High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! General of the Army Omar Nelson Bradley (February 12, 1893 April 8, 1981) was one of the main U.S. Army field commanders in North Africa and Europe during World War II and a General of the Army in the United States Army. He was the last surviving five-star commissioned officer of the United States and the first Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Bradley, the son of a schoolteacher, was born into a poor family near Clark, Missouri. He attended Higbee Elementary School and graduated from Moberly High School. Bradley intended to enter the University of Missouri in Columbia; instead, he was advised to try for West Point.