Established in 1881, the United States Army Command and General Staff College (CGSC) has played a decisive role in the education and training of officers in times of war and peace. It has had a profound effect on many fields of battle by providing its students the required skills of battle management, leadership development, and the most modern and effective command and staff action procedures. All of these have been key to our Nation’s success in its many military conflicts, which have helped preserve our freedoms and way of life. The CGSC is the country’s oldest and largest military staff college. The 5-star generals who attended or taught at CGSC are:
- Douglas MacArthur
- George C. Marshall
- Henry “Hap” Arnold
- Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Omar N. Bradley
The Secretary of the Treasury is authorized to mint and issue up to 100,000 $5 gold, 500,000 $1 silver and 750,000 half-dollar clad coins in recognition of these five United States Army 5-star generals to coincide with the celebration of the 132nd anniversary of the founding of the CGSC. As authorized, in 2013, the United States will honor the generals with the minting of three commemorative coins. Their five portraits will be distributed across the three obverse (heads side) coin designs, while the reverse (tails) designs are all emblematic of the CGSC at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.
The final designs were approved by the Department of the Treasury on September 7, 2012, after consultation with the CGSC Foundation and the U.S. Commission of Fine Arts, and review by the Citizens Coinage Advisory Committee.