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Originally Posted by Sofa King
Any idea who these young promising soldiers could be? any names? should i already know?
Found this regarding forty-fold on wikipedia... but it doesn't really describe who was on this list...
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The main one is Dwight Eisenhower, who was finally made a Lt. Col. in 1936 after 16 years as a Major, was given his first star on October 3, 1941, and had never held active commadn above the battallion level. By December of '43 he was given command of Operation Overlord. While Ike had an impressive background, there's no doubt that Marshall reached down into the ranks and elevated some guys far more quickly than would have been the case in the "old" army, pissing off some senior guys in the process.
I would need to check my book on Marshall to find too many other names. I'm pretty sure Clark (commander in Italy and then in Operation Dragoon (Southern France) was one, as was Freydenhall (sp?) who initially commanded in the Tunisian campaign, but was relieved when it turned out that he was a disaster.
Remind me, if I don't post anything further on this, and I"ll check my biography on Marshall.