Apr. 11, 1964 - General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was interred in Norfolk, Va., today with military pomp and ceremony befitting his role as the highest-ranking soldier of his generation. Other U.S. military commanders attained the five-star rank General MacArthur had risen to; he was considered the highest-ranking because he received the five-star commission before the others.
In bright sunshine, with what Army officials called the greatest assembly of military men in this century looking on, the funeral procession traveled the two blocks from the MacArthur Memorial to St. Paul’s Episcopal Church. There, prime ministers, ambassadors, governors, admirals, and generals filled the pews of the 323-year-old sanctuary. The body was then returned to the MacArthur Memorial for final military honors and interment.
Attorney General and Mrs. Robert F. Kennedy, representing President Johnson, led the list of official mourners. They flew in from Washington this morning and returned this afternoon.
The 84-year-old general died last Sunday at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington after three major operations in 17 days.
The interment ended six days of lying in state and military pageantry that began in New York last Monday and continued in Washington Tuesday and Wednesday. It took place on the 13th anniversary of General MacArthur’s dismissal as Supreme Commander of the Allied Powers in Korea and the Far East.
General MacArthur never lived in Norfolk, and it was largely through the willingness of the city to provide the tomb and repository for the general’s mementos that this city became his last resting place.
The general’s connections with Norfolk are through his mother, Mrs. Mary Hardy Pinkney MacArthur, who was born there. General MacArthur’s parents are both buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington.
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