Part 3 of the Stars and Stripes Article about Jean MacArthur

Dear Family Trails readers,

Here is the final section of the article about Mrs. Douglas MacArthur. I hope you enjoy it. I found it to be inspirational. In our family, we have a saying that we quote to one another when things are difficult: BLOOM WHERE YOU ARE PLANTED. Mrs. Douglas MacArthur surely did bloom where she was planted—on the other side of the world during the over-whelming post-WWII challenges. From the details in this 3-part article (see the 2 previous posts of Family Trails), Jean MacArthur handled "where she was planted" with grace, dignity, compassion for the suffering, with hospitality, and a great deal of patience those many years separated from her home country.


Busy Hostess

Coupled with all that are her duties as wife and hostess for the Supreme Commander, few are the international figures passing through Tokyo who are not invited to the MacArthur's for luncheon or tea, or less frequently, dinner. 

And she crowds the task of being a supervisor, mother, hostess and party-goer into the hours when MacArthur is away from home; she is always with him when he is not a the office. 

In some seven years of active military life, since MacArthur was recalled to duty in 1941, Mrs. MacArthur has had only one vacation. This spring, Lt. Gen. Robert Eichelberger, commander of the Army of Occupation, took her on a five-day trip through the provinces of Japan.

Even that wasn't entirely a vacation for she brought her husband home a revealing insight, from the woman's angle, of conditions in outlying areas of Nippon.

Those closest to the MacArthur's have long regarded Jean as one of the general's most important sounding boards: a trusted confidante and partner well-schooled in the problems he faces and able to interpret his broad vision in to readily understandable terms. She still finds time to visit American hospitals as she did during the war. Her easy, gracious laugh makes her one of the most welcome of all visitors. 

Perfect Figure

At 48 years of age, her figure is perfect and there is no gray in her hair. Her speech is still the rapid, softly punched tones of a Tennesseean; her eyes sparkle with interest and enthusiasm. 

She likes simple clothes. At tea, when she usually entertains her own close friends in Tokyo, she wears a black dress with a string of pearls around her neck and her diamond wrist watch as the only accessories. The wrist watch was presented to her by MacArthur upon arrival in Australia, from Corregidor, five years ago. 

Her memory, almost as prodigious as her husband's, is a source of continual wonder to her friends. She knows where all of MacArthur's former senior officers are and what and how they are doing. She corresponds wit many of them.

Jean MacArthur is today the first lady of Japan and of the Pacific. Because she is as publicly shy and retiring as she is charming and gracious, her name has never been widely known. But those who have met her will never forget her; the great lady of one of the nation's greatest leaders. 

I am at a loss for how to close this week's edition of "Weaver Wednesday' after reflecting of this article, so I will just end with 

GOD BLESS AMERICA. 

Love,

Mariellan