General MacArthur, And The Return To The Philippines
Eighty years ago today — Oct. 20, 1944 — Gen. Douglas MacArthur made good on the promise he had made repeatedly since President Franklin Roosevelt ordered him to leave his beleaguered troops behind in the Philippines in 1942.
The Icon
The son of a Civil War hero who then guarded settlers from Indian attacks in New Mexico, Douglas MacArthur graduated first in his class at West Point and then served as a military aide for President Theodore Roosevelt.
MacArthur became the Army’s first public relations officer, helped sell the American public on the Selective Service Act of 1917 and then became the most decorated American soldier of World War I.
Afterward, MacArthur served as superintendent of West Point and helped build the Philippine military into a fighting force.
The War
A Japanese attack on Dec. 7, 1941, destroyed most of the Philippine air force. By January, MacArthur and his forces of U.S. and Filipino troops were forced onto the Bataan Peninsula and then to Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. In March 1942, President Franklin Roosevelt ordered MacArthur out of harm’s way.
After a harrowing 35-hour trip on a tiny PT boat with his wife and son, the general boarded a B-17. Upon his arrival in Australia, MacArthur issued a promise he’d make time and time again: “I shall return.”
The 70,000 troops MacArthur was forced to leave behind were captured. More than 7,000 died on a forced march.
The Return
For political and logistical reasons, the U.S. pursued objectives in Europe before turning its attention to the Pacific war. MacArthur itched to return to the Philippines but led major campaigns in New Guinea.
On Oct. 20, 1944, he and his naval counterpart, Adm. Chester Nimitz, launched an invasion of Leyte Island. In January, they leaped to the main Filipino island of Luzon. Manila was recaptured in March.
'Fade Away'
After the war, MacArthur was placed in charge of the Japanese home islands. He earned the respect of the Japanese people and helped rebuild the demolished country.
MacArthur was forced back into combat when war broke out in Korea in 1950. However, the general found himself in conflict with President Harry Truman. After months of public criticism of his policies by the general, Truman relieved MacArthur from command in 1951.
Upon his return to the U.S., MacArthur made a farewell speech to a joint session of Congress. “Old soldiers never die,” he said. ”They just fade away.”
MacArthur died in 1964.
Those Famous Photos
MacArthur watched the landings on Leyte Island from the cruiser USS Nashville. Troops had not advanced far from the beach. The area was still under mortar and sniper fire.
The general decided it was time to make landfall. He transferred to a landing craft, which got stuck on the shore. MacArthur and his staff waded ashore and then the general made a brief radio speech, saying: “People of the Philippines: I have returned.”
Rumors persisted for decades that MacArthur’s coming ashore was restaged for photographers, but that’s not true. Not precisely.
Army signal corps photographer Maj. Gaetano Faillace made the picture at the top of this page. An even more famous picture, at left, was taken by Life magazine’s Carl Mydans. And that’s where the mixup comes in.
Mydans made his picture not at the Oct. 20 landing on Leyte Island, but during a landing on Luzon Island, 100 miles north of Manila on Jan. 9, 1945 — nearly three months later.
Both Faillace and Mydans claim MacArthur waded ashore only once each time.
Liberating The Philippines
