MacArthur's Escape from Corregidor 1942 (80th Anniversary) - James Zobel 

It was a great show. I only jumped in with questions to give poor James a break lol

Bulkeley always loved MacArthur for using his PT boats (the PT boats were a part of MacArthur's Navy, not Nimitz/King's Navy, at the time) to evacuate and not do the cheap submarine escape. Just imagine if MacArthur and those 7 other generals/admirals escaped via submarine. The nicknames for MacArthur would be far worse than "Dugout Doug", which is truly a laughable nickname given MacArthur braved frontline bombs and bullets from December 1941 all the way to the end of WWII despite being a 4-star/5-star general while all the other eventual 5-star generals/admirals were giving orders from safe places hundreds or thousands of miles away. Nimitz spent 99% of WWII in Pearl Harbor, for example, yet MacArthur is called a "coward" for some reason. MacArthur also got 2 DSCs and 7 Silver Stars and 2 Purple Hearts for bravery and leading troops in combat in trenches and no man's land as a colonel/brigadier general in France in World War I. That PT boat escape was one of the most epic moments in U.S. military history. If one of those Japanese cruisers had detected them they would have all been killed or captured, most likely all killed because the Japanese would have thought those were a bunch of low-ranking sailors.

They also when through 2 Typhoons in the South Pacific The Philippines & many other Islands.

It is different when the actual man’s life is matched, almost week by week, to how the world affected (and in turn how he affected the world) the man. I had known his family’s presence had affected him, but probably not as much as it did.

Montgomery thought very highly of MacArthur (don't know if that was mentioned in the video - haven't watched it yet).

It's okay to not be a fan of MacArthur. He really never wanted everybody to love him, which is what makes people who like him love him even more, otherwise he would have pandered to everybody everywhere like Ike/Marshall/Bradley did and never rocked the boat. The reason why I like MacArthur is because he triggers so many haters of him and it makes me take great pleasure in pointing out the good things about him to his critics who usually regurgitate a lot of complete lies from Truman, FDR, and Eisenhower hagiographers with an axe to grind against MacArthur because of jealousy. I've never seen any other U.S. military servicemember trigger so much hate and so much love as I see with MacArthur. I mean the emotions from people regarding MacArthur are even more extreme than the fans and haters of Grant and Lee! Google, for example, makes sure to ALWAYS automatically pin to the top of every "Douglas MacArthur" related search at the top of the search results that ridiculous fairytale of slander against MacArthur from TIME magazine. He kind of broke Google didn't he, haha. It makes him incredibly fascinating to study about. The whole point of a great general is he gets the job done and does it well...not whether people like his personality or not. I know that WWI is always criminally covered up in the USA sadly but MacArthur was called the "Fighting Dude" and "D'Artagnan" by his grunts and officers who served under him in the legendary 42nd "Rainbow" Division for a reason (26 different states' National Guard troops mingled together, as created by MacArthur, and MacArthur was the one in charge of them...so MacArthur pretty much fought as a de facto National Guardsman in WWI). He made Patton blush in awe and in reverence to him when they met each other for the first time in their lives in no man's land at the Battle of St. Mihiel in September 1918. Patton said MacArthur was the bravest man he ever met. I mean MacArthur NEVER wore a helmet in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War! MacArthur already proved himself in WWI as a combat fighting general who literally led trench raids against Germans, did personal reconnaissance at night while a brigadier general into German territory, and he was always the first man over the top when his 42nd Division were going on the offensive. What more did he have to prove himself other than to whiny political and media opponents of his who wanted him to be a fighting general again in WWII and Korea? He was already retired from the Army in 1935 and in WWII/Korea he was ordered out of retirement by FDR and Truman to continue serving! Do people really expect a 62 year old retired general to pick up a gun and work his magic like he did in WWI 25 years earlier??? And even with that said he still exposed himself to Japanese airstrikes for 3 months at Corregidor rather than "hide in a dugout". He would mingle with the grunts outside of Malinta Tunnel daily during Japanese bombing runs and artillery strieks and he refused to hide in that tunnel. In December 1941 the Japanese almost killed him in a targeted airstrike at Corregidor. MacArthur's home was destroyed and one Japanese bomb even landed only 10 feet from MacArthur because MacArthur refused to hide in the air raid shelter and chose to walk outside with his low-ranking soldiers and count and scout the Japanese planes and try to inspire his men to not be afraid. And haters of MacArthur call him a "coward" or "Dugout Doug"???? The reason he didn't go to Bataan often was because of that Japanese air raid in December that almost killed him. And if you actually research about MacArthur, rather than hiding in a bunker he actually proceeded to land on the beaches, D-Day style, and fly in airplanes over dangerous battle areas over and over again in 1943-45. There is a reason his successful Operation Cartwheel, Reno Plan (Aitape and Hollandia), and 1944-45 Philippines campaign are never talked about in WWII documentaries and WWII history books: because of the extreme hatred of MacArthur by the very biased USN and USMC and their cult-like propaganda machine. MacArthur had made sure that no USMC personnel would participate in ground combat on the island of New Guinea and later in the Philippines 1944-45 campaign. He made sure the U.S. Army soldiers were the only ones taking part in the ground combat campaigns. As an example, in the Philippines campaign only 1,500 Marines took part in ground combat from Oct 1944 to Aug 1945. These were all artillerymen and they only served about 6-7 weeks during the Battle of Leyte and then they evacuated the Philippines. Simply put, the USMC/USN after 75 years are STILL angry at MacArthur and always make sure to downplay his contributions to the Pacific Theater and they always omit New Guinea, Cartwheel, Reno Plan, and Philippines 1944-45 from all textbooks and documentaries about WWII. And even when they successfully cut out MacArthur from every forms of media including that BS "The Pacific" propaganda HBO series that doesn't show a single campaign or battle happen in MacArthur's theater of operations they have to do more crap like make Google always automatically show at the top of all MacArthur search results that slandering/lying TIME magazine fairytale that talks shit about MacArthur. MacArthur also instead of hiding hundreds or thousands of miles away embarked on the USS Nashville and USS Boise during the Battle of Leyte Gulf and Battle of Lingayen Gulf when it was such a dangerous battle zone. He exposed himself to Japanese kamikazes, Japanese aerial bombs, and Japanese torpedoes. There were so many ships sunk or damaged by the kamikazes during that time. He switched from the Nashville to the Boise and two days later the Nashville was heavily damaged by a kamikaze, killing 130 and wounding 200 more. When do we ever see any other 5-star general or 5-star admiral during WWII doing this type of brave stuff like MacArthur (Halsey was not a 5-star admiral until December 1945, after WWII)??? Nimitz was in Pearl Harbor during all of WWII and never ever embarked on a ship during a naval battle. During the Battle of Manila and Battle of Luzon in 1945 MacArthur kept driving and walking to the very front of the battle line, only a few yards from the Japanese, so he could talk to the privates and encourage them to fight and not be scared. He again never wore a helmet like always. If you read diaries from the Army grunts who actually witnessed him doing this they always talked about how shocked they are that he does all this without wearing a helmet. There is a reason his haters try to pretend that MacArthur's successes and bravery are never ever talked about and always covered up. Also, Peleliu was NIMITZ' fault. If Formosa had been chosen instead of the Philippines Nimitz would have invaded Peleliu also! That is how strong the USMC/USN propaganda cult is. Something that was 100% Nimitz' fault is blamed completely on MacArthur for some reason and it sticks on MacArthur, unfairly. Also the Battle of Iwo Jima turned out to be strategically worthless in the end, like Peleliu (Nimitz' fault!). They could have forced the Japanese into death by dehydration or quick surrender without any amphibious invasion by bombing and destroying all the drinking water storage tanks on Iwo Jima. Imagine if MacArthur was in charge of Iwo Jima and those drinking water tanks turned out to be known long before the battle happened and nothing was done to destroy them before and during the battle and imagine the angry rants by all the USN/USMC and anti-MacArthur historians that they would be whining about now. Instead, Nimitz and the USMC are praised as "heroes" thanks to that USMC/USN propaganda cult instead. One more thing..."Dugout/Bunker Ike" Eisenhower literally hid in a bunker at Versaille Palace in Paris during the Battle of the Bulge crying for his mommy. But MacArthur was the "bad guy" and the only one with a PR/propaganda department, huh? Ike's propaganda department really was the best because nobody today ever talks about him hiding in a bunker during the Battle of the Bulge. Nimitz' propaganda department was great too because nobody to this day ever calls him "Bunker/Dugout Nimitz" despite him really deserving that nickname for refusing to ever leave Pearl Harbor.

Jim has a photographic memory, just like General MacArthur did. The MacArthur Memorial is incredibly lucky to have him.

The Imperial Japanese in early 1942 on Filipino radio were broadcasting daily that they were literally going to chop MacArthur's head off in front of the emperor in Tokyo if they captured him alive. It is really strange how his haters always forget to mention that. And FDR/Ike/Marshall would have been more than happy to let the Japanese murder him because they HATED MacArthur, but Australian Prime Minister Curtin was a huge MacArthur fan and Curtin twisted FDR and Churchill's arms in order to force MacArthur to evacuate the Philippines. Curtin was the one who helped to evacuate MacArthur. He wanted nobody else but MacArthur to become the de facto Australian Minister of Defense (which MacArthur did in fact become from 1942-45). For some reason we never hear about stuff like this from the "official historians", right? Also with regards to Korea the Truman State Department was infested with communists. Thanks to the British spies known as the Cambridge Five Spy Ring, Beijing and Moscow knew all of MacArthur's plans in North Korea and knew about Truman ordering MacArthur to not send a single airplane into Manchurian airspace, even reconnaissance airplanes. The CIA and Pentagon were telling MacArthur not to worry and the Chinese were not going to invade North Korea. MacArthur had zero of his spies in Moscow and Beijing and he also was banned by Truman from sending a single UN plane like a reconnaissance plane into Manchuria. MacArthur is so lucky that he has Zobel working for his memorial and Zobel is doing a great job of giving a balanced, but leaning positive of course, view of MacArthur. You should watch Zobel's 20-35 minute discussions about a MacArthur topic (really the most random but important topics like "MacArthur and JFK" and "MacArthur's 1961 farewell tour of the Philippines") at the MacArthur Memorial RU-vid channel. Fascinating stuff. I remember watching Zobel give a speech on RU-vid at the Truman Library, I think, and he gave an amazing hour-long presentation on George Marshall and MacArthur's career with each other from WWI to Korea. He was talking about how before he became the archivist at the MacArthur Memorial in the early 1990s he HATED MacArthur so much. He would automatically regurgitate every single nasty, slanderous thing said about MacArthur before he worked there. Then after 30 years there he now loves MacArthur after literally working everyday with every single document and letter that was owned by MacArthur, haha. Go figure. One last point: JFK worshiped MacArthur but strangely this is never ever talked about. 1961-64 was one helluva swan song of MacArthur's service to his country. JFK followed MacArthur's advice in 1962 to do a naval blockade and not bomb or invade Cuba when the Cuban Missile Crisis happened. The JCS unanimously told JFK to bomb and invade Cuba during the crisis and to kill Soviet soldiers. All active-duty and retired generals and admirals pushed JFK to bomb and invade Cuba. But who did JFK listen to? The lone wolf who was always pitting himself against the world, MacArthur. JFK also refused to send combat troops to Laos and Vietnam thanks to who again? MacArthur. Whenever Congress, Pentagon, CIA, and advisors kept urging him to send combat troops there he would always tell them, "If you can go to NYC and convince General MacArthur to agree with you then you have automatically won me over". That always ended the conversation.

Bulkeley was one of the biggest MacArthur fans ever. He called MacArthur the greatest military servicemember in U.S. history. He staunchly defended his beloved General MacArthur for the rest of his life and couldn't stand it when people talked trash about MacArthur. JFK, another Navy grunt like Bulkeley who served under MacArthur in Operation Cartwheel, was another huge MacArthur fan. It is strange how the Truman/Marshall/Eisenhower hagiographers who hate MacArthur so much never ever mention the many WWII Pacific veterans who loved MacArthur and they claim that only a handful of MacArthur's staff loved him. MacArthur banning the USMC from ground combat operations in New Guinea and Philippines 1944-45 is a huge reason why the USN/USMC propaganda machine always neglect to mention the South West Pacific Theater and pretend that MacArthur didn't do anything in the Pacific theater. In the Philippines only 1,500 USMC artillerymen served in ground combat for 6 weeks in the Battle of Leyte and then they were evacuated from the Philippines. MacArthur's New Guinea and Philippines 1944-45 campaigns led to far fewer dead U.S. troops than Nimitz' Central Pacific operations. New Guinea and Philippines are also a helluva lot bigger area of land than Peleliu (Nimitz would have invaded Peleliu if Formosa was invaded instead of the Philippines, btw), Saipan, Guam, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa. MacArthur lost about 18-20K killed U.S. troops in Philippines vs 450,000 dead Japanese troops while Nimitz lost 20K killed U.S. troops in Okinawa vs 125,000 dead Japanese troops. The argument was always Philippines vs Formosa. Iwo Jima and Okinawa were never going to happen unless either Formosa or Philippines was invaded first. And Formosa (a very, very pro-Japanese imperial colony) required about 700,000 troops to invade vs 250,000 troops for Philippines because of the very friendly Filipino troops. Formosa invasion would not have happened until June 1945, after Germany surrendered, due to the need for 700,000 Allied invasion troops and Iwo Jima/Okinawa as a result would not have happened until early 1946.

Sounds much like Curchill and the dervish in Sudan.

Yep that is a possibility

Thank you Andreas

Thanks Bazza

One important thing to note since you mention that...Jim Zobel, the MacArthur expert, HATED MacArthur like you do until he was hired to be the archivist in the early 1990s. Zobel over 3 decades turned from a hardcore MacArthur hater into a huge fan of MacArthur nowadays. MacArthur really was one of a kind and whatever you think about him he is far more interesting than the "boring" famous U.S. generals and admirals in U.S. history who never served in combat and never exposed themselves to enemy fire like MacArthur did all the time in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. MacArthur's pinky finger saw more combat than the combined military careers of Eisenhower, Marshall, Bradley, Nimitz, and Ernest King. There's a reason MacArthur has so many admirers. He was also called the "Fighting Dude" during WWI by his own soldiers in the legendary 42nd "Rainbow" Division in the Western Front in France. Look up MacArthur embarking on the USS Nashville and USS Boise in Leyte Gulf and Mindoro and Lingayen Gulf during the liberation of the Philippines. Instead of hiding in Pearl Harbor like Nimitz or hiding in DC like Marshall MacArthur literally traveled with his men to Leyte and Luzon and his ships were under daily attack from Japanese submarines, Japanese aerial bombs, and Japanese kamikaze attacks. It is really strange how MacArthur haters always have amnesia about this part of his career in WWII.

Hi, as a RU-vidr yourself, how about starting such a comment with something positive, then mentioning what you believe should have been said. It's so easy to just point out what we didn't say, or could have said, but some positivity first is always appreciated

@@WW2TV my apology sir, Thanks for your video by the way..All in all, it's very Informative story about General MacArthur Escape from the Philippines in 1942👍👍Two thumbs up

Thank you

Maybe not necessary to defeat Japan, but necessary to liberate the people of the Philippines

We have more intelligence and not to mention guerilla allies in the Philippines than in Taiwan. It's pretty inevitable.

I think Patton was there too.

A young officer named Dwight Eisenhower was one of MacArthur's aides. He later criticized his boss for showing up personally at the Bonus Camp site. "I told that dumb sonofabitch not to go down there", but Ike also endorsed his actions in the official Army report. Patton was a major in charge of the tank detachment used to overrun the camp.

You mean he stopped an anarchist/communist/fascist violent uprising from happening. The Bonus Army RIOTERS (in your own words) attacked the DC police first and the police shot two of them dead. The situation was incredibly chaotic and Hoover ordered MacArthur to stop them and he did so while killing only one person (smoke inhalation and was accidental). MacArthur actually sent kitchens and tents to the Bonus Army but Congress and Hoover immediately banned him from assisting them and they cut off his resources so he could no longer help them. Blame Congress and Hoover for the Bonus Army disaster, not MacArthur. Also it turns out that MacArthur's crappy chief of staff was the one who did not deliver the two messages from Hoover to "not cross the bridge". Eisenhower and many other generals confirm that MacArthur never received those messages because the chief of staff pocketed the messages and threw them away rather than delivering them to MacArthur. That crappy chief of staff sadly was the one who wrote the official report that is referenced all the time by MacArthur haters and the chief of staff claimed that he delivered the messages to MacArthur and he blamed everything on MacArthur.

Ah, well if Borneo counts as the Philippines, then that changes things of course, but I thought you were asking about Corregidor? Thanks for the info

@@WW2TV Asked GPT for a summary and this I did Know. "The Fighting First: The Untold Story of Australia's 1st Division in World War II" by Mark Johnston, which covers the experiences of the 1st Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in the Philippines, including the defense of the islands, the Battle of the Philippines, and the experiences of Australian prisoners of war (POWs) in Japanese captivity.""The Fighting First: The Untold Story of Australia's 1st Division in World War II" by Mark Johnston is a historical book that covers the experiences of the 1st Australian Imperial Force (AIF) in the Philippines during World War II. The book discusses the defense of the Philippines islands, the Battle of the Philippines, and the experiences of Australian prisoners of war (POWs) in Japanese captivity. It aims to provide an in-depth and untold account of the 1st Division's role in the war. The book likely sheds light on the bravery and sacrifices of the Australian soldiers as well as their struggles as prisoners of war under Japanese captivity.At the start of World War II, the 1st Australian Imperial Force (AIF) was sent to the Philippines to defend the islands against a potential Japanese invasion. The Australians, along with American and Filipino forces, were responsible for the defense of Manila and the surrounding areas. They played a key role in the initial defense of the Philippines, engaging in fierce battles with the advancing Japanese forces. The Australians fought bravely, but were ultimately outnumbered and outmatched by the Japanese. Despite their valiant efforts, the Philippines fell to the Japanese in early 1942, and the Australians were forced to retreat and ultimately surrender to the enemy. Many of these soldiers were then taken as prisoners of war and were held in harsh conditions by the Japanese for the duration of the war.Both the Australians and Americans were part of the Allied forces that were sent to the Philippines to defend the islands against a potential Japanese invasion. They both fought bravely and made significant sacrifices in the defense of the Philippines. The Australians, along with American and Filipino forces, were responsible for the defense of Manila and the surrounding areas, and they engaged in fierce battles with the advancing Japanese forces. They fought bravely and tenaciously, but were ultimately outnumbered and outmatched by the Japanese. It could be argued that the Australians were better trained and more experienced in jungle warfare, since they had been fighting in the jungles of Malaya and Singapore. WHy did Macarthur want Australian Soldiers there General Douglas MacArthur, the commander of American forces in the Philippines during World War II, wanted Australian soldiers there because they were experienced and well-trained troops who could help bolster the defense of the Philippines against a potential Japanese invasion. The Australians had already been fighting in the Pacific War, having suffered heavy casualties in the defense of Malaya and Singapore. MacArthur knew that the Philippines would be a key battleground in the Pacific War and that the defense of the islands would be crucial to the overall war effort. He believed that the presence of the well-trained and battle-hardened Australian troops would add strength and experience to the American and Filipino forces under his command. The Australians were also seen as a symbol of the strong alliance between the United States and Australia, and their presence served to boost morale among the troops. Additionally, MacArthur hoped that the Australians could share their experience in jungle warfare with the American troops, since they had been fighting in the jungles of Malaya and Singapore and were more familiar with this type of warfare. In summary, General Douglas MacArthur wanted Australian soldiers in the Philippines because they were experienced and well-trained troops who could help bolster the defense of the Philippines, symbolize the strong alliance between the United States and Australia, and share their experience in jungle warfare.The exact number of Australians in the 1st Division who were in the Philippines during World War II can vary depending on the source. However, it is estimated that around 8,000 Australians from the 1st Division were deployed to the Philippines at the start of the campaign. The division was made up of several Brigades, each containing several battalions. It is important to note that the number of Australians in the Philippines would have varied throughout the campaign, as soldiers were moved around, rotated, and replaced due to casualties and illness. Also, the number of Australians in the Philippines would have decreased as some of the soldiers were captured by the Japanese as prisoners of war and others were killed in action.

@@WW2TV PS Sorry for the war and peace article. That OpenAI chat is impressvie.

Because from 1935 to July 1941 MacArthur worked his ass off for the people of the Philippines with zero money and zero weapons given from DC and it was only in July 1941 when FDR/Marshall decided to finally assist MacArthur and Filipino president Quezon. The Washington Naval Treaty of 1922 (which the Japanese never abided by...they sneakily used it to weaken U.S. bases in the Pacific via a one-sided treaty) banned any new construction of naval bases and army forts in the Philippines and also banned the modernization of existing naval/army bases from 1923-1937. Now, how was MacArthur supposed to defend the Philippines when for the first 2 years of his service in the Philippines government (1935-37) he was banned from building a new or modernizing a single military installation and how was he supposed to do it when FDR/Marshall refused to give him any money or weapons from 1935 to July 1941? The Washington Naval Treaty was the reason why Corregidor was outfitted with terribly ancient and outdated WWI artillery and howitzers by 1941-42. Another thing is Marshall/FDR/Ike wanted MacArthur to die or become a POW in the Philippines. The Japanese made daily radio broadcasts in 1942 in the Philippines promising to chop off MacArthur's head in front of the emperor in Tokyo. Thankfully Australian Prime Minister Curtin, who was a huge MacArthur fan, threatened Churchill and FDR and twisted their arms into ordering MacArthur to evacuate Corregidor. Curtin handpicked MacArthur to be Australia's de facto Minister of Defense. It was really something that FDR/Marshall/Ike could do nothing about. Curtin pretty much threatened to abandon the war and declare neutrality for Australia if he didn't get MacArthur evacuated to become his Minister of Defense. The saddest thing is Filipino President Quezon and Australian Prime Minister Curtin, both of whom loved MacArthur, died before the end of WWII so we never got to hear their version of events of what transpired between them two and MacArthur. Because we don't have their important memoirs or interviews about MacArthur after WWII it allows a bunch of anti-MacArthur crap to be written about MacArthur by MacArthur haters.

Thank you. It's not necessarily about changing opinions, more about encouraging people to challenge their deeply held beliefs. I'm still not a MacArthur fan, but I have more empathy

@@WW2TV It is completely okay to not "like" MacArthur (even I, a MacArthur fan, agree with the critics about his very strange personality. He definitely did not have a teddy bear/creampuff personality like Eisenhower.). He would have been the first to say "you don't have to like me". But all the MacArthur fans ask for is for everybody to at least do a little bit of research with books and videos that are pro-MacArthur and then realize the truth is somewhere in the middle because there are so many complete BS about MacArthur written by Truman/FDR/Eisenhower hagiographers (and they are hagiographers...they claim that all three men are saints and could do no wrong while MacArthur was the bad guy who was to blame for all their failures). I like him because he was the only servicemember to serve as a general officer in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War and he was the only 5-star general or admiral during WWII to actually expose himself to enemy fire frequently on the frontlines and he did so while never ever wearing a helmet, to the shock of grunts on the frontline when he made visits to foxholes and trenches in New Guinea and the Philippines. His WWI combat record was impressive too, which is why I laugh about all the "Dugout Doug" slander. He was called the "Fighting Dude" and "d'Artagnan" by his fellow soldiers in the legendary 42nd "Rainbow" Infantry Division in WWI on the Western Front. Eisenhower hid in a bunker in a Parisian palace like a coward during the whole Battle of the Bulge but we are supposed to not ever say bad things about Eisenhower but whine about only MacArthur for supposedly being a coward? MacArthur's pinky finger has more combat experience than the combined military careers of Eisenhower, Marshall, Ernest King, Nimitz, and Bradley. MacArthur also instead of hiding hundreds or thousands of miles away embarked on the USS Nashville and USS Boise during the Battle of Leyte Gulf and Battle of Lingayen Gulf when it was such a dangerous battle zone. He exposed himself to Japanese kamikazes, Japanese aerial bombs, and Japanese torpedoes. There were so many ships sunk or damaged by the kamikazes during that time. He switched from the Nashville to the Boise and two days later the Nashville was heavily damaged by a kamikaze, killing 130 and wounding 200 more. When do we ever see any other 5-star general or 5-star admiral during WWII doing this type of brave stuff like MacArthur (Halsey, who was brave also, was not a 5-star admiral until December 1945, after WWII)??? Nimitz stayed in Pearl Harbor during all of WWII and never ever embarked on a ship during a naval battle. During the Battle of Manila and Battle of Luzon in 1945 MacArthur kept driving and walking to the very front of the battle line, only a few yards from the Japanese, so he could talk to the privates and encourage them to fight and not be scared. He again never wore a helmet like always and diaries and testimonies from U.S. Army grunts who witnessed MacArthur at the front always stated how shocked they were how he never wore a helmet but everybody else wore one. Another favorite MacArthur moment of mine is after the Inchon landing in 1950 he visited some Marines at the frontline vs North Koreans and while he was investigating 6 destroyed North Korean tanks he was shot at by North Korean sniper fire and he joked after he survived the encounter how "these are poorly trained snipers". The problem of MacArthur is he made so many enemies everywhere. The USMC, for example, is still angry at MacArthur after 70 fricking years because MacArthur banned the USMC from ground combat in New Guinea and the Philippines 1944-45 campaign. The reason we never hear about New Guinea and Philippines 1944-45 in USMC/USN propaganda pieces like 99% of WWII Pacific theater documentaries and HBO's "The Pacific" is because the USMC didn't serve in ground combat in New Guinea and the Philippines except for 1,500 USMC artillerymen who served in ground combat for 6 weeks during the Battle of Leyte. That was all the Marine ground action in the Philippines, amazingly. 1,500 USMC ground combat artillerymen out of a 300,000 invasion force (the rest of the 300,000 were U.S. ARMY soldiers) for the whole Philippines campaign. USMC and USN still have never gotten over that and that is a huge reason why they are so angry at MacArthur still.

Our pleasure!

You should thank Australian Prime Minister Curtin for evacuating MacArthur. FDR, Marshall, and Eisenhower hated MacArthur and wanted him to die in the Philippines because they personally hated him. The Japanese in early 1942 on Filipino radio promised everyday that they would chop off MacArthur's head in front of the emperor in Tokyo if they captured him alive. Curtin forced FDR to evacuate MacArthur because Curtin was a fan of MacArthur. It sounds like sour grapes to whine about the Papua campaign and MacArthur not crediting Australia. Was MacArthur a citizen of Australia or the U.S.? It was Curtin's job to give pro-Australia propaganda, not MacArthur's. Why do Australians never talk about or give credit to MacArthur for Operation Cartwheel and the Reno Plan (Aitape and Hollandia)? It kind of works both ways, doesn't it?

MacArthur did really silly stuff like that and then you read about his combat record as a colonel and then BRIGADIER GENERAL on the Western Front in WWI like trench raids, nighttime reconnaissance, and he being the first one over the top into no man's land during the beginning of offensives. He gives so much ammo to both his haters and his fans. In 1,000 years we still will be debating about MacArthur unlike all the other famous generals and admirals who are really "boring" in comparison to him. I mean, MacArthur's pinky finger had more combat experience than the combined military careers of Eisenhower, Nimitz, Ernest King, Marshall, and Bradley. Another thing is MacArthur not only rejected Australian ground troops in the liberation of the Philippines but he also rejected the MARINES, LMAO! He made sure that was a U.S. Army (and Filipino) operation on the ground only. Only 1,500 USMC artillerymen fought on the ground in the liberation of the Philippines and they left after only 6 weeks of fighting in the Battle of Leyte. That was all the USMC ground combat in the 1944-45 Philippines campaign. I think a huge reason why the Marines and Navy still hate MacArthur after 70 fricking years is because MacArthur banned the Marines from liberating the Philippines. There is a huge reason why all of those Pacific theater documentaries and fictional films and miniseries ALWAYS pretend like MacArthur didn't exist and the New Guinea and Philippines campaigns never ever happened, haha. He pissed off so many people in his life it's ridiculous and incredible how he still was and today still remains so popular at the same time. He also has his tomb and memorial in Norfolk, aka the HQ of the U.S. Navy, haha. The City of Norfolk government and Norfolk residents pay taxes to maintain it and make it free for the public.

@@nogoodnameleft There is a duality in most every individual, you get the good with the bad. While I acknoweldge that he could be a pompous ass I think his policies as SCAP were very enlightened. Personally who I admire the most of a generation that was dearly tested in war and peace was George C Marshal. Eisenhower's holding the coalition together? masterful, his petty and self-serving treatment of Marshal and Truman after the war, dispicable...don't get me started on Churchill

@@richardbono5540Well said. And then the biggest failure of Marshall and Truman was handing over Manchuria and northern Korea to Stalin and Mao after WWII as well as transferring Lend-Lease surplus and leftover Japanese weapons to Mao, not Chiang Kai-shek. Truman was the one who literally drew the division line at the 38th Parallel! Marshall's China Mission in 1946-47 was a disaster.

@@nogoodnameleft Lots of missteps

How do you figure?

@@WW2TV He's not packing an eye-patch and maybe a parrot or a tiny monkey 😉

I wish Jim Zobel would be a guest on more podcasts and RU-vid channels. He is a fantastic speaker and very intelligent.

Well many people have justification for not liking McArthur but there's no way he had any antique furniture on-board the PT boat from Corregidor. He barely had one bag of belongings

@@WW2TV This is again the game of telephone that somehow only MacArthur is a big victim of compared to all other U.S. military servicemembers, even moreso than Bobby Lee and U.S. Grant. The only group of people you should be blaming for the Bataan Death March is the Imperial Japanese Army. Also if you want to blame powerful U.S. people for the mediocre defense of the Philippines the biggest culprits for the Philippines disaster were FDR and George Marshall, who REFUSED to send any money or weapons to MacArthur and Eisenhower (MacArthur's #1 aide in the Philippines) from 1935 to July 1941 (MacArthur served in the Philippines as advisor to Filipino President Quezon starting in 1935). From 1923 to 1937, thanks to the crappy 1922 Washington Naval Treaty, the U.S. was completely banned from building a single new naval or army base and also banned from modernizing any existing naval/army base in the Philippines and all other Pacific islands west and south of Hawaii. The Japanese of course never followed this treaty. The U.S. Navy also completely failed in the Philippines. I would argue much worse than MacArthur. USN had all of the best submarines (23 of them) stationed in the Philippines. How many Japanese warships did the USN submarines sink from Dec 1941 to May 1942 in Filipino waters? ZERO! The Mark 14 torpedo was a disaster for the Navy yet for some reason we are supposed to blame MacArthur for the Mark 14 torpedo also according to his haters. Also in 1937-38 MacArthur and Eisenhower traveled to DC begging FDR and Marshall to give them a few thousand old used WWI Springfield rifles that were collecting dust. What did FDR/Marshall do in response? They laughed at them and ignored them.

thanks Woody, from Australia. Really enjoy your program.

Thanks very much Judd

If, if, if doesn't exist. MacArthur turned out to be the only American to serve as a general officer in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War. Pretty impressive, huh? MacArthur is interesting to this day because he was a WINNER and brave, not only because of his escape. USMC/USN still hate his ass after 70 years because MacArthur banned the USMC from ground combat operations in New Guinea and in Philippines 1944-45. Only 1,500 USMC artillerymen fought in the Battle of Leyte for 6 weeks and then evacuated. That was all the ground combat by the USMC in the Philippines. You can figure out why the USN/USMC propaganda machine never ever mention New Guinea and Philippines in WWII films, history books, and documentaries, right? HBO's USN/USMC propaganda novel called "The Pacific" is the most slandering and anti-MacArthur hitpiece ever. They blame MacArthur for Peleliu when that was NIMITZ' battle and Nimitz had planned to invade Peleliu if Formosa had been chosen instead of the Philippines! Zero battles from New Guinea and the Philippines were shown in that miniseries. "The Pacific" is pathetic.

@@nogoodnameleft A MINOR BUT SEMI-ESSENTIAL sidenote : the decision to grab the ridiculous Peleliu appears even stranger in the light it didn t even have a harbor of any significance. ULITHI did. KOROR, a smaller one. And it became soon the major staging area 4 all ops N 4 the remainder of war, anchoragewise in particular. Like I mentioned in our previous communication, the only reason to go ahead, despite Halsey s pleas to the contrary - only days prior to the prelanding bombardment, was a self-congratulatory promise given by Nimitz @ PH to FDR, very recently during a powwow, concerning the execution of the the op. He could not back off from his word. Adv, see ROSS, Bill D : Peleliu - Tragic Triumph- Random House (1991). The author does not reveal why such binding "promise" was needed to be 4warded, nor why FDR required it or did he ? Sounds like Nimitz' sunday schoolboy behavior if anything. The commitment was the biggest lapse of logical thinking the near-exulted admiral ever stumbled into. It was paid in MC blood, mostly, though there was an army RCT involved in the mopup of Ngesebus, and Angaur nearby in the chain.

@WW2TV You just gave a heart to my additional comment to ss 555 555 under person under codename neaptide concerning a Peleliu detail I added yesterday. To get back to the previous communique between me and u ...ARE YOU GOING TO MOVE A MUSCLE TO PRESENT TO THE WORLD the nearly fully covered up RN raid on the Pezamo Harbor near Murmansk in 7 /41. Like I said, Dudley Pound ordered it twice and did it WITHOUT declaration of war, which was given to us on our Independence Day 6th dec only. Like I said, this has SCOOP POTENTIAL, never seen anything on it in English. Reread my original report from your SUSTEREN vid - to which you DID NOT award any "heart". There is a wikipedia page on the raid in eng, said a mil professor to me yesterday. If you can t get MIKKO UOLA, get a brit carrier op specialist. THE STORY NEEDS TO BE MADE MORE PUBLIC. PS. JUST PUT A SIMILAR, BUT MORE IRONICALLY WORDED 25 liner on a 1,78 mill sub ch called Absolute History which has the vid "INTIMATE SECRETS INSIDE HOME OF WINSTON CUURCHILL" ; SUGGEST READ THAT RITE AWAY. NOT SURE IF THEY WILL LET IT APPEAR .... Serious ch u have. Appreciate your energetic approach ! Try dig up IF STEVE BIRDSALL is still alive, his book FLYING BUCCANEERS on Kenney s 5th is from 1977, aussie dude. O'er ...

@@sulevisydanmaa9981 The worst part about this is the USMC and USN blame MacArthur, not Nimitz, for this!!! They talk about MacArthur having sycophant supporters? Nimitz' court of jesters and clowns and his toadies up to the present day were/are far worse than MacArthur's supporters. Nimitz was going to invade Peleliu whether Formosa or the Philippines would be invaded. Did you know that without Formosa or the Philippines being taken first there would be no Iwo Jima (this one was almost as bad strategic-wise as Peleliu) or Okinawa? Nimitz' horrible Formosa plan involved invading only southern Formosa and not touching northern Formosa and invading SOUTHERN CHINA at Amoy/Xiamen!!!! Why do people never mention Nimitz' plans for Formosa? MacArthur did Nimitz a big favor by pushing for the Philippines. Invading Formosa and southern China would have made Okinawa and D-Day France look like child's play. I think it is funny how the U.S. Naval Academy Museum have a display of a mannequin of Nimitz with a missing finger seated at this little mahogany table given from the Royal Navy that they claim was where the Surrender of Japan was signed, but a Marine vet in 2018 disclosed that that little table was not used and they instead brought a cheap large metal/plastic table from the canteen because the surrender documents were too big for the mahogany table. Right after the ceremony the table was returned to the canteen and mixed up with 500 other cheap looking tables and they never got the table back. And shame on the USN Museum for not showing MacArthur signing the surrender as the most important person there from the Allies. Nimitz was given the consolation prize of signing for the USA but that was really just for him to save face because Truman appointed MacArthur to not only be the governor of Japan but also to be the MC and leader of the ceremony on a Navy battleship haha. MacArthur knew how humiliating this was to Nimitz and offered to do it on land but Truman wanted it done on the battleship named after his state.

@@nogoodnameleft ROGER. Petty wars amongst petty narcissists amongst NOT a very petty 1.. We gotta mute ourselves or the Nimitzists start blockading us 4 sounding like broken 78s ...REPEAT : start your own ch !!!!!

MacArthur was the greatest military servicemember in U.S. history. Oh, you know that FDR/Marshall/Ike wanted to let the Japanese execute MacArthur, which was what would have happened if they had captured MacArthur alive. The Japanese on Filipino radio in early 1942 were promising that they will chop off MacArthur's head in front of Hirohito in Tokyo. I want to thank Australian Prime Minister Curtin, a huge MacArthur fan, for forcing FDR and Marshall to evacuate MacArthur. Curtin pretty much threatened to quit WWII and declare neutrality to Japan and Germany if he didn't get MacArthur. Curtin appointed MacArthur as the de facto Australian Minister of Defense. MacArthur had more combat experience in his pinky finger than the combined military careers of the REMFs named Marshall/Eisenhower/Nimitz/Ernest King/Bradley. I love it everytime a hater like you whine about winners and heroes like MacArthur.

I'm not aware of any Australian troops in the Philippines in 1942. I thought what Australian troops were overseas then were in Borneo, Malaya and New Guinea

How ? Like how is MacArthur responsible for Red China ? The US supplied the nationalists with all the weaponry the nationalist could want ........ they still lost .

Totally inaccurate comment. The argument in 1944 was only the Philippines vs Formosa. Iwo Jima and Okinawa were never going to happen unless either Formosa or Philippines was invaded first. And Formosa (a very, very pro-Japanese imperial colony) required about 700,000 troops to invade vs 250,000 troops for Philippines because of the very friendly Filipino troops. Formosa invasion would not have happened until June 1945, after Germany surrendered, due to the need for 700,000 Allied invasion troops and Iwo Jima/Okinawa as a result would not have happened until early 1946. Btw, MacArthur lost about 18-20K killed U.S. troops in Philippines vs 450,000 dead Japanese troops while Nimitz lost 20K killed U.S. troops in Okinawa vs 125,000 dead Japanese troops. Formosa would have made Okinawa look like a cakewalk. Japan had thousands of airplanes in mainland China that would have been kamikazes in Formosa vs the barely 250-300 kamikaze airplanes they had in the Philippines (and these few kamikaze airplanes did so much damage to the invasion fleet at Leyte Gulf, Mindoro, and Lingayen Gulf). And if you and Nimitz had your way the Filipino people (U.S. nationals and Philippines was U.S. territory, btw) would have lost millions more killed and tens of thousands of American hostages would have been slaughtered by the 550,000 Japanese troops who occupied the Philippines, especially after the Allies started firebombing mainland Japan. Thanks to MacArthur's liberation of the Philippines it saved many Filipino and U.S. lives and 450,000 out of 550,000 Japanese troops were killed during the liberation of the Philippines. Nimitz was the one who ordered bloody frontal assaults in the Pacific, btw, not MacArthur. Battle of Iwo Jima was a huge waste of time and men's lives. It turned out that USN/USMC knew about the drinking water storage tanks in Iwo Jima and all they had to do was bomb those water tanks and kill the Japanese via dehydration. Now...imagine if MacArthur was in charge of Iwo Jima with the same 7,000 KIA numbers and it turned out that they knew all along about the drinking water storage tanks? Iwo Jima wasn't even used as a fighter base or even a minor naval/army air force installation after it was taken. That was BS wartime propaganda trying to justify the incredible loss of lives at Iwo Jima. Peleliu would have been invaded if Formosa was chosen, btw. Peleliu was another bloodbath ordered by Nimitz.

I call those hacks named Atkins, Toll, Hornfischer and Frank "Truman/Eisenhower/FDR hagiographers". They all hate MacArthur with a vengeance. Btw, Eisenhower cowered in a bunker crying for his mommy during the Battle of the Bulge but for some reason we aren't supposed to talk about Eisenhower's equally self-absorbed publicity apparatus? How is MacArthur called "Dugout Doug" despite his incredible bravery in WWI, WWII, and the Korean War when he was always visiting his troops at foxholes and frontline trenches and never wearing a helmet while Eisenhower hiding like a coward during the Bulge is never ever talked about? Sounds to me like FDR/Truman/Ike had an incredible egotistical PR machine and they still have a helluva amazing propaganda army called "mainstream historians/hagiographers". The USMC is still angry at MacArthur after 70 fricking years because MacArthur banned the USMC from ground combat in New Guinea and the Philippines 1944-45 campaign. The reason we never hear about New Guinea and Philippines 1944-45 in USMC/USN propaganda pieces like HBO's "The Pacific" is because the USMC didn't serve in New Guinea and the Philippines except for 1,500 USMC artillerymen served in ground combat for 6 weeks during the Battle of Leyte. That was all the Marine ground action in the Philippines, amazingly. 1,500 USMC ground combat artillerymen out of a 300,000 invasion force (the rest of the 300,000 were U.S. ARMY soldiers) for the whole Philippines campaign.

@@nogoodnameleft Wow, you went a bit overboard there. Accusing Ike of crying for his mum and that Toll, Atkins and the late Hornfischer are hacks is really unfair. Clearly you are a MacArthur fan and that's fine but please don't start throwing insults around. History is about opinions

@@nogoodnameleft I think hacks is a rather nasty word to use against historians myself, but each to their own.

@@WW2TV Well. What I said about them is harmless and pales in comparison to the complete nonsense and slander they threw at MacArthur. It seems like the rule of thumb is it is perfectly okay to trash MacArthur but "How dare you criticize the people who criticize MacArthur?" Most of the Truman "biographers" are hagiographers on an even more extreme level than MacArthur's staff who treated him like a king. One Truman hagiographer even wrote a whole book claiming that MacArthur was a COWARD during WWI because that is how much he is obsessed with MacArthur.

@@WW2TV True. I shouldn't have said hacks. They are smart and obviously more qualified than me, but for some reason they get a little weird and get unhinged when it comes to MacArthur.