“Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.” That is what
General Douglas MacArthur told a joint session of Congress in
1951, after his dismissal by President Truman during the Korean
War. But the old soldier who was beloved by millions of his
countrymen did not fade away quickly, and more than a decade
passed before he gave his farewell address at a cherished
American institution very familiar to him and very close to his
heart, hundreds of miles from the political city that's
Washington. Fifty years ago, on May 12, 1962, MacArthur bade
farewell to the cadets at West Point, an academy that he
attended and graduated first in his class. Years later, he
served as Superintendent at West Point as one chapter in his
long military career. Toward the end of his life — and knowing
that he had not much longer to live — General MacArthur gave
what may have been his most significant speech: his “Duty, honor
and country” address. Before the “Duty, honor and country”
speech in the spring of 1962, MacArthur had already g