Gold Castles

[1] A pair of the gold pin insignia of the Corps Castle were graduation gifts from his family originally received by cadet and newly commissioned Second Lieutenant Douglas MacArthur at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York in the Class of 1903.

Trained as an engineer, MacArthur wore them through his service in World War I, as Commandant of West Point, as Army Chief of Staff, and as Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Pacific Theater in World War II.

General Sverdrup later recalled that MacArthur told him that, although he personally valued them very much, they "deserved to be worn by a real engineer."

(This was apparently a reference to General MacArthur's transfer from the Corps of Engineers to Infantry in 1917).

Later at the same Fort Belvoir ceremony, General Gribble announced an intention to begin a tradition of passing the gold castle pins along to be worn by each future head of the Corps.