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00:00Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Walter Matthau.
00:03Omar Nelson Bradley, one of our very great soldiers, has been described as a quiet gentleman who might pass for
00:09a professor.
00:10But there is an unmistakable quality of greatness in his simple manner, his straightforwardness, and his deep concern for humanity.
00:19Recognized as a master strategist, he was given command of the forces that spearheaded and carried through to victory the
00:25campaigns and the invasion of Hitler's Europe.
00:27While the headlines and popular applause fell to others, it was Bradley, the quiet infantryman in his old trench coat
00:34trudging through the scarred battlefields who held the fate of his soldiers in his hands.
00:38When it was over, a grateful chief of staff saluted him with this simple statement.
00:42All our confidence in you has been justified.
00:46It is with great pride that we present the story of General Omar Nelson Bradley.
01:26Music
01:27schoolteacher. The year was 1893. In countries such as this, he learned to fish, hunt quail,
01:35became an expert marksman. He was the only child. The name Omar came from a family friend,
01:46not the Persian poet. Bradley idolized his father, acquiring from him a way of life.
01:56To patch up the family budget, the elder Bradley did some farming. From such roots, the boy learned
02:03the meaning of patience, the patience that comes with fishing. Bradley was only 14 when his father died.
02:15After high school, what? It was hard to say. He sold newspapers, worked at the Wabash railroad shops
02:23at 17 cents an hour. But a Sunday schoolteacher suggested West Point.
02:30And West Point it became. The United States Military Academy.
02:37Here had studied Lee, Grant, Pershing. The class of 1915, Brad's class, was to furnish 56 generals.
02:46One could say of Bradley,
02:47as quiet as the Hudson, a trait that was duly noted by his class biopsy. True merit is like a
02:53river.
02:54The deeper it is, the less noise it makes.
03:03This was Bradley.
03:11And they wrote further of him. His most prominent characteristic is getting there.
03:17Just how much prophecy was in this remark? Let us see.
03:23In World War I, he commanded an infantry company at the Butte, Montana Copper Mines.
03:28His own evaluation? Ruin. He was left out of the fight.
03:361920. Ordered to West Point as an instructor in mathematics.
03:43From 1924 to 1939, army schools. Routine duty periods with troops in the United States and Hawaii.
03:50Then, on to general staff in Washington.
03:54Finally, in the early part of 1941,
03:57commandant of the infantry school at Fort Benning, Georgia.
04:00Was he getting there?
04:02Well, he was acquiring the reputation of a fine infantry officer.
04:13There wasn't a thing these men did that Bradley couldn't or wouldn't do.
04:17For he had great physical endurance.
04:36February 1943. Bradley was in Florida training a division for duty overseas.
04:42World War II was in its second year for the United States.
04:45And Bradley was to be included in the fight.
04:49Word finally came to report to French North Africa.
04:59For the first time in 32 years as a soldier, Bradley was off to war.
05:04Selected by Chief of Staff General George C. Marshall,
05:07who had been watching this great infantry man for years.
05:10Now as deputy commander and commander of the U.S. Second Corps,
05:14he helped push the Tunisian campaign to victory.
05:20British Commander General Sir Alexander says,
05:23Well done.
05:28Bradley tells all about it in his book,
05:30A Soldier's Story.
05:32Was he getting there?
05:33As they would say out in Bradley's country,
05:36he fought to beat the band.
05:38After Africa, the invasion of Sicily.
05:51Bradley took Second Corps into Sicily under General George S. Patton's command.
05:56Plans for the channel assault on France were well underway when General Marshall sent word to Eisenhower,
06:02My choice has been Bradley.
06:04He meant for Bradley to lead the American forces for the Great Normandy invasion.
06:09Operation Overlord.
06:12THEATER
06:38THEATER
07:02As commanding general of the First Army, Bradley was ashore less than 24 hours after the first
07:08Allied units hit the Normandy beaches. The Battle of Europe was to be a doughboys battle, and
07:16leading these doughboys was a man who, in the words of General Marshall, was fit for any
07:20command in the army.
07:32A week after D-Day, and we had linked the Allied forces together in a beachhead 42 miles
07:38wide. A prime objective, the Port of Cherbourg.
07:47As Bradley's First Army pushed ahead, happy Frenchmen began to breathe the first fresh
07:51air of liberation, and we began to feel at home.
08:10They were a hard nut to crack, those Nazis. At all costs they meant to keep us from getting
08:14a harbor, a suitable port for our supplies.
08:32Nazi commanders now felt the power of Bradley's punch. For once Bradley made up his mind, he
08:38moved swiftly, relentlessly. Was he getting there? Following the Battle of Sanlo,
08:47he headed the 12th Army Group.
08:51As American forces plowed ahead, they moved out of the peninsula, then toward and beyond Paris.
08:58Forty-three divisions were to be deployed under Bradley's command. The 12th Army Group included
09:05General Courtney H. Hodges, 1st Army, General George S. Patton, Jr.'s 3rd Army, General William
09:17H. Simpson's 9th Army, and General Leonard T. Giroux's 15th Army.
09:28No sit-back at headquarters type of general, Bradley inspected a battle in person, traveling
09:34in an ordinary jeep.
09:46There wasn't a bit of glamour or fanfare in his old, tall, lanky frame. He got the most out
09:52of his men by patient goodwill. He knew every division commander by his first name. When
10:03an officer performed as he expected him to, he gave him a free hand. When he hesitated,
10:08he tried to help him. And when he failed, Bradley relieved him and all respected him. Even Patton,
10:18Bradley's chief in French North Africa and Sicily. In fact, George S. Patton became one of his closest friends.
10:46And what did Bradley think of the boss and vice-versa? There was a mutual trust. Stout-hearted and confident
10:52of result was the way the chief described him.
10:54Bradley, Bradley. Many battles justified faith in Bradley, but one especially was the big breakout.
11:10The battle for St. Louis and the breakthrough from the peninsula. One of the most decisive battles of Bradley's military
11:18career.
11:22The breakthrough cracked the back of the Nazi Wehrmacht. Bradley had created it, planned it down to the last detail.
11:55Uprooting meant taking quicker and firmer route in freedom soil.
12:01Out came our armies. The way was open. The way to Paris.
12:22The enemy west of Paris was destroyed. As he fell, the liberation of France lay only
12:28days away. That the Bradley breakthrough worked was due to a soldier's determination.
12:39Our hopes now ran high for a quick end to the war in Europe.
13:06Paris, liberated.
13:13Bradley. Bradley could have gone into Paris himself. But the quiet man from Missouri was not built like that. He
13:19had waited for his chief.
13:39A liberated nation honored him. Bradley was to receive many decorations, as well as honorary degrees from universities.
13:47Someone has said of Bradley that he always behaves as though he were a civilian among men in uniform.
13:58Even as Paris celebrated, something was happening. After the fastest splits of modern war, we had to apply the brakes.
14:05Logistics. Logistics, that age-old problem of supplying a mighty fighting force on the offensive, had run into difficulties.
14:12We had lost momentum.
14:20The deep stalemate of winter set in.
14:34Then, quite suddenly.
14:39Counter attacks. The battle of the bulge. The greatest crisis in Bradley's military career.
14:49Dark moments. Unpredictable moments. It was the enemy's dying thrust. We were thrown back.
15:09Even when the enemy was a few miles from his headquarters, Bradley refused to move back.
15:13He reasoned such a move could destroy confidence.
15:18Your identification, General.
15:20From stars down, solid proof was needed these trying days that you were not a Nazi disguised as an American.
15:37The battle of the bulge over, the Rhine soon came into view.
15:53There wasn't much more to it after this. Operation Overlord, which had swept a relatively unknown general into great prominence,
16:01had blasted asunder the myth of Nazi invulnerability.
16:09From the Omaha beachhead to Berlin, a stunned enemy wondered how it could have happened.
16:21Farm boy to four stars. Was he getting there?
16:32True to American tradition, the job helped make the man. And the man made history. And he never once lost
16:39his humility.
16:48Was there room for a fifth star?
16:56With a soldier's determination, but no. With the determination of a man enjoying the softer moments of peace. Bradley, a
17:04top-notch golfer, scores high on the fairway.
17:15But a hop, skip, and a jump from the fairway was busy Washington. And in post-war America, Bradley played
17:21a big role in world affairs. Affairs as they pertained to our survival as a nation.
17:32We see him here in the fall of 1948 as Army Chief of Staff. Prior to becoming the Army's Chief,
17:39he had spent two years as Veterans Administrator.
17:43With him are Air Chief Hoyt Vandenberg and Navy Chief Louis E. Denville.
17:52In Bradley's characteristic way, he considered his job another opportunity to serve his country. And America needed him.
18:01For a new type of world jitters had set in. The Cold War, modeled by the Kremlin. For example, the
18:08Great Airlift of 1948 and 1949.
18:10Starved the people of West Berlin came orders from Moscow. So the Red Army imposed a blockade on all overland
18:17transport between Berlin and the West. All trade stopped.
18:26Industrial paralysis threatened West Berlin. But not for long. The air was still free. And from the Free Nations poured
18:36fabulous supplies for the people of West Berlin.
18:52The Air Lift broke the blockade. Our first victory in the Cold War. This type of war called for a
18:59reassessment of our military objectives. And that's where Bradley fit into the picture. He became a globetrotter. A sort of
19:09soldier diplomat. Here we see him arriving in Germany. His mission to discuss plans for collective security with member nations
19:16of the North Atlantic Alliance. This was to be insurance against aggression by Soviet Russia.
19:28Bradley. Bradley, the world headliner. The story of Omar Bradley would not be complete without mentioning the former Mary Elizabeth
19:39Quayle, who married Bradley a year after his graduation from West Point. Here she watches Bradley being sworn in as
19:46chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff by Defense Secretary Johnson.
19:56With great pride, Mrs. Bradley will tell you that Omar is a considerate husband and father.
20:06As chairman of the Joint Chiefs, America's top soldier took his seat at the first meeting of the Defense Committee
20:11of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization held in Washington.
20:26To resist aggression. That was the keynote. Yes, there was room for a fifth star by act of Congress and
20:37the deep respect and admiration of a fellow Missourian.
20:42A little trouble with the pin. But both Bradley and the President made it.
20:47The President made it.
21:01Farm boy to frequent visitor at the White House. This is early in 1951 at a Security Council meeting. He
21:09sits beside the man who, along with his father, signalized his ideals in life.
21:13General Marshall, at this time Secretary of Defense, and again at the White House
21:22with ministers of defense and military advisers of the North Atlantic Treaty
21:25Organization.
21:32Bradley paid almost 300 visits to the White House, many of them to brief the
21:37president on the progress of the war in Korea. Again he visited war rooms, this
21:45time under the banner of the United Nations. As a global military strategist
21:50Bradley believed that we should not press our military advantage too far in
21:54this one area of communist aggression.
22:00The fighting raged from June 1950 to July 1953.
22:23These were precarious times. At stake was our global prestige, our voice in the free world.
22:40This war, war by satellite, was a new type of Soviet aggression, where the Kremlin
22:46directed a conflict in the front yard of Korean halls. As in World War II, Bradley
22:54helped direct allied forces close to the battle lines.
23:06And so it came to pass, from the year 1915, a West Point classmate of Bradley's, Ike by
23:13name, went places too, becoming president of the United States. He is playing host here
23:19to our top soldier of the nation and other members of the class of 15. Time, May 1953,
23:26shortly before Bradley's leaving active assignments.
23:34It seemed fitting at this time to name an American town after Bradley.
23:42To quote Bradley, no boy ever came out of an army camp with any more or any less moral fiber
23:49and any more or less courage than he had when he left his family fireside. Bradley, West Virginia,
23:57on U.S. Route 21, between Beckley and Mount Hope.
24:10Did he get there? Well, seems like there's more to do. Mission? To help in military reorganization.
24:23He has come a long way, this general, from the humble roots of America. To enrich our heritage
24:29of service to mankind and love of country. A living monument among the truly great men of history.
24:42The End
24:43The End
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