Please see Field Marshal

Field Marshal

Field Marshal is a military rank. Traditionally, it is the highest military rank in an army.-Etymology:The origin of the rank of field marshal dates to the early Middle Ages, originally meaning the keeper of the king's horses , from the time of the early Frankish kings.-Usage and hierarchical...

 for other nations which use this rank

Field Marshal of the Philippines

Philippines

The Philippines , officially known as the Republic of the Philippines , is a country in Southeast Asia in the western Pacific Ocean. To its north across the Luzon Strait lies Taiwan. West across the South China Sea sits Vietnam...

was a rank created in 1937 to be held by Douglas MacArthur

Douglas MacArthur

General of the Army Douglas MacArthur was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army. He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II. He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the...

. MacArthur was accorded the rank as Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines

Office of the Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government of the Philippines

The Office of the Military Advisor to the Commonwealth Government was created in 1935 upon the initiative of President Manuel L. Quezon by the Philippine and American governments for the purposes of developing a system of national defense for the Commonwealth of the Philippines by 1946...

, which retained his services to form an army in response to the growing danger from Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 and the increasing likelihood of war

Pacific War

The Pacific War, also sometimes called the Asia-Pacific War refers broadly to the parts of World War II that took place in the Pacific Ocean, its islands, and in East Asia, then called the Far East...

 in the Pacific

South West Pacific theatre of World War II

The South West Pacific Theatre, technically the South West Pacific Area, between 1942 and 1945, was one of two designated area commands and war theatres enumerated by the Combined Chiefs of Staff of World War II in the Pacific region....

.

MacArthur retired from the United States Army

United States Army

The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...

 as a major-general, having previously served as a full general

General

A general officer is an officer of high military rank, usually in the army, and in some nations, the air force. The term is widely used by many nations of the world, and when a country uses a different term, there is an equivalent title given....

 while Chief of Staff of the United States Army

Chief of Staff of the United States Army

The Chief of Staff of the Army is a statutory office held by a four-star general in the United States Army, and is the most senior uniformed officer assigned to serve in the Department of the Army, and as such is the principal military advisor and a deputy to the Secretary of the Army; and is in...

. President

President of the Philippines

The President of the Philippines is the head of state and head of government of the Philippines. The president leads the executive branch of the Philippine government and is the commander-in-chief of the Armed Forces of the Philippines...

 Manuel L. Quezon

Manuel L. Quezon

Manuel Luis Quezón y Molina served as president of the Commonwealth of the Philippines from 1935 to 1944. He was the first Filipino to head a government of the Philippines...

 then hired him as a military advisor and commissioned him a field marshal in the Philippine Army

Philippine Army

The Philippine Army is the ground arm of the Armed Forces of the Philippines . Its official name in Tagalog is Hukbong Katihan ng Pilipinas. On July 23, 2010, President Benigno Aquino III appointed Maj. Gen...

, a rank which had not previously existed. (MacArthur’s wife

Jean MacArthur

Jean Marie Faircloth MacArthur was the second wife of U.S. Army General of the Army Douglas MacArthur.- Early life and education :...

 found the situation amusing and often remarked that MacArthur had gone from holding the highest rank in the United States Army to holding the highest rank in a non-existent army.)

President Quezon officially conferred the title of field marshal on MacArthur in a ceremony at Malacañang Palace

Malacañang Palace

The Malacañan Palace, commonly known simply as Malacañang, is the official residence and principal workplace of the President of the Philippines. Located at 1000 J. P. Laurel Street, San Miguel, Manila, the house was built in 1750 in Spanish Colonial style. It has been the residence of every...

 on August 24, 1936. He was presented at that time with a gold baton and a unique uniform. MacArthur wore no special insignia as field marshal of the Philippines, except for a modification to his army officer’s cap. To the standard gold-trimmed visor of a United States general's cap, MacArthur added gilt trim to the front body of the cap, above the visor. MacArthur referred to this modified headdress as his "Philippine field marshal's cap" and wore it for the duration of World War II and into the Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

. However, the modified army headdress was against regulations, and MacArthur never officially obtained permission to wear this as a part of his uniform.

On December 31, 1937, MacArthur officially retired from the U.S. Army and the Philippine Army. He ceased to represent the United States as military adviser to the government but remained in the Philippines as Quezon's adviser in a civilian capacity.

After 1946, the rank of field marshal disappeared from the Philippine military and today is obsolete (the highest rank now obtainable is that of general). In theory, the rank could again be conferred, but this would only be in the event of the Philippines' entering into a major war.