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Medal of Honor Recipient

Douglas MacArthur

U.S. Army · World War II

MOH-RC-002490Source-based record

The award

Representative medal image: 1904 Army design, early suspension ribbon. Not a portrait or a photograph of this recipient’s own medal.
Army Medal of HonorRecorded presentation: 1942

Portrait not yet available. Representative medal shown.

About this image

Representative form selected from the recorded presentation year (1942), not authenticated medal-object provenance.

Medal imagery and historical designs →

Medal of Honor

Bataan campaign, 1942 — exact action date not stated in the Army citation

Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands

Rank at action
General of the Army
Service
U.S. Army
Conflict
World War II
Unit or command
U.S. Army Forces in the Far East
Presentation date
April 1, 1942

The Citation

Sources ↓
For conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula. He mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms. His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgment in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces.
Separately preserved current-source wording

Captured from the linked current recipient source; it is not a new comparison with an original General Order.

For conspicuous leadership in preparing the Philippine Islands to resist conquest, for gallantry and intrepidity above and beyond the call of duty in action against invading Japanese forces, and for the heroic conduct of defensive and offensive operations on the Bataan Peninsula. He mobilized, trained, and led an army which has received world acclaim for its gallant defense against a tremendous superiority of enemy forces in men and arms. His utter disregard of personal danger under heavy fire and aerial bombardment, his calm judgement in each crisis, inspired his troops, galvanized the spirit of resistance of the Filipino people, and confirmed the faith of the American people in their Armed Forces.

Sources & record notes

General Order comparison: pending. Current-profile review does not mean that the underlying original order has been examined.

  1. Douglas MacArthur — current Society profile ↗Congressional Medal of Honor Society · Checked 2026-08-30

    current identity, service, action metadata, and citation comparison

  2. Douglas MacArthur — U.S. Army ↗U.S. Army · Checked 2026-08-30

    official Army Medal of Honor citation, Bataan action place, U.S. Army Forces in the Far East command, and General Orders No. 16 dated April 1, 1942; the citation does not state an exact action date

Transcription, metadata & provenance notes
Award ID
MOH-AW-002501
Transcription status
Conflicting official citation variants preserved
Last source check
2026-08-30
Recorded order reference (not verified against the original)
16
Other source date wording
1941-07-07
Entered service at
Ashland, Wis.
Archive transcription SHA-256
e6dc4fb1300c5bfa21d681ec9abc9744067ff474093b70e065fe539ad954248a

Official institutional sources disagree on a citation detail. The inherited canonical wording and the current Society wording are retained separately with supporting source records; no silent overwrite was performed.

The inherited rank-1 Society candidate was confirmed by substantive comparison of identity, service, rank, unit or command, action context, and citation; candidate rank or successful rendering alone was not treated as verification. The controlled canonical unit or command is U.S. Army Forces in the Far East; the current structured profile renders U.S. Army Forces in the Far East, and the inherited wording Not documented remains preserved as a separately attributed variant. The controlled action-date display is Bataan campaign, 1942 — exact action date not stated in the Army citation; the normalized storage value 1942-01-01 is a technical anchor only where stated, and no unsupported exact day is claimed. The Society structured action-date field is retained separately as 1941-07-07 through 1941-07-12. The controlled historical action place is Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands; the current structured place Bataan Peninsula, Luzon, Philippine Islands and the complete inherited geocoder value Bataan Peninsula, Bataan Natural Park, Lalawigan ng Bataan, Philippines remain preserved. The Society structured field gives July 7–12, 1941, but its own citation concerns action against invading Japanese forces and the Army citation index does not state an action date; it identifies Bataan and General Orders No. 16 dated April 1, 1942. The archive therefore uses a year-level 1942 technical anchor and a public display that explicitly states the exact action date is not supplied, while preserving the Society date as a conflicting current-source field. The inherited full citation remains canonical and checksum-protected; current rendered wording is preserved separately where transcribed. No underlying General Order was examined, so the exact-order gate remains pending and no General Order verification is claimed.

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