Replies

MacArthur's vehement opposition to Wainwright's proposed award both surprised and stunned General Marshall. He withdrew the recommendation, and while General MacArthur prepared to keep his promise to return to the Philippines, General Wainwright was left to suffer alone in a Japanese prison camp.

MacArthur was utterly shameless.

It is difficult to argue with those who point out that Douglas MacArthur's Medal of Honor was a political move. It is far less difficult to argue the point that it was not deserved.

MacArthur made at least two major blunders that kept the Philippines from holding out longer or even repulsing the initial invasion. 1)He left his air force sitting on the ground hours after he knew about Pearl Harbor despite pleas to attack Taiwan. The Japanese were delayed by bad weather at their end, but when did arrive, our air forces were almost completely destroyed on the ground. 2) He initially planned to meet the Japanese at the Linguyan Gulf beachheads and stocked his ammo and supplies with this in mind. Then he retreated almost immediately to Bataan and abandoned a large part of these stocks to capture or destruction.

He left his air force sitting on the ground hours after he knew about Pearl Harbor despite pleas to attack Taiwan. The Japanese were delayed by bad weather at their end, but when did arrive, our air forces were almost completely destroyed on the ground

Morning Gator Navy. Having his Air Force caught on the ground is something I've never been able to understand.

Good morning Gator Navy.

I don't know enough about MacArthur to support or question him but didn't Roosevelt order him to leave the Philippines and if I recall correctly weren't there some questions about MacArthur's intellegence officers and their culpability in the mistakes made?

1) I wish we could have known what kind of impact the US submarines could have had on the Japanese invasion of the Philippines if their @#$%&*! torpedoes had worked.

2) It is my understanding that a substantial part of the US army forces in the Philippines were New Mexico National Guard. I believe there is a MacArthur High School in Albuquerque. That has suggested to me that the veterans of the Philippines did not feel it was MacArthur that let them down.

I sure would like to know the story of how the New Mexico National Guard ended up in the Philippines, and whether (as I suspect) they were sent there months after the decision was made by the Roosevelt administration to do nothing to support them once in place (as noted in this article).