One of the most important and less well known US Generals of WW II was Omar Bradley. Like Ike he came out of nowhere, rose like a rocket and ended the war in command of 12th Army Group which contained 4 armies and 48 of 89 US army divisions. IOW, he ended up commanding almost half of the US field Army.
His career path was:
1915 - Graduates from West Point with Ike - 44th in his class
1918 - Spends WW I in Montana - briefly trains a battalion for overseas service.
1920 - West Point Instructor - Math
1925 - Graduates from Infantry School - 2nd in his class.
1926 - Liaison National Guard - Hawaii
1928 - Staff College Leavenworth
1929 - Infantry School teaching tactics under George Marshall
1933 - Army War College
1934 - West Point Instructor - tactics
1936 - Promoted Lt. Col
1938 - Moves to DC as G-3 assistant secretary to Chief of Staff Office
Feb 1941 - Commander Infantry School - Promoted to Brig. General (skips Full Col)
Feb 1942 - Commander 82nd Division and later 28th Infantry Divisions - CONUS
Feb 1943 - At Ike's request goes to Tunisia to report conditions and provide solutions.
March 1943 - Ike replaces Fredendall with Patton and promotes Bradley as Deputy Corps Commander.
April 1943 - Commander II Corps - Patton leaves to Plan Sicily Invasion
May 1943 - Bradley leads II Corps to victory in Tunisia.
June 1943 - In a letter to Marshall Ike rates Bradley as his best General - above Patton.
July 1943 - Commands II Corps in Sicily
Sept 1943 - Ike calls Bradley "the best rounded combat commander I have met in this war" Recommends Bradley be given First Army command for Overlord
Oct 1943 - England as Commander First Army. Planning for Overlord.
Aug 1944 - Promoted to Command of 12th Army Group
Sept 1945 - Head of VA
Feb 1948 - Succeeds Ike as Army COS
Aug 1949 - Becomes First Head of JCS - Made "General of the Army" - A rank only held by Ike, MacArthur, Marshall, Pershing, and Arnold.
Aug 1953 - Retires
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