VA -- Norfolk -- General Douglas MacArthur Memorial:
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Specific picture descriptions: Photos above with "i" icons next to the bracketed sequence numbers (e.g. "[1] ") are described as follows:
MAC_150531_17.JPG: Zero Mile Stone
Point of measurement for distances from Norfolk of highways of the United States
Erected by The Boy Scouts of Norfolk, February 8, 1929
MAC_150531_20.JPG: Old City Hall and Courthouse, 1850
When Norfolk became an independent city in 1845, space was needed to accommodate municipal functions. This Classic Revival building was begun in 1847 and completed in 1850 as Norfolk's City Hall and Courthouse. The architect was William Singleton, a Portsmouth native then practicing in St. Louis. He was assisted, particularly in the design of the dome, by Thomas Ustick Walter, a Philadelphia architect who designed the dome of the U.S. Capitol in Washington.
On the steps of this building, Mayor Lamb surrendered the City of Norfolk to Union General John E. Wool on May 10, 1862. City offices occupied the building until they were relocated in 1918. Court use continued until 1960. The interior of the building was then completely reconstructed as a memorial, containing a historical museum dedicated to General Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964). The General chose Norfolk as his final resting place because his mother, Mary Pinkney Hardy, was born and raised in the Berkley neighborhood of the city. General MacArthur died in April 1964.
MAC_150531_26.JPG: This is a reproduction of the sculptural relief on the pedestal of General MacArthur's statue at Inchon, Korea, commemorating his vital role and great wartime leadership which was exemplified in the successful Inchon Landing Operations in [sic] 15th September 1950. This reproduction, to which each of the officers of the Republic of Korea Armed Forces contributed, is presented as a token of the friendly ties between the people of the United States and Korea.
MAC_150531_29.JPG: The Purple Heart Trail
MacArthur Square, Norfolk, Virginia
This monument commemorates General Douglas MacArthur who, as chief of staff of the Army, revived the Badge of Military Merit and renamed it the Purple Heart Medal on February 22, 1932 in honor of the 200th anniversary of George Washington's birth.
This monument memorializes those patriots, living and departed, who were awarded the Purple Heart Medal by a grateful nation for the wounds they suffered in combat in defense of their country.
Dedicated this 22nd day of February, 2003 by the Military Order of the Purple Heart and the Ladies of Their Auxiliary
MAC_150531_34.JPG: Honoring those who were interned as Civilian Prisoners of the Japanese in the Philippine Islands
Years of hardship, hunger, and hope
January 1942 - February 1945
Baguio Internment Camp liberated by the 37th Infantry
Santo Tomas Internment Camp liberated by the 1st Cavalry and 44th Tank Bn.
Los Banos Internment Camp liberated by the 11th Airborne
"... suddenly herded from all walks of life into the stark tragedy of close, brutal and comfortless confinement -- men, women and children, who, despite their humiliation, suffering and peril, never lost faith in God, country or cause."
-- Douglas MacArthur
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Description of Subject Matter: Douglas MacArthur, a controversial American military figure, attended West Point, following a military tradition established by his father, Arthur MacArthur, who fought with distinction in the Civil War. Douglas fought alongside the Philippines in the Spanish-American War. He served in World War I, twice being injured by German gas during attacks from the trenches. After the war, he became Chief of Staff, in which capacity he put down the peaceful Bonus Army marchers in Washington DC in a largely unwarranted action. Afterward, as the war with Japan loomed, he was sent back to the Philippines to firm up their army. Pearl Harbor happened sooner than expected and the Japanese invaded the Philippines. MacArthur was ordered to go to Australia, leaving Corregidor to surrender under General Wainwright. Douglas commanded the actions which eventually led to the retaking of the Philippines and then, after the atomic bomb ended the war, he became the military governor of Japan, bringing it into the western sphere.
It's during the Korean War that he became more controversial. He was appointed as the head of the United Nations forces there after the North Koreans attacked in 1950. He planned the brilliant landing at Inchon Harbor that sent the North Koreans reeling. He kept pushing them northward toward the Chinese border despite some rumblings from the Chinese about them seeing this as an act of aggression against them. Finally, the Chinese invaded, pushing the UN forces back through Seoul before the war resolved into a stalemate. MacArthur kept pushing for an invasion of China, Truman didn't want the war widened. Finally, Truman fired MacArthur.
MacArthur came back to a hero's welcome and addressed a joint session of Congress. He worked to get himself put on the Republican ticket in 1952 as a darkhorse candidate but that didn't work and Eisenhower was elected instead.
Still a man of ego, he advised Presidents (including apparently telling Kennedy and Johnson that Vietnam was probably unwinable) while he planned his own memorial. When he died in 1964, he was buried in the old City Hall building in Norfolk, which was converted to a museum to his efforts and those of the armed forces. It's a reasonably well-balanced presentation of his life which surprised me. Very nicely done!
The memorial also spends a fair amount of time discussing Douglas' father, Arthur MacArthur, who was also a West Point graduate and served as a brigadier general in the Spanish-American War in 1898, later becoming U.S. military governor of the Philippines. The displays clearly label this as imperialism, pointing out that the United States promised independence to the Filipinos are then reneged, losing more troops suppressing the Filipinos than we had lost in the entire war against Spain.
Arthur lost his post in 1901 in a conflict with the civilian Governor William H. Taft. In 1906, Arthur was promoted to Lieutenant General (the highest rank in the Army) in 1906 but Taft was then Secretary of War and Arthur realized he would never become Chief of Staff. He retired shortly after Taft was elected President and then die in 1912. By this time, his son had already begun on his military career.
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