Generally speaking, the United States frowns on its military officers holding rank in a foreign country's army. General Douglas MacArthur not only did so, but also managed to get paid for his service in a big way.

After the 1932 Bonus Army debacle, General MacArthur continued to serve as U.S. Army chief of staff under a new president, Franklin D. Roosevelt. In 1935, the president of the Philippine commonwealth, Manuel Quezon, asked MacArthur to be the country's military advisor. PBS reports that MacArthur and Quezon were longtime friends, and that President Roosevelt gave MacArthur permission to serve in an advisory role.

That role shifted when, as explained by the Washington Post, MacArthur officially retired from the U.S. Army in 1937 to avoid reassignment. According to History, Quezon then gave MacArthur the rank of Field Marshal in the Philippines Army. Time explains that when the U.S. entered World War II, MacArthur was recalled to active duty, suffering a demotion as he went from a Field Marshal to a Major General overnight

But, according to PBS, some of the pain of that technical demotion was soothed when President Quezon secretly paid MacArthur about $500,000 for the "magnificent defense" he'd organized for the country. While MacArthur's acceptance of the money was most likely legal, it was kept secret until long after his death, and has since undermined his reputation.

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