I'm reading a biography of Omar Bradley, a critically important WWII US Army general. And the 1st chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was a poor kid from Missouri working a summer job at the Wabash shops when he journeyed to take the entrance exam for West Point. He didn't think he had much of a chance and wasn't going to go unless he got a pass on the Wabash and authorized time off.
"Summoning his courage he asked his boss, and for unexplained reasons the Wabash Railroad gave him both time off and the train ticket. Maybe it was company policy, or the intervention of a church friend, but after some catch-up cramming at night, Bradley hopped on the train to Jefferson Barracks on Independence Day 1911."
Ossad, Steven L.. Omar Nelson Bradley: America's GI General (American Military Experience) (Kindle Locations 1086-1088). University of Missouri Press. Kindle Edition.
As they say, the rest is history.
Edit to add from further reading:
"Thanks to one of the first employee college-assistance programs of the early twentieth century, initiated by a railroad company, Bradley got his first big break."
Ossad, Steven L.. Omar Nelson Bradley: America's GI General (American Military Experience) (Kindle Locations 1111-1112). University of Missouri Press. Kindle Edition.
There was a time when almost everyone in the country truly appreciated the service of our men and women in the armed forces.
The Wabash doing what it did to give one of its employees a chance to serve is exemplary of that.
Thankfully, for a majority of the people in this country, that is still true today - not as big a majority as in times past, but at least still a majority.
To all you Veterans out there of any branch - Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard - a big THANK YOU for your service!
Mine was brief and unremarkable, but you're very welcome kgb!
What branch was I in? I'll give you a hint. "OOOO-RAH!"
Amazing. Omar Bradley, from Wabash shop worker to five-star general.
God bless America!
Firelock76 Mine was brief and unremarkable, but you're very welcome kgb! What branch was I in? I'll give you a hint. "OOOO-RAH!"
My father always spoke highly of him, He had served in Naval Amphibious Forces,in the Med during the North African, and Sicilian Amphibious Campaigns.
General Bradley's career is explained in this following linked Bio: @ https://www.history.com/topics/world-war-ii/omar-bradley
FTL:"...In February 1943, Marshall assigned Bradley to North Africa to assist Dwight D. Eisenhower in the aftermath of the disastrous American defeat at Kasserine Pass. He was sent first as an observer to Second Corps under Lloyd Fredenthall, but on the recommendation of the new commander, George S. Patton, Jr., Bradley was appointed deputy commander and later succeeded Patton in command of the corps, which he led with distinction during the final days of the campaign in Tunisia and in the short but difficult Sicilian campaign in July and August 1943.
Eisenhower next selected Bradley to command the U.S. First Army in Operation Overlord, the cross-Channel invasion of Normandy, on June 6, 1944. Bradley was the architect of Operation Cobra, the American breakout from the Cotentin Peninsula that unleashed the First Army and Patton’s newly activated Third Army into Brittany and across southern Normandy, precipitating the collapse of the German army that ended the campaign..."
And this as a note for Veterans. FTL:"...In August 1945, Bradley was appointed to head the Veterans Administration, and until February 1948, when he succeeded Eisenhower as U.S. Army Chief of Staff, he helped overhaul an organization responsible for seventeen million veterans. In August 1949 he became the first-ever chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, serving two terms during the difficult period of the Korean War..."
He was head of the VA when many of their facilities were built to accomodate returning Veterans from WWII.
https://www.jfklibrary.org/Asset-Viewer/Archives/JFKWHP-1963-10-18-D.aspx
General Bradley on the radio, Sept. 10, 1963
https://www.wnyc.org/story/general-omar-bradley-part-1/
https://books.google.com/books?id=mKg_DwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30&dq=%E2%80%9Cgo+ahead+and+try+it+omar%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi2vdn9uc7aAhWSrVkKHQt9D7gQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=%E2%80%9Cgo%20ahead%20and%20try%20it%20omar%22&f=false
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