Posted on 01/26/2019 8:21:52 AM PST by Ozguy1945
My father served under Douglas MacArthur in World War Two when Indonesia was liberated from Japan and became an independent republic after centuries of colonisation.
MacArthur was a complex and powerful figure with monumental self confidence. He was a brilliant innovative strategist and a master of the English language.
What do other people think of him?
Other World War II generals like Patton had a grandfather serve in the Civil War but MacArthur had a Congressional Medal of Honor recipient father serve in that war. Then MacArthur the younger served in the Mexican 1914 expedition, as a general in World War I, and as a five star in World War II, and the Korean War. Those facts alone are extraordinary.
He was able to “think along big lines” to use von Mellenthin’s phrase. As an old man he pulled off his finest military accomplishment with the Inchon landing.
MacArthur was brilliant at self-promotion.
He did not seem so brilliant at tactics and strategy.
He had a
He was pretty crummy in defense of the Philippines. Then he went to Australia and did a bang-up job of promoting himself, just as he had done in the Philippines.
At 3:40 a.m. MacArthur was informed of Pearl Harbor and that we were at war with Japan. At noon, over eight hours later, the Japanese attacked Clark field. MacArthur was caught with his pants down. He had done nothing. At about noon in the Philippines, nearly two hundred Japanese Mitsubishi “Betty” bombers and “Zero” fighters struck Clark Field, America’s main military airbase in the Philippines. The attackers were supposed to arrive at the same time as the Pearl Harbor strike, to maximize surprise and catch American planes on the ground. But takeoff had been delayed by fog over their Taiwanese bases. Arriving at Clark Field after a grueling seven-hundred-mile flight, the tired Japanese pilots expected to find the skies swarming with American fighters. Instead, the skies were clear. Even better, instead of being safely dispersed to secondary airfields, U.S. planes on the ground were parked wingtip to wingtip, perfect targets for bombs and machine-gun fire. Within minutes, the powerful U.S. air fleet at Clark Field—the backbone of America’s Philippine defenses—had been smashed. It was a catastrophe almost as devastating as Pearl Harbor. Yet at least Pearl Harbor’s defenders could offer the tepid excuse that they had been caught by surprise tactically, if not strategically. On the other hand, American forces in the Philippines had been alerted nine hours before the Japanese struck. There would be much blame to go around. But the man who earned the most blame was Douglas MacArthur. 3 a.m. Philippine Time on December 8, 1941, Gen. Douglas MacArthur was awakened from his slumber by a telephone call informing him that the Japanese had attacked Pearl Harbor just an hour earlier.
He saved Japan from itself, not to mention he prevented Russia from establishing “spheres of influence” on Hokkaido
MacArthur was responsible for a lot of needless deaths when he insisted on retaking the Philippines in 1944 when it was not at all necessary for the defeat of Japan.
He does deserve credit for Inchon though.
Hawk eye Pierce from the TV Show MASH was scornful of Mac. Generals are not perfect. Too much politics. Not enough listening. Maybe the Captains should run the wars.
MacArthur was a vain, glory-seeking narcissist who was almost as bad as England’s Montgomery. Got no use for the man.
He refused to believe there were Chinese troops in this Korean hills.
I think he was one of a kind that doesn’t exist any longer. Americans that believed Manifest Destiny extended beyond our hemisphere but eventually, to the entire globe. Grant was one of these. I suspect it used to be very popular once. It does explain Mac’s affinity for the Philippines.
I have been to MacArthur’s Park on Gunung Efar in Sentani, Papua, Indonesia. It is there MacArthur built a house (not at all a mansion) and directed the retaking of the Philippines. MacArthur is very much regarded as a hero and a savior. There are many tales in circulation even now about the Americans stationed there. They are all good, especially when contrasted with the brutality of the Japanese who previously occupied the area. One old man I talked with spat after saying the word “Japan.”
MASH was a TV show. Hawkeye Pierce was a fictional character.
My wife’s uncle tortured and killed the day before the US came back. His employee turned him in for sending radio messages to the US Navy.
Bataan reunions still going.
The Japanese will not soon be forgotten in the Philippine sand they don’t much like Chinese either.
Tens of thousands of Americans serving under him who would have been killed off under a different commander would vigorously disagree.
He was pretty crummy in defense of the Philippines.
Only because you've gotten your information from leftist revisionists and from a lesser extent U.S Navy rivals seeking to shift blame.
Instead, the skies were clear. Even better, instead of being safely dispersed to secondary airfields, U.S. planes on the ground were parked wingtip to wingtip, perfect targets for bombs and machine-gun fire. Within minutes, the powerful U.S. air fleet at Clark Field—the backbone of America’s Philippine defenses—had been smashed.
Your citation is that of a carefully crafted revision. Clark had no dispersal area due to lack of repeatedly requested funding by Washington.
U.S. fighter patrols from Clark had been up all morning waiting for the Japanese attack. Planes cannot stay aloft forever. They just happened to have returned to base for refueling as the delayed Japanese force arrived. A few more minutes and they would have been back in the air again.
The Gods of war just happened to favor the Japanese that morning.
There would be much blame to go around. But the man who earned the most blame was Douglas MacArthur.
Such opinion, the courtesy of leftist revisionaries and to a lesser extent U.S. Navy rivals seeking to shift blame.
How? What should MacArthur have done differently... stop attacking towards Japan in 1944 because of a belief that forces under Nimitz would take Okinawa in mid-1945?
Over and above all of MacArthur’s military accomplishments I admire him most for getting himself fired. He stood for what needed to be done in Korea. We needed a general like him in Vietnam instead of ones who went along with Robert S. Mcnamara’s corporate board control that ignored the traditional principles of warfare.
Korea is STILL a powder keg with an unhinged Napoleon wannabee in charge of North Korea’s large army and nuclear weapons.
You've been drinking too much leftist kool-aid. For an initial detox, compare MacArthur's casualties versus those in the Central Pacific.
An enemy of Hollywood is a friend of mine.
MacArthur’s campaigns in the Pacific used American strengths, firepower, airpower, seapower, and logistics to defeat Japan sparing many American lives. The Japanese understood that he had thoroughly defeated them and they showed him great respect for him and for his goal to rebuild a democratic Japan. His ego led him to conclude that China would never intervene in Korea. He was wrong.
Believe it or not, General MacArthur is revered by the Japanese of that era. A downtown Tokyo is literally a MacArthur shrine with pictures in every room.
My dad got there just as the Occupation was closing (and the Korea war was opening up.) I lived there with my folks 1951-1961 and still have contacts some 58 years later.
MacArthur refused to believe that an attack by China would not be dealt with by Truman as an attack by China on the United States.
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