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General who rose from the ranks of the 14th Infantry
General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley
(1893–1981)
Chief of Staff, U.S. Army
Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff
Born in Clark, Missouri; graduated from Military Academy (1915).
Assigned to 14th Infantry and duty in the West (1915–19).
ROTC duty, Minnesota and South Dakota (1919–20); instructor, West Point (1920–24). Advanced course, Infantry School (1925). Served with 19 th and 27 th Infantry, Hawaii (1925–27); in charge of National Guard and Reserve affairs for Hawaiian Islands (1927–28). Attended Command and General Staff School (1929) and Army War College (1934). Instructor, Infantry School (1929–33) and West Point (1934–38). Chief, operations branch (G–1), War Department (1938–40); assistant secretary, General Staff (1940–41). Commandant, Infantry School, and established infantry OCS (1941–42). Commander,82nd and 28th Infantry Divisions (1942–43). Personal representative of commander, North African Theater of Operations (1943). Commander, II Corps in North Africa and Sicily (1943), and First Army and 12th Army Group in invasion and final European campaigns (1944–45). Administrator of veterans affairs (1945–47). Chief of Staff, U.S. Army (1948–49); responded to National Security Act of 1947 with Army reorganization leading to appointment of vice chief and two deputy chiefs of staff, consolidated technical services under a director of logistics, and finance and management under a comptroller. Served as first Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff (1949–53), and first Chairman, NATO Military Staff Committee (1949–50); promoted to General of the Army (1950). Died in New York City.
Courtesy of the U.S. Army Art Collection
Portrait of General Bradley by Clarence Lamont MacNelly.
