General George Catlett Marshall - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Few Americans in the twentieth century have left a greater legacy to world peace than George C. Marshall (1880-1959). As chief of staff of the United States Army during World War II, it fell to Marshall to raise, train, and equip an army of several million men. It was Marshall who selected the officer corps and it was Marshall who played a leading role in planning military operations on a global scale. In the end, it was Marshall whom British Prime Minister Winston Churchill hailed as "the true organizer of victory."
Yet history will associate Marshall foremost as the author of the Marshall Plan. The idea of extending billions of American dollars for European economic recovery was not his alone. He was only one of many Western leaders who realized the tragic consequences of doing nothing for those war-shattered countries in which basic living conditions were deplorable and still deteriorating two years after the end of the fighting. But Marshall, more than anyone else, led the way. In an address at Harvard University on June 5, 1947, Marshall, in his capacity as secretary of state, articulated the general principles of the Marshall Plan. Between 1948 and 1951, the United States contributed more than thirteen billion dollars of economic, agricultural, and technical assistance toward the recovery of free Europe. The Marshall Plan was generally acclaimed a success in its day and has admirably withstood the rigors of historical inquiry. Moreover, it gave impetus to the formation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization and to the European Common Market. In recognition of Marshall's world leadership, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. General Marshall died on October 16, 1959 and is resting in Arlington National Cemetery.
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Description: George C. Marshall was born on December 30, 1880 in Uniontown, Pennsylvania. He is a distant relative of former Chief Justice John Marshall of Virginia. Marshall attended the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia, graduating in 1901. He served during World War I with the American Expeditionary Force Headquarter working closely with General John “Blackjack” Pershing. Following World War I, Marshall became General Pershing’s aide-de-camp. Marshall distinguished himself as a top military planner and tactician and for a long period of time between World War I and II, he was a key planner and writer in the War Department, and commanded the 15th Infantry Regiment in China, and taught at the Army War College. Marshall was promoted to Brigadier General in 1936 and in 1939 became Army Chief of Staff serving under President Franklin Roosevelt. As Chief of Staff, Marshall organized the largest military expansion in U.S. history, inheriting an outmoded, poorly-equipped army of 189,000 men and, partly drawing from his experience teaching and developing techniques of modern warfare as an instructor at the Army War College, coordinated the large-scale expansion and modernization of the U. S. Army. Though he had never actually led troops in combat, Marshall was a skilled organizer with a talent for inspiring other officers. Many of the American generals who were given top commands during the war were either picked or recommended by Marshall, including Dwight Eisenhower, Mark Wayne Clark and Omar Bradley. On December 16, 1944, Marshall became the first American general to be promoted to 5-star rank, the newly created General of the Army. He was the second American to be promoted to a 5 star rank, as William Leahy was promoted to fleet admiral the previous day. Throughout the remainder of World War II, Marshall coordinated Allied operations in Europe and the Pacific. After World War II, President Harry Truman sent Marshall to China to broker a coalition government between the Nationalist allies under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek and Communists under Mao Zedong. When General Marshall returned to the United States in 1947 President Truman appointed himl Secretary of State. He became the spokesman for the State Department's ambitious plans to rebuild Europe. On June 5, 1947 in a speech at Harvard University, he outlined the American plan. The European Recovery Program, as it was formally known, became known as the Marshall Plan. The Marshall Plan would help Europe quickly rebuild and modernize its economy along American lines. Marshall resigned from the State Department because of ill health on January 7, 1949. but September 1949, Marshall was named president of the American National Red Cross. During the early months of the Korean War, Truman fired Secretary of Defense Louis A. Johnson and named Marshall as Secretary of Defense in September 1950.. He served in that post for one year, retiring from public office for good in September 1951. In 1953, he represented America at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom. General George C. Marshall died on October 16, 1959 and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery. Source/Credit: Arlington National Cemetery Date of birth: 12/30/1880 Date of death: 10/16/1959 Area of notoriety: Military Marker Type: Headstone Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: Daily - 8 a.m to 5 p.m. Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

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Date Logged Log   03/27/2022 Don.Morfe visited it