Posted on 01/30/2014 7:09:06 PM PST by NKP_Vet
Douglas MacArthur was born JANUARY 26, 1880.
He commanded in France during World War I.
He was superintendent of West Point, 1919-20.
At age 30, he became the youngest Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army.
A four-star general, he retired in 1939, but returned in 1941 to defend the Philippines.
When Japan invaded, President Roosevelt ordered him to Australia, but not before he promised "I shall return."
(Excerpt) Read more at archive.constantcontact.com ...
Only if you believe the Left's version of history.
It's a Marine Thing.
So he didn’t leave his planes bunched on the tarmac after learning about Pearl Harbor? He didn’t fail to have his troops ready for the North Korean invasion of South Korea? And he didn’t overextend his lines and fail to prepare for the Chinese counterattack?
I once thought that, too. However, I checked the dates and found that that is incorrect. Yamamoto was shot down long before Lindbergh went to the South Pacific. At the time Yamamoto was shot down, Lindbergh was in Michigan working for Henry Ford.
MacArthur got a bad rap.
Picture a commander being told to get out of Dodge, leave your poorly-equipped / supplied command and men behind to face an onslaught of Japanese troops.
43,000 battle-hardened Japanese troops faced off against 15,000 Americans and approx 70,000 poorly-trained, poorly-equipped Filipinos.
The Pacific fleet sat on the bottom of Pearl Harbor. The Far East air fleet was destroyed on the tarmac. The Japanese owned the sky and the sea for the time being.
Those valiant troops on Bataan held the Japs at bay for three months and slaughtered them, all the while performing a fighting retreat further and further into the Bataan jungle, with no hope of resupply, or relief. They did so much damage to the Japs that General Homma was going to commit ritual seppuku in front of the Emperor out of humiliation. One of the reasons the Death March happened was because of the humiliation the Japs endured at the hands of the Americans and Filipino defenders.
FDR ordered MacArthur to leave; the Japanese were broadcasting over the radio, saying they were going to publicly HANG MacArthur and his family when they captured him. FDR ordered him to leave and get to Australia to start to organize and build up there.
And he went back in force later... as he promised.
He planned an amazing landing at Inchon later on in Korea, and was absolutely correct in that China and Russia were the real enemy behind that war.
RE Yamamoto’s shoot down:
That’s an incredible story, one I’ve always been fascinated by... we were “reading their mail” basically, knew where he would be on a specific date and time, sent a squadron after him, and shot him out of the sky over Bougainville in the Solomon Islands.
Pure revenge against the guy who planned Pearl Harbor.
I guess the modern equivalent would be going after and taking out Bin Laden... (and look at the way libs reacted to that).
China was behind the eastern (Pacific) part of WWII????Maybe you mean 'after that war'
Having trouble following that.
Mao Zedong didn't take over till 1949.
In fact Europeans lived in China (Shanghai )till Japanese rounded them up. In fact many Jews fled Europe (Hitler) and went to China.
That was clearly the Japanese that started that pretty much on their own, and they are partially responsible for the communists taking over China..
”He planned an amazing landing at Inchon later on in Korea, and was absolutely correct in that China and Russia were the real enemy behind that war.”
Okay, okay, maybe I should have clarified by saying “During the KOREAN WAR, later on...”
When our guys went to the Yalu river, China sent 300,000 troops into the war, instead of just weapons and ammunition. And Russian and Chinese pilots were flying NK MiGs against out guys.
You meant Korean war? That makes sense.
Yes. Sorry bro, I assumed it was evident.
Nope. They had been on high alert and just happened to be caught on the ground refueling. They were bunched up because Clark Field was little more than an airstrip without dispersal areas.
He didn’t fail to have his troops ready for the North Korean invasion of South Korea?
Why not go ahead and blame MacArthur for losing China? Truman is the one that was pulling U.S. forces out of South Korea and not paying attention to Communist provocations.
And he didn’t overextend his lines and fail to prepare for the Chinese counterattack?
At the time, he was fighting the Korean War and was just a few square miles from completing the mission. North Korea was finished. The war would be over once a few remaining square miles of North Korean territory had been mopped up.
Once China invaded, it became an entirely new war, something few historians have pointed out. In processing intelligence reports of a Chinese buildup behind the Yalu, MacArthur may have overestimated Truman and assumed that if the Chinese attacked, Turman would have interpreted it as a brand new war between the U.S. and China. In the meantime, Mao probably had assurances from Stalin that Truman had no intention of widening the conflict.
You switched wars on me too fast to follow.
I always liked those history subjects.
I have a draft of a letter, written in the 1950s by my wife’s paternal grandfather, bitching at President Truman for relieving MacArthur in Korea.
Her grandfather was actually a Spanish-American War vet, believe it or not; ran away from home and joined the Navy at 15 years old (obviously lied about his age) and was at Manila with Dewey’s fleet. We have mail with letterhead that reads “Spanish American War Veterans Association” on it.
He takes Truman to task for relieving MacArthur and “placating all the leftover communists from FDR in your administration”.
There are many cross-outs and re-writes, but it’s clear he was pretty passionate about it.
Funny... they had the same idiots to deal with in the Democrat party then as we do now; except now, the democrats are completely communist, as opposed to just having some within their midst.
That’s a LIE!
While I could never watch it, I never got the humor, its amazing how anti-Korean war TV comedy MASH became so popular.
Its replayed on ME-TV now. In the 1980s re-runs of it saturated the airwaves.
My father and his brother seemed to like it(both enlisted in WWII) , personally I prefer Hogan’s Heroes by far.
“MASH” had some funny episodes, but I can’t stomach Alan Alda and that other left-wing idiot Ferrel.
Hogan’s Heroes, yes. Funny show.
And he was fired by a commander-in-chief that didn’t want to win wars by the name of Harry Truman. This notion of going to fight wars with no intention to win them has cost this country mightily in tax dollar and human life ever, and respect around the world. It all started in Korea when the little no-knowing Harry Truman fired one of the greatest general officers in the history of the country. Obama reminds of Truman, firing generals that actually want to win wars.
Truman at least was an American who served honorably in WWI (artillery).
Whatever else Harry may or may not have been, he’s got that to his credit. I don’t think he hated his own country.
Teleprompter boy.... not so much.
In any REAL history MacArthur was one of history's great commanders. He made mistakes for sure, but not many and not often. He has also the most decorated American of WW1, decorated for bravery in action.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.