Editing Omar Bradley (section)

==West Point and early military career==
[[File:Group photo of the 1915 West Point lettermen.png|thumb|right|Group photo of the 1915 West Point letterman. Bradley is standing in the back row, third from the right.]]

At West Point, Bradley played three years of varsity baseball including the 1914 team. Every player on that team who remained in the army ultimately became a general. Bradley graduated from West Point in 1915 as part of a class that produced many future generals, and which military historians have called "[[the class the stars fell on]]". Bradley's [[cullum number]] is 5356.<ref name="Cullum 1920"/> There were ultimately 59 future [[general officer]]s in that graduating class, among whom Bradley and [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] attained the rank of [[General of the Army (United States)|General of the Army]]. Eisenhower was elected in 1952 in a landslide victory as [[President of the United States|34th President of the United States]]. Among the numerous others who became generals were [[Joseph T. McNarney]], [[Henry Aurand]], [[James Van Fleet]], [[Stafford LeRoy Irwin]], [[John W. Leonard]], [[Joseph May Swing]], [[Paul J. Mueller]], [[Charles W. Ryder]], [[Leland Hobbs]], [[Vernon Prichard]], [[John B. Wogan]], [[Roscoe B. Woodruff]], [[John French Conklin]], [[Walter W. Hess]], and [[Edwin A. Zundel]].{{sfn|Taaffe|2013|p=75}}

Bradley was [[Officer (armed forces)|commissioned]] as a [[second lieutenant]] into the [[Infantry Branch (United States)|Infantry Branch]] of the [[United States Army]] and was first assigned to the [[14th Infantry Regiment (United States)|14th Infantry Regiment]]. 
<ref name="Cullum 1920"/> He served on the [[Mexico–United States border]] in 1915, defending it from incursions due to the Mexican civil war. On 1 July 1916 he was promoted to [[first lieutenant]].<ref name="Cullum 1920"/>

When the United States entered [[World War I]] in April 1917 (see the [[American entry into World War I]]), he was promoted to [[Captain (United States O-3)|captain]] on 15 May<ref name="Cullum 1920"/> and sent to guard the [[Butte, Montana]] [[copper]] mines, considered of strategic importance. Bradley was promoted to the temporary rank of major in June 1918<ref name="Cullum 1920"/> and assigned to command the second battalion of the 14th Infantry,<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VT6S93OOTFgC&dq=o+n+bradley+14th+infantry+regiment&pg=PP8|title = Omar Nelson Bradley: The Centennial|last1 = Kirkpatrick|first1 = Charles Edward|year = 1992}}</ref> joined the [[19th Division (United States)|19th Division]] in August 1918, which was scheduled for European deployment, but the [[Spanish flu|influenza pandemic]] and the [[Armistice of 11 November 1918|armistice with Germany]] on 11 November 1918, that fall intervened.

[[File:Eisenhower Football.jpg|thumb|right|450px|The 1912 West Point football team. [[Dwight D. Eisenhower]] is third from left. [[Louis Merillat]] is eighth from the left, in the A sweater. Omar Bradley is on the far right, to the left of [[Leland Hobbs]].]]

From September 1919 until September 1920, Bradley served as assistant professor of military science at South Dakota State College (now University) in [[Brookings, South Dakota]].

During the difficult period [[Interwar period|between the wars]], he taught and studied. From 1920 to 1924, Bradley taught mathematics at West Point.{{sfn|Taaffe|2013|p=75}} He was promoted to [[Major (United States)|major]] in 1924 and took the advanced infantry course at [[Fort Benning, Georgia]]. After brief duty in Hawaii, Bradley was selected to study at the [[United States Army Command and General Staff College|U.S. Army Command and General Staff School]] at [[Fort Leavenworth]], [[Kansas]] in 1928–29. Upon graduating, he served as an instructor in tactics at the U.S. Army Infantry School. While Bradley was serving in this assignment, the school's assistant commandant, [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|Lieutenant Colonel]] [[George C. Marshall]], described Bradley as "quiet, unassuming, capable, with sound common sense. Absolute dependability. Give him a job and forget it."<ref name="Credo Reference">{{cite book|title=The Reader's Companion to Military History}}</ref>

From 1929, Bradley taught again at West Point, studying at the [[United States Army War College|U.S. Army War College]] in 1934. Bradley was promoted to lieutenant colonel on 26 June 1936<ref name="Generals of World War II">{{cite web|url=https://generals.dk/general/Bradley/Omar_Nelson/USA.html|title=Biography of General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley (1893−1981), USA|website=generals.dk}}</ref> and worked at the [[United States Department of War|War Department]]; after 1938 he was directly reporting to [[Chief of Staff of the United States Army|U.S. Army Chief of Staff]] Marshall.

On 20 February 1941, Bradley was promoted to the (wartime) temporary rank of [[Brigadier general (United States)|brigadier general]] (bypassing the rank of [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]].)<ref>Hollister, Jay. "[http://history.sandiego.edu/GEN/WW2Timeline/bradley3.html General Omar Nelson Bradley] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080509150518/http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/WW2Timeline/bradley3.html |date=2008-05-09 }}". [[University of San Diego]] History Department. May 3, 2001. Retrieved on May 14, 2007.</ref><ref name="Generals of World War II"/> (This rank was made permanent by the army in September 1943). The temporary rank was conferred to allow him to command the [[United States Army Infantry School|U.S. Army Infantry School]] at [[Fort Benning]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]] (he was among the first from his class to reach even a temporary rank of general officer; first was his West Point classmate [[Luis R. Esteves|Luis Esteves]], who was promoted Brigadier general in October 1940<ref>Ammentorp, Steen. "[http://www.generals.dk/general/Esteves/Luis_Raul/USA.html Biography of Major-General Luis Raul Esteves] ".  Retrieved on July 5, 2020.</ref>). While serving in this position he played a key part in developing the officer candidate school model.{{sfn|Taaffe|2013|p=76}}

Almost a year later, on 15 February 1942, over two months after the American entry into [[World War II]], Bradley was made a temporary [[Major general (United States)|major general]] (a rank made permanent in September 1944) and soon took command of the [[82nd Airborne Division|82nd Infantry Division]] (soon to be redesignated as the 82nd Airborne Division) before succeeding Major General [[James Garesche Ord]] as commander of the [[28th Infantry Division (United States)|28th Infantry Division]] in June.