General of the Armies That a Commander of the United States shall be appointed and commissioned by the style of General of the Armies of the United States and the present office and title of Lieutenant General shall thereafter be abolished. The rank of General of the Armies was intended for bestowal upon George Washington, who held the rank of "General and Commander-in-Chief" which was a grade senior to all American major generals and brigadier generals from the American Revolutionary War. However, only a few months after the Congressional proposal, Washington died on December 14, 1799. The United States Army at that time had
General of the Armies Bradley in 1981, Congress considered a special recognition to commemorate the passing of the last of the Second World War five star officers. Six weeks after Bradley's death, the House Armed Services Committee sent a letter to the Institute of Heraldry and the Army requesting to know the feasibility of promoting Bradley to the rank of six star general. A brief was issued which repeated much of the concerns raised in 1964 when Douglas MacArthur had been considered posthumously for the rank. The Institute of Heraldry released two insignia designs for the rank of the General of the Armies which