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The Incredible Story of MacArthur’s Escape From the Philippines
The general made it out of the warzone when thousands didn’t
On March 20th, 1942, a tired and worn down Douglas MacArthur stepped off a train in Australia. He had fled the Philippines on orders of President Roosevelt and was none too happy about being forced to leave his position. On a crowded station platform in Terowie, in South Australia, during a stopover, MacArthur uttered the famous words, “I came through, and I shall return.” The words proved to be prophetic. Roosevelt requested that MacArthur amend his phrase to say, “We shall return,” but MacArthur refused. The eminent general was fond of speaking in the first person when talking about things as large as the US Army or even the country itself.
Most people take for granted the fact that MacArthur managed to get out of the Philippines at all. It wasn’t a sure thing. At the time, the Japanese were closing in on MacArthur’s fortress at Corregidor. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) was blockading the islands and the general didn’t have access to any planes to retrieve him. So how did he manage to escape, and ultimately survive, the ruthless Japanese assault on the Philippines? It was a harrowing ideal that unfolded over a number of days in March of 1942.
