Gen. George C. Marshall Quotes in MacArthur (1977)

Lt. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland: Inchon has some of the highest tides in the world, but only once a month do they reach a height sufficient for our largest landing craft to go in. There are maybe two three-hour periods when MacArthur can put troops ashore. Which is not enough time for a major amphibious landing.

Gen. Sampson: Exactly. This is little more than a trench in the mudflats. If every possible handicap were listed, Inchon has them all.

Lt. Gen. Richard K. Sutherland: However, gentlemen, MacArthur claims that these very handicaps are what he's counting on. He feels that the enemy won't believe that anyone would try to surmount such obstacles. The element of surprise will be his most valuable ally.

President Harry S. Truman: [Looks at Gen. George C. Marshall] What do you think of His Majesty's plan?

Gen. George C. Marshall: It's daring... it's brilliant... and it's dangerous.

Gen. George C. Marshall: My dear Mrs Ryan: It's with the most profound sense of joy that I write to inform you your son, Private James Ryan, is well and, at this very moment, on his way home from European battlefields. Reports from the front indicate James did his duty in combat with great courage and steadfast dedication, even after he was informed of the tragic loss your family has suffered in this great campaign to rid the world of tyranny and oppresion. I take great pleasure in joining the Secretary of War, the men and women of the U.S. Army, and the citizens of a grateful nation in wishing you good health and many years of happiness with James at your side. Nothing, not even the safe return of a beloved son, can compensate you, or the thousands of other American families, who have suffered great loss in this tragic war. I might share with you some words which have sustained me through long, dark nights of peril, loss, and heartache. And I quote: "I pray that our Heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the alter of freedom." -Abraham Lincoln. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, George C. Marshall, General, Chief of Staff.

Gen. George C. Marshall: I have a letter here, written a long time ago, to a Mrs. Bixby in Boston. So bear with me. "Dear Madam: I have been shown in the files of the War Department a statement of the Adjutant-General of Massachusetts that you are the mother of five sons who have died gloriously on the field of battle. I feel how weak and fruitless must be any words of mine which should attempt to beguile you from the grief of a loss so overwhelming. But I cannot refrain from tendering to you the consolation that may be found in the thanks of the Republic they died to save. I pray that our heavenly Father may assuage the anguish of your bereavement, and leave you only the cherished memory of the loved and lost, and the solemn pride that must be yours to have laid so costly a sacrifice upon the altar of freedom. Yours very sincerely and respectfully, Abraham Lincoln."

Gen. George C. Marshall: That boy is alive. We are gonna send somebody to find him. And we are gonna get him the Hell... outta there.