“I shall return.” These three words, which were spoken with firm determination by General Douglas MacArthur on March 11, 1942, sustained the Filipinos’ faith in the reality of their future liberation from the clutches of Japanese atrocities since the Fall of Bataan in April of 1942 up to October 20, 1944 when the general landed in the shores of Palo, Leyte, together with President Sergio Osmeña Sr., and Gen. Carlos P. Romulo, leading an invading force of 100,000 US troops ready to engage the 80,000 Japanese forces in Leyte reinforced by more than 400,000 deployed by General Yamashita of the Japanese Imperial Army.
General MacArthur was the living symbol that the Filipinos could trust the Americans. It was difficult for our people then to trust foreigners after our country and people were colonized and abused by Spaniards from 1521 to 1898. He was a five-star general, son of another general, Arthur MacArthur Jr., a hero of the American civil war. Ordered by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt to leave the Philippines, Douglas left with his family with a heavy heart, and proceeded to his new mission to lead the liberation of Australia. He embarked on a nocturnal journey by boat to Mindanao for 35 hours and then took an aircraft to Australia. Two years later, he returned to the Philippines and destroyed the Japanese with unparalleled ferocity.
The liberation of Leyte took a few days which ended with 55,000 Japanese killed with only 3,500 American and Filipino casualties. These despite the largest ocean task force put up by Japan including seven giant battleships, 11 heavy cruisers, 19 bombers, and hundreds of thousands of suicide warriors. That battle was start of the fall of Japan in Southeast Asia. That major victory of the allied forces under the command of MacArthur proved to be the turning point of WWII in the Asia Pacific. Had MacArthur not returned, the Philippines would have become a satellite of the Japanese empire. We would not have so many Filipinos living in the US as naturalized Americans or immigrants with permanent residence.
And so, more than any other American, it was this giant of a man, awardee of the coveted American Medal of Honor, three Distinguished Cross medals, five Distinguished Army Service medals, seven Distinguished Navy Service medals, two Purple Hearts, and many other military decorations. He symbolized what to some is a truism that the Americans can be trusted. While the Japanese destroyed our land, ravished our women, and killed our men, the Americans, symbolized by MacArthur liberated us from the clutches of brutal invaders. Now that we are friends with the Japanese, we need not be hostile to the US. We should not forget our past and should always remember who helped us during the darkest moments of our history.
Had MacArthur reneged on his promise to return, we would now be drinking sake and make the cherry blossoms our national flower. But he did return and the rest is history. Was it good or bad for us that he did come back? That is a matter of perspective.