General MacArthur’s Hat

Gen. MacArthur’s Hat

World War II generals certainly were some very egotistical people.  Often, the job of generaling was just as much about fashion and appearance as it was warmaking.  For example, Gen. Patton was famous for carrying his ivory handled single action cowboy six shooters, Soviet generals were notorious for covering their uniforms with copious amounts of medals, Japanese generals carried katanas despite the fact that little sword fighting occurred during the war, and German generals were perhaps the most professional and disciplined looking of World War II generals.  Gen. Douglas MacArthur was certainly a man who built an image of himself that would become a legend of the war with his oversized corn cob pipe, aviator sunglasses, and his very ostentatious generals hat.  The origins of his hat has always puzzled me.  It certainly is not your standard US Army officers caps.  So what modifications were made to MacArthur’s headwear and why did he wear it?

In 1936 MacArthur was the commander of all US forces in the Philippines with the rank of Major General.  It was in this year that he would retire from the US Army, but retirement did not mean that his military career was over. Immediately after retirement, Filipino President Manuel L. Quezon hired MacArthur as a military adviser and commissioned him with the rank of “Field Marshal of the Philippine Army”.  Of course, this was more of an honorary title as the Philippines didn’t really have a organized military.  MacArthur certainly enjoyed styling himself a field marshal, the highest military rank that can be achieved, but he did not have the uniform, especially the hat, of a proper field marshal.  So MacArthur made some modifications to his officer’s crush cap, adding a row of embroidered gold leaf that circled around the hat and a row around the visor.  He also preferred a gold embroidered US insignia over the standard brass insignia.

When World War II began MacArthur’s commission as the US Army officer was reinstated.  Later, he was promoted to the rank of “General of the Army”, denoted by five stars, it was the American equivalent of a field marshal.  Throughout his command in World War II and Korea, he continued to wear his “Philippine Marshal’s Cap” despite the fact that it was technically against US Army regulations.  Of course, there were few people with the rank or prestige to call him out on it.