Some Facts About General Omar Nelson Bradley

Omar Nelson Bradley was a United States Army General. He is most known for commanding the Normandy landings on D-Day, June 6th 1944.

A few facts about General Bradley:

• Omar Bradley was born on February 12th 1893 in Clark, Missouri.
• He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1915.
• Most of his early military assignments were in the United States.
• As a second lieutenant he served in the 14th Infantry Regiment. He was posted at the U.S border with Mexico.
• By 1917, during World War II, Bradley was promoted to Captain. Bradley was given the task to guard the Butte, Montana copper mines.
• From 1920 to 1924 Bradley was a mathematics instructor at the U.S Military Academy.
• By 1924 he was promoted to the rank of Major.
• In 1936 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and was posted in the war department.
• In 1941 he was given the command of an infantry school. By this time Bradley had become a Brigadier General after bypassing the rank of Colonel.
• After the start of World War II, Bradley was promoted to the rank of Major General.
• In 1943 Bradley became a Lieutenant General and was given the command of American 2nd Corps stationed in Tunisia. He was incharge of the invasion of Sicily during which the Allied troops retook the Island of Sicily from the Axis powers.
• Bradley was made Commander-in-Chief of the American ground forces and was then moved to London in 1944 to command the Normandy invasion.
• General Bradley had under his command 11 million men. This was the largest army ever entrusted to any General in United States history.
• His men invaded Normandy, advanced to Cherbourg, and drove through Avranches, right into the heart of France.
• His troops crossed the Rhine at Remagen, Germany and met up with Russian troops on 25th April 1945.
• By 1950 he was promoted to the highest U.S. army rank and was made General of the Army.
• From 1948 to 1953 Bradley served as the Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chief of Staff.
• Bradley is famously nicknamed as the GI General.
• He was responsible for building up NATO and assessing American strategy in the Korean War.
• He served on active duty for more than 69 years. Thus making his active duty career the longest ever in U.S. history.
• General Bradley died on April 8th 1981 of a cardiac arrhythmia.