnight?" And my dad looked back at him and said, "I don't know, but they certainly ought to hang this son of a gun!" And he didn't say son of a God.
Jack Perkins The 28th was shaped up and sent for amphibious training, something new. Bradley gained a healthy respect for that tactical and logistical problems of amphibious warfare. On February 12th 1943 , his 50th birthday, Bradley received a telegram giving him command of an army corp. A reward for what George Marshall called "Your splendid record with the 28th Division." Putting his head down and doing the unattractive job had finally paid off. Then a phone call told him he was going overseas, an extended duty. "What kind of clothes should I take?" Bradley asked. "Which way do I go?" meaning Africa or the Pacific. The security conscious general at the other end, said, "Remember your classmate? You're going to join him!" Brad smiled, it was Eisenhower , Africa. Now for the first time in 31 1/2 years of active service, Omar Nelson Bradley was off to war. To put to the test all he had pioneered and taught, this time for himself.
Jack Perkins Omar Bradley arrived in North Africa shortly after the disastrous American defeat in the Battle of Kasserine Pass. A lot of troops and armor had been lost at the hands of the German Panzers.
CHESTER HANSEN Bradley Biographer
Chester Hansen It was generally felt this was a failure of leadership at the regimental division and corps level rather than a failure on the part of troops. Of course, the troops were green. No one had been in battle up until that time. Ike's headquarters were in Algiers . He was too far behind. He needed someone upfront to find out what had gone wrong and how to fix it. General Bradley was given that job and the first couple of weeks over there, we spent all of our time in the field visiting units right down to the company level. General Bradley spent his time talking to platoon leaders, company commanders, platoon sergeants asking them how they were being led, what they thought of their weapons, what they thought of their equipment, how good their transportation. He got into the nuts and bolts of a campaign and then he reported to Ike and as a consequence of that, the corps commander was relieved and that's when they brought in Patton .
MARTIN BLUMENSON Military Historian
Martin Blumenson Now, I think that General Patton made Bradley feel like a country hick. Patton's self-assurance and his flamboyance and the fact that he was wealthy and hobnobbed with the rich and the famous, and his lifestyle just was not what, what Bradley was accustomed to. And I think that when Patton spoke and tried to give Bradley advice, this set Bradley's teeth on edge and he just couldn't stand George Patton .
Chester Hansen Division commanders in Tunisia and in Sicily were frightened to death of Patton . Patton generally stormed into a situation, very critical of them. General Bradley always had a, a very friendly relationship with his division commanders.
Jack Perkins With Bradley now deputy commander of two corps under Patton , the American troops shaped up fast and became a first-rate fighting force.
Chester Hansen General Bradley had ah, a great sense of terrain. It was almost instinctive. When General Bradley looked to terrain, it was fixed in his mind. He could look at a range of mountains and come back and look at his map and he never forgot a hill, never forgot a road, never forgot a stream. His head worked like a computer.
Jack Perkins In May of 1943 , Bradley's forces captured Bizerta , joined up with the British and ended the North African War. An invasion of Sicily was next.
Chester Hansen Patton requested General Bradley and two corps for the Sicilian operation. Patton was very much taken with General Bradley and his conduct of the Tunisian campaign. That's where General Bradley made his reputation as a field commander.
Martin Blumenson Patton wrote in his diary, he said, "I have just taken another look at General Bradley and although he's one of our better American generals, I find that he is mediocre."
Chester Hansen The Sicilian campaign was a tough kind of campaign, probably tougher than most people realized today. General Patton had the Seventh Army. General Bradley had two corps. Patton who was not indifferent to what the press was saying about him, decided that he'd like to get to Messina before Montgomery got there. General Bradley thought that race to Sicily was silly. It wasn't necessary. The German was getting out. There was nothing you could do to prevent him from getting out and when General Patton got all tied up in this race to Messina , the relationships between General Bradley and Patton at that time became a bit strained.
Jack Perkins Allied detention now turned to "Operation Overlord", the planned landings in northwest Europe. Eisenhower was asked by Washington to send someone to England to prepare the American soldiers for their part in the invasion. There was much to weigh.
MARTIN BLUMENSON Military Historian
Martin Blumenson Eisenhower inclined toward Patton who was the senior officer, their the best battlefield general that we had.
CLAY BLAIR Bradley Biographer
Clay Blair Bradley was their star. He had committed more troops against the Germans, had fought more in North African, Sicily than anybody else.
Jack Perkins The choice, Omar Bradley . But first George Marshall had to convince President Roosevelt that he had picked the right man.
ELIZABETH DORSEY So my father went to the White House and he was very, very shy and he didn't say much. And I don't think President Roosevelt was very impressed with my father at that time but he was impressed with General Marshall and was willing to take his word. He said, "Alright, if you think he is the person that should command the troops in Europe then he'll be the one that we'll send to Europe."
Jack Perkins Bradley was in London about seven months prior to the invasion, readying the troops for battle, working well with his allied counterparts even the often difficult Bernard Montgomery . Back home, daughter Elizabeth excitedly planning her June 8th wedding to a West Point senior was saddened that her father in his letters home was strangely noncommittal about attending the ceremony.
Elizabeth Dorsey Well, when we went to the graduation on the 6th of June and my husband was graduating that day with his class, the big announcement was D-day. And so then, I knew then that there was no way he was going to be at my wedding two days later. And he always referred to my wedding day June 8th as D-day plus two.
[sil.]
Jack Perkins D-day, the assault waves plowed through choppy seas toward the Normandy beaches. The landings at Utah went exceedingly well. Omaha was another story.
CHESTER HANSEN "A General's Life"
Chester Hansen We could see that there was a good deal of artillery and mortar fire on the beach. And the morning went on, we had very few messages, the troops were not getting up to the high ground. And finally at about noon, General Bradley was faced with the decision. If we could not hold our landing on Omaha , It might be necessary for him to divert a follow up lift on the second tide over to Utah beach. It would have opened a wide gap between Utah and the British allowing the German to come in and that each of us separately.
Jack Perkins Whether or not to abandon Omaha , to save a failing invasion was the crucial decision of D-day. After sending Chester Hansen ashore to make an assessment, Omar Bradley coolly decided that the bravery of his soldiers would overcome the German firestorm. He delayed re-supply until the beach chaos cleared, then watched his men climbed the deadly bluffs to gain a foothold in France . But the advance quickly bogged down at the top. Normandy's notorious bocage country where thick hedgerows halted the American armor and the naval German squads to stop American companies. The tenacity of Bradley's army group forces finally pushed through the bocage and on to a village called "Saint-Lô".
Martin Blumenson Bradley ah, ah, conceived and broke out with corporate bombing at Saint-Lô.
Chester Hansen And they pulverized that carpet with something like 1800 heavy bombers and then plunged through with our infantry till the big one's abreast and broke the line. Then General Bradley put the Third Army into play. Now, the Third Army was created by splitting the first army into two armies and Patton got half the divisions. And he came out down the Cotentin Peninsula and then broke out into the free country heading toward Paris . And General Bradley was suddenly presented with the enormous opportunity of surrounding a whole German army.
Jack Perkins As Bradley's forces advanced eastward from Saint-Lô, there was sharp controversy over his tactics.
MARTIN BLUMENSON Patton Biographer
Martin Blumenson Bradley turned Patton to the north toward Argentan . Patton argued a little bit with, with Bradley and he said ah, " Brad , let's encircle the Germans at the Seine River in a deeper envelopment." But that was risky, so Bradley said to Patton , "No, we'll encircle them at Argentan and Falaise ."
Chester Hansen The Argentan-Falaise gap was to close around the German Seventh Army, bottle them up, destroy the army and preventing them from getting out.
Jack Perkins When Patton's tanks reached Argentan , he requested permission to push through to Falaise to close the gap thereby trapping a large part of the German Seventh Army. But Bradley held Patton up. According to plan, Canadian units under Montgomery were to take Falaise . But the Canadians stopped short of their goal. The escape route to the east remained open.
Martin Blumenson Now, I think that Bradley bears a substantial blame for this but he shares that blame with General Eisenhower and with General Montgomery .
Chester Hansen Ah, General Bradley's position was simply that he didn't want to risk unnecessary casualties when these armies came together. We destroyed the Seventh Army in Normandy and it was the destruction of the Seventh Army that permitted us to go almost unopposed to the Siegfried Line.
Jack Perkins In the midst of the raging battle for France , Bradley never stopped looking out for his soldiers.
MARY KEATING Bradley Assistant
Mary Keating General Bradley insisted that his Red Cross workers will leave the combat to it. And then, their other units were about eight other units, each with a club mobiles and most lot of those generals kept their club mobiles way back. And we were very lucky that General Bradley thought we were there to be with the G.I. soldiers who were fighting the war.
Jack Perkins The December, 1944 German counterattack through the Belgian Ardennes caught Omar Bradley by surprise. It caught everyone by surprise. The German panzers raced for the Mirz(ph) River looking to cut off the Allied supply hub at Antwerp .
Chester Hansen He very seldom used profanity of any kind and particularly approved of. But he walked into the war round that day, looked at those map with all those red marks on it and said, "Where is this son of a bitch got no lead stuff."
Jack Perkins It was Omar Bradley who calmly weighed the crisis and used his logistical genius to first block the Panzer Thrust then wear it down and defeat it. The way to the Rhine now lay open and Bradley took it. The bruised and battered German army staggered eastward with the G.I.'s in hot pursuit. At Remagen, Germany , the Americans crossed the Rhine. The final chapter of World War II was about to be written. Omar Bradley got his fourth star after the Battle of the Bulge. Except for Eisenhower , he was now the ranking American officer.
Chester Hansen The war kinda grappled to an end. We had gotten to the Elbe about a week before the elections closed. General Bradley learned of the German surrender in a telephone call at his headquarters in Bad Verdigon(ph), where I called him on the morning and said, "It's, it's over."
Elizabeth Dorsey When the war was over in Europe and my dad came home shortly after that, there was a big ticker tape parade and people were out cheering, throwing paper and it was a wonderful celebration. The war had finally ended in Europe. I don't think my father ever had a chance to feel a let down after the war because he was thrown right into activities.
Jack Perkins Washington's Veterans Administration was being overwhelmed to try to deal with the problems of the millions of returning veterans. President Harry Truman asked Omar Bradley to takeover the agency and get it working. The man who had commanded the largest military force in history would now bring his powers of organization and innovation to a new job, looking to the welfare of those who had given so much to their country and to him. With the great war behind him, Omar Bradley began a new campaign. Its objective, the revamping of the veteran's administration in its efforts to lend assistance to 15 million former servicemen.
Mary Keating I don't think General Bradley has ever received the a, a recognition of what he did as a veterans administrator. That organization was dead.
Chester Hansen Payments were delayed. People weren't getting their money. It was primitive in its organization. Everything was centralized. Everything reported to, to Washington , they had no punch card equipment. Everything was on paper files. It was a, it was a disaster. He threw away all the plans for the construction of hospitals and relocated all the hospitals near a medical centers a went to the medical centers around at the university, the teaching hospitals around the country. Paul Magnese(ph) went out and said, "Look, American medicine, better face up to this challenge, or you're gonna be in great trouble" and greatly improved the medical services.
Mary Keating And the second thing was of course the GI Bill of Rights which was a huge and exciting program. It was wonderful what he did and all that continues today.
Jack Perkins After two years at the VA with that organization now running smoothly, Omar Bradley replaced Dwight Eisenhower as Army Chief of Staff, and walked into the middle of another blazing controversy. Congress had created a new Department of Defense. It had also passed the Armed Forces Unification Act giving the Air Force its own service identity. Bradley was called upon to testify during the often contentious Congressional hearings. Under the new Unification Act, all the services were placed under the joint chiefs of staff. Bradley became the first chairman of that body.
EDWARD BEACH Captain, USN (RET.) Author/Historian
Edward Beach And when I walked in and shook hands with him, and he was very pleasant but I discovered after about a day that I had landed right in the middle of what they call the "Revolt of the Admirals". That was where the admirals had gotten into rebellion against the secretary of defense scheme as we saw it to make the Navy subservient to the Air Force. He was neither on one side nor the other. As a matter of fact, as an Army officer, I felt that he was far more broad-minded on this than, than, than anyone.
Jack Perkins As the Cold War crisis with Russia deepened, Bradley assumed new duties as chairman of NATO's Military Committees, sort of super combined chief of staff. It met weekly in Washington to discussed NATO's strategy in the threatened face-off with the Russians. But war in Korea came first as the North Korean Army knifed into the South. Harry Truman mobilized the United Nations to face this latest communist threat. Douglas MacArthur was placed in charge of the UN forces defending South Korea . MacArthur was soon trying to shrug off Washington's control on the war his way. The gap between Truman and MacArthur widened. As chairman of the joint chiefs, Omar Bradley was in the middle again.
Chester Hansen In Korea , MacArthur had gone in political. He was in effect in subordinate to the joint chiefs who were acting as agents for the President of the United States . He was violating the cardinal rule of the Army, you never question civilian authority.
Jack Perkins After waging a superb defense of South Korea and masterminding a brilliant tide turning amphibious stroke at Inchon , MacArthur ordered his UN forces to move up to North Korea's border with Manchuria . After repeated warnings were ignored, Communist China sent troops to aid the North Korean Army. A division of American marines was trapped at the Chosun Reservoir with near tragic results. MacArthur , refusing to accept responsibility for the military reversal, brutally criticized the administration's handling of the war after he had been ordered by Truman not to make public statements regarding national policy.
Elizabeth Dorsey President Truman felt that the only thing he could do was to relieve General MacArthur of his command. And that was also on the recommendation of my father.
HARRY TRUMAN I have therefore considered it essential to relieve General MacArthur so that there would be no doubt or confusion as to the real purpose on the aim of our policy.
Jack Perkins In 1950 , Omar Bradley was promoted to General of the Army and received the fifth star from the President. He was the last officer in the American Defense System to be raised to that rank and the first in peacetime. In 1953 , after serving a second term as chairman of the joint chiefs, Bradley stepped down from the military, no five star general ever retires. The always active Bradley accepted the position with the Bulova Watch Company.
Elizabeth Dorsey He actually was a working director. He was not what you would call a figurehead and I think he helped in getting the production going after the war. One of the things that my father was most proud of was that they hired handicapped people back in those days. But perhaps because of my dad's work with the VA and because of the war, he knew how important it was to do that. My mother's illness was very sudden. I can remember that we had Thanksgiving dinner together that November and it was a very short time after that in the first of December that she died and I was just devastated. I was very, very close to my mother and of course my father was to, they, they were about to celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary in December.
Jack Perkins Throughout Omar Bradley's life, memory and ceremony would draw him back to D-Day and Omaha Beach, to the people who would never forget what he did there. Bradley's post active duty life included a fascination with horse racing. His mathematical skills made him a better than average handicapper. In 1966 , Bradley married second time to screen writer, Kitty Buhler . They lived in California where Bradley's fame and quiet charm made him a favorite among Hollywood's elite. Though weakened by illness and his advancing years, Omar Bradley continued to travel. It was on a trip to New York City on April 8th 1981 that he died from a blood clot to the brain having just received the last of a lifetime of richly deserved awards. On April 14th, he was buried at Arlington National Cemetery with full military honors.
Chester Hansen A man of great courage, intellectually and physically. A rather remarkable man.
Edward Beach I admired him tremendously. He's one of the finest men I ever worked for.
Jack Perkins He never ran for President. He never became the American emperor of Japan . He didn't die at the peak of his wartime popularity but in his own special way, Omar Nelson Bradley was a force that ultimately led Eisenhower , MacArthur , and Patton to their better known places in history. When the actor Karl Malden was getting ready to play General Bradley in the film " Patton ", he met with the General to get some pointers on how to play him. Malden asked Bradley , "What did he do when he got mad?" The general replied he didn't do anything. "Don't you raise your voice?" asked Malden . "No." said Bradley . "Never needed to." No wonder his soldiers loved him.
GENERAL OMAR BRADLEY executive producer LOU REDA supervising producer MORT ZIMMERMAN produced by SAMMY JACKSON written by JEROME ALDEN supervising writer NORMAN STAHL directed by DON HORAN narrator JACK PERKINS edited by YALE NELSON on-line editor WILL KELLY videographers GINO BRUNO MATT MAZZI music CRAIG KASTELNIK ERWIN LITKEI ETHEL GABRIEL LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA video post production OPTIMEDIA SYSTEMS audio post production AUDIO PLUS VIDEO Scott Delaney Mort Zimmerman archival material LOU REDA LIBRARY A E LIBRARY staff assistants JOHN McCULLOUGH ROGER MILES ELLEN BALDWIN PAUL LEWIS SCOTT REDA accommodations LOEWS ANNAPOLIS HOTEL Annapolis, MD Corey Bonney HOTEL BETHLEHEM Bethlehem, PA special thanks to: COLONEL JOHN G. MILLER U.S. Naval Institute GEN. CLAUDE KICKLIGHTER 50th Anniversary Comm. of WWII CAPT. JACK GALLANT Navy Marine Corps WWII Comm. U.S. ARMY MILITARY HISTORY INSTITUTE, CARLYLE BARRACKS Randy Hackenburg Dr. Richard J. Sommers U.S. MILITARY ACADEMY LIBRARY Special Collections Division West Point, NY Alan Aimone MOBERLY HISTORICAL SOCIETY Carl Rice MISSOURI FILM OFFICE Kate Arnold Schuck Carol Roark BULOVA WATCH COMPANY Harry Henschel PATTON MUSEUM TOBYHANNA ARMY DEPOT Joint Visual Info. Activity Charlie Latorre LOEWS CORPORATION Candace Leeds EISENHOWER LIBRARY Cathy Straus Hazel Stroda TRUMAN LIBRARY Pauline Testerman 28th INFANTRY DIVISION Traning Home Video Richard Leach DISABLED AMERICAN VETERANS Dave Gibbons Jim Chaney RALPH EDWARDS PRODUCTIONS "This Is Your Life" Jim Pollack SUNLAND PARK RACETRACK Dick Alwan Gaston de Bayona Produced by LOU REDA PRODUCTIONS, INC. in association with ARTS ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKS for the A E Television Networks BILL HARRIS Manager, Documentary Programming MICHAEL CASCIO VP, Documentary Programming production location LOEWS ANNAPOLIS HOTEL ANNAPOLIS, MARYLAND UNITED STATES OF AMERICA 1911 - 1916 (illegible text) COMMEMORATION To value these years of peace, we must never forget those years of courage. 1941 - 1945 A LOU REDA PRODUCTION (c) 1994 HEARST/ABC/NBC/ARTS ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Biography WITH JACK PERKINS THIS HAS BEEN A PRESENTATION of A E BIOGRAPHY IS A REGISTERED SERVICE MARK OF A (c) 1994 HEARST/ABC/NBC/ARTS ENTERTAINMENT NETWORKS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. A E Home VIDEO
Bradley Conclusion Clip 01:33
Universal Newsreel First Pictures Invasion of France 01:58