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Omar Bradley Facts

Omar Bradley Facts
General Omar Nelson Bradley was a career member of the United States Army who rose to the rank of general and became the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1949. He served stateside during World War I and commanded from the front in World War II in North Africa, Sicily, and the Battle of Normandy. Omar Bradley was born to John and Mary Bradley on February 12, 1893 outside Moberly, Missouri. After high school, Bradley attended the United States Military Academy at West Point, where he graduated in 1915 with former general and president, Dwight D. Eisenhower. He taught at West Point between the wars before being promoted to the rank of lieutenant colonel in 1936, which combined with the outbreak of World War II opened the door for him to advance farther in the army.
Interesting Omar Bradley Facts:
Bradley was promoted to Major General in 1942 and given command of the 82nd Infantry Division. He later transformed the unit into the famed 82nd Airborne Division.
Bradley later wrote a book about his World War II experiences titled, A Soldier's Story. The book was co-written by Clay Blair and released in 1983. It is written in first person.
His first front-line command was during the Allied invasion of Tunisia known as "Operation Torch." He served as Eisenhower's trouble shooter.
Bradley married his high school sweetheart, Mary Quayle. Mary died of leukemia in 1965. Bradley remarried Esther Buhler in 1966 and the couple remained married until his death.
He commanded the U.S. Fifth Army during the Normandy invasion.
During the Battle of the Bulge, command of Bradley's First and Ninth armies was temporarily given to British Field Marshall Bernard Montgomery. This came after Bradley's forces took heavy casualties during the initial German counter-offensive.
Bradley and Montgomery maintained a cordial working relationship, but were said not to like each other.
Although Bradley's more reticent and calm personality and style are often contrasted with Patton's brash and somewhat bombastic style, Bradley relieved far more officers of command.
He was generally popular and well-respected by his subordinates, but some questioned his lack of combat experience compared to Patton and some other American officers who fought in World War I.
Bradley was the fifth and final person to attain the title "General of the Army."
He was the Joint Chiefs of Staff during the first year of the Korean War, which saw the woefully ill-prepared American forces pushed to the southern end of the Korean Peninsula. Bradley then helped formulate the strategy of "containment," whereby the communist forces would be held to the north.
Bradley served as an advisor to President Lyndon Johnson on the Vietnam War during the 1960s. He advised escalating the war.
He died of a heart attack on April 1, 1981 in New York City at the age of eighty-eight. He is interred at Arlington National Cemetery.
Not long after his death, the United States Army honored General Bradley by naming its newest line of "fighting vehicles" after him.


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