My Dad was there that day.
Third day of the invasion of Luzon.
Just to the left of this picture there was a quay. Where all of the ships docked up to unload. MacArthur thought it would be more impressive IF he and the rest of them waded ashore. Then he said “I have returned”.
When my father came ashore earlier in the day they had to walk on the bodies of the dead Australian and US Marines that covered the beachhead.
That would have been Oct 20, 1944. MacArthur went in on the 3rd wave Oct 20.
Oct 17-19 were spent taking minor outlying islands.
Just to the left of this picture there was a quay. Where all of the ships docked up to unload. MacArthur thought it would be more impressive IF he and the rest of them waded ashore. Then he said “I have returned”.
You know for a fact that MacArthur landed on the beach for reason you just stated??
Any chance that them being in a landing barge and the uncertainty as the whether any quay might be mined and booby trapped had a role in using a landing barge in the manner it was designed to be used?
When my father came ashore earlier in the day they had to walk on the bodies of the dead Australian and US Marines that covered the beachhead.
Leyte was a US army operation. No Australians. No US Marine fighting force.