Soldiers reflect on 65th anniv. of Leyte landings

The Virginian-Pilot ^ | 18 Oct 09 | Bill Sizemore

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NORFOLK

Don Dencker was a 19-year-old draftee on Oct. 20, 1944, when he became part of one of the most storied military operations of World War II.

A soldier in the 96th Infantry Division, Dencker was hauled ashore at 10 a.m. by an amphibious vehicle on Leyte, an island in the Philippines, after occupying Japanese troops there had undergone relentless bombardment from an armada of Allied ships offshore.

Scrambling across the beach toward the hills beyond, his outfit wiped out the remaining Japanese resistance within three hours.

Around 2 p.m., on a beach 30 miles away, Dencker's boss made a somewhat grander entrance.

Gen. Douglas MacArthur strode through the surf and read a proclamation to the Filipino people pledging to drive the Japanese out and liberate the islands.

He was fulfilling the promise he had made 2-1/2 years earlier when he escaped the Philippines just before American and Filipino forces capitulated to the Japanese, famously declaring, "I shall return."

The Japanese were decisively defeated on Leyte in one of the pivotal engagements of the war.

Dencker, 84, of Sun Prairie, Wis., is one of a dwindling band of veterans who will converge on the MacArthur Memorial on Saturday to mark the 65th anniversary of the Leyte landings and liberation of the Philippines.

It is likely to be the last large gathering of its kind.

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Won't be seeing too many of these any more. My favorite years of the 24 I spent in the Navy were 1994 and 1995. The ship I was on spent almost a year just participating in 50th anniversary commemorations across the Pacific including Leyte in October. Got to meet a lot of the vets who came out for the ceremonies.

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"The first day was beautiful, and by 7 o'clock that evening it was raining," he said. "I think it rained every day for the next 30 days. My uniform just about rotted off me."

I remember on the way into Leyte Gulf we hit a wall of rain that was so heavy we had to turn around and head back out to sea. We were totally blinded visually and the radar picture was solid video. It was the hardest rain I've ever seen.

[Ax]

My first ever overseas tour was at Clark Air Base, north of Manila. I think it was on 4 July 1962 when I was coming out of a bar in Angeles and there was a big commotion. The General himself was riding down the main, muddy drag there, in an open car, looking very regal. The Filipinos adored the man.

[Kirkwood]

My father, who is still living, was there at that moment and took a photograph of MacArthur coming ashore with his little folding pocket camera. He took many photographs of Leyte and later the remains of Manila.

[Harold Shea]

Always wondered what a McAurthur presidency would have been like.

The way he re-built Japan was amazing

[A.A. Cunningham]