Douglas MacArthur in World War II General of the Army Douglas MacArthur ( January 26 , 1880 – April 5 , 1964 ) was an American general and field marshal of the Philippine Army . He was a Chief of Staff of the United States Army during the 1930s and played a prominent role in the Pacific theater during World War II . He received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines Campaign . MacArthur was recalled to active duty in 1941 as commander of U . S . Army Forces in the Far East . A series of disasters followed , starting with the destruction of his air force on December 8 , 1941 , and the invasion of the Philippines by the Japanese . MacArthur ' s forces were soon compelled to withdraw to Bataan , where they held out until May 1942 . In March 1942 , MacArthur , his family and his staff left Corregidor in PT boat s , and escaped to Australia , where MacArthur became Supreme Commander , Southwest Pacific Area . For his defense of the Philippines , MacArthur was awarded the Medal of Honor . After more than two years of fighting in the Pacific , he fulfilled a promise to return to the Philippines . He officially accepted Japan ' s surrender on September 2 , 1945 . Philippines Campaign ( 1941 – 42 ) . On July 26 , 1941 Roosevelt federalized the Philippine Army , recalled MacArthur to active duty in the U . S . Army as a major general , and named him commander of U . S . Army Forces in the Far East ( USAFFE ) . MacArthur was promoted to lieutenant general the following day , and then to general on December 20 . At the same time , Sutherland was promoted to major general , while Marshall , Spencer B . Akin , and Hugh John Casey were all promoted to brigadier general . On July 31 , 1941 the Philippine Department had 22 , 000 troops assigned , 12 , 000 of whom were Philippine Scouts . The main component was the Philippine Division , under the command of Major General Jonathan M . Wainwright . Between July and December 1941 the garrison received 8 , 500 reinforcements . After years of parsimony , much equipment was shipped . By November , a backlog of 1 , 100 , 000 shipping tons of equipment intended for the Philippines had accumulated in U . S . ports and depots awaiting vessels . At 0330 local time on December 8 , 1941 , Sutherland learned of the attack on Pearl Harbor and informed MacArthur . At 0530 , Chief of Staff of the United States Army General George Marshall ordered MacArthur to execute the existing war plan , Rainbow Five . MacArthur did nothing . When , on three occasions , Gen . Breteron requested permission to attack Japanese bases in Formosa , in accordance with prewar intentions , he was refused . At 1230 , the Japanese pilots of the 11th Air Fleet achieved complete tactical surprise when they attacked Clark Field and the nearby fighter base at Iba Field . They destroyed or disabled 18 of Far East Air Force ' s 35 B - 17 s , 53 of its 107 P - 40 s , three P - 35 s , and more than 25 other aircraft . Substantial damage was done to the bases , and casualties totaled 80 killed and 150 wounded . What was left of the Far East Air Force was all but destroyed over the next few days . Prewar defense plans assumed the Japanese could not be prevented from landing on Luzon and called for U . S . and Filipino forces to abandon Manila and retreat with their supplies to the Bataan peninsula . MacArthur attempted to slow the Japanese advance with an initial defense against the Japanese landings . However , he reconsidered his confidence in the ability of his Filipino troops when the Japanese landing force made a rapid advance after landing at Lingayen Gulf on December 21 . He subsequently ordered a retreat to Bataan . Manila was declared an open city and on December 25 MacArthur moved his headquarters to the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay . A series of air raids by the Japanese destroyed all the exposed structures on the island and USAFFE headquarters was moved into the Malinta Tunnel . Later most of the headquarters moved to Bataan , leaving only the nucleus with MacArthur . The troops on Bataan knew that they had been written off but continued to fight . Some blamed Roosevelt and MacArthur for their predicament . A ballad sung to the tune of " The Battle Hymn of the Republic " called him " Dugout Doug . " However , most clung to the belief that somehow MacArthur " would reach down and pull something out of his hat . " On January 1 , 1942 MacArthur was offered and accepted a payment of $ 500 , 000 ( $ million in current value ) from President Quezon of the Philippines as payment for his pre - war service . MacArthur ' s staff members also received payments : $ 75 , 000 for Sutherland , $ 45 , 000 for Richard Marshall , and $ 20 , 000 for Huff . Eisenhower , after being appointed Supreme Commander Allied Expeditionary Force , was also offered money by Quezon , but declined . These payments were known only to a few in Manila and Washington , including President Roosevelt and Secretary of War Henry L . Stimson , until they were made public by historian Carol Petillo in 1979 . The revelation tarnished MacArthur ' s reputation . Escape to Australia and Medal of Honor citation . In February 1942 , as Japanese forces tightened their grip on the Philippines , MacArthur was ordered by President Roosevelt to relocate to Australia . MacArthur discussed the idea with his staff that he resign his commission and fight on as a private soldier in the Philippine resistance but Sutherland talked him out of it . On the night of March 12 , 1942 , MacArthur and a select group ( that included his wife Jean and son Arthur , as well as Sutherland , Akin , Casey , Marshall , Willoughby , Diller , and George ) left Corregidor in four PT boats . MacArthur , his family and Sutherland traveled in " PT 41 " , commanded by Lieutenant John D . Bulkeley . The others followed in " PT 34 " , " PT 35 " and " PT 32 " . MacArthur and his party reached Del Monte Airfield in Bukidnon province on the island of Mindanao two days later . General George Marshall sent three U . S . Navy B - 17s to pick them up . Two of them arrived , and brought the entire group to Australia . MacArthur arrived on March 17 at Batchelor Airfield , about south of Darwin , before flying to Alice Springs , where he took the Ghan through the Australian outback to Adelaide . His famous speech , in which he said , " I came out of Bataan and I shall return " , was first made at Terowie , a small railway township in South Australia on March 20 . Upon his arrival in Adelaide , MacArthur abbreviated this to the now - famous , " I came through and I shall return " that made headlines . Washington asked MacArthur to amend his promise to , " We shall return " . He ignored the request . Bataan eventually surrendered on April 9 , and Wainwright surrendered on Corregidor on May 6 . For his leadership in the defense of the Philippines , General Marshall decided to award MacArthur the Medal of Honor , the decoration for which he had twice previously been nominated . It was admitted that MacArthur had not actually performed acts of valor in battle on Bataan but the 1927 award to Charles Lindbergh set a precedent . MacArthur chose to accept the medal on the basis that " this award was intended not so much for me personally as it is a recognition of the indomitable courage of the gallant army which it was my honor to command . " Arthur MacArthur , Jr . and Douglas MacArthur thus became the first father and son to be awarded the Medal of Honor . They remained the only pair until 2001 when Theodore Roosevelt was awarded posthumously for his service during the Spanish American War , Theodore Roosevelt , Jr . having received one posthumously for his service during World War II . New Guinea Campaign . General Headquarters . On April 18 , 1942 , MacArthur was appointed Supreme Commander of Allied Forces in the Southwest Pacific Area ( SWPA ) . Lieutenant General George Brett became Commander , Allied Air Forces , and Vice Admiral Herbert F . Leary became Commander , Allied Naval Forces ( though neither of these men were of MacArthur ' s choosing ) . Since the bulk of land forces in the theater were Australian , General Marshall insisted an Australian be appointed as Commander , Allied Land Forces , and the job went to General Sir Thomas Blamey . Although predominantly Australian and American , MacArthur ' s command also included small numbers of personnel from the Netherlands East Indies , the United Kingdom , and other countries . MacArthur established a close relationship with the Prime Minister of Australia , John Curtin , although many Australians resented MacArthur as a foreign general who had been imposed upon them . The staff of MacArthur ' s General Headquarters ( GHQ ) was built around the nucleus that had escaped from the Philippines with him , who became known as the " Bataan Gang " . Though Roosevelt and General Marshall pressed for Dutch and Australian officers to be assigned to GHQ , the heads of all the staff divisions were American and such officers of other nationalities as were assigned served under them . Initially located in Melbourne , the GHQ was moved to Brisbane in July because Brisbane was the northernmost city in Australia with the necessary communications facilities . GHQ occupied the AMP Insurance Society building . MacArthur ' s office and Willoughby ' s G - 2 section were located on the 8th floor , while other staff sections occupied the four floors below . MacArthur formed his own signals intelligence organization , known as the Central Bureau , from Australian intelligence units and American cryptanalysts who had escaped from the Philippines ; this unit forwarded Ultra information to Willoughby for analysis . After a press dispatch revealed details of the Japanese naval concentration at Rabaul during the Battle of the Coral Sea , President Roosevelt ordered that censorship be imposed in Australia . The Advisory War Council subsequently granted censorship authority to the GHQ over the Australian press . Australian newspapers were henceforth restricted to what was reported in the daily GHQ communiqué . Veteran correspondents considered them " a total farce " and characterized them as " Alice - in - Wonderland information handed out at high level . " Papuan Campaign . Anticipating that the Japanese would strike at Port Moresby again , the garrison was strengthened and MacArthur ordered the establishment of new bases at Merauke and Milne Bay to cover its flanks . The Battle of Midway in June 1942 led to plans to exploit this victory with a limited offensive in the Pacific . MacArthur ' s proposal for an attack on the main Japanese base at Rabaul met with objections from the U . S . Navy , which favored a less ambitious approach and objected to an Army general being in command of what would be an amphibious operation . The resulting compromise called for a three stage advance , with the first , the seizure of the Tulagi area , being conducted by the Pacific Ocean Areas command , under Admiral Chester W . Nimitz . The later stages would be conducted under MacArthur ' s command as Supreme Allied Commander , South West Pacific Area . The Japanese struck first , landing at Buna in July , and at Milne Bay in August . The Australians soon defeated the Japanese at Milne Bay , but a series of defeats in the Kokoda Track campaign had a depressing effect back in Australia . On August 30 , MacArthur radioed Washington that unless action was taken , the New Guinea Force would be overwhelmed . Having committed all the available Australian troops , MacArthur decided to send American troops . The 32nd Infantry Division , a poorly trained United States National Guard division , was selected to carry out a flanking maneuver . A series of embarrassing American reverses in the Battle of Buna - Gona led to outspoken criticism of the American troops by Blamey and other Australians . MacArthur sent Lieutenant General Robert L . Eichelberger to " take Buna , or not come back alive . " MacArthur moved the advanced echelon of GHQ to Port Moresby on November 6 , 1942 . Buna finally fell on January 3 , 1943 . MacArthur awarded the Distinguished Service Cross to twelve officers for " precise execution of operations . " This use of the country ' s second highest award aroused some resentment , because while some , like Eichelberger and Major General George Alan Vasey , had fought in the field , others , like Sutherland and Willoughby , had not . For his part , MacArthur was awarded his third Distinguished Service Medal , and the Australian government made him an honorary Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath . MacArthur had little confidence in Brett ' s abilities as commander of Allied Air Forces SWPA , and in August 1942 selected Major General George C . Kenney to replace him . Kenney ' s application of air power in support of Blamey ' s ground forces would soon prove critical to Blamey ' s victory in the Battle of Wau . In September 1942 , Vice Admiral Leary was replaced by Vice Admiral Arthur S . Carpender as commander of Allied Naval Forces SWPA . At that time , MacArthur ' s naval assets ( commonly referred to as " MacArthur ' s Navy " ) consisted of only 5 cruiser s , 8 destroyer s , 20 submarine s and 7 small craft . This fleet became the Seventh Fleet on 15 March 1943 , in advance of Operation Cartwheel . Operation Cartwheel . At the Pacific Military Conference in March 1943 , the Joint Chiefs of Staff approved General MacArthur ' s plan for Operation Cartwheel , an advance on Rabaul . Owing to a shortage of resources , particularly heavy bomber aircraft , the final stage of the plan , the capture of Rabaul itself , was postponed until 1944 . MacArthur explained his strategy : Lieutenant General Walter Krueger ' s Sixth Army headquarters arrived in SWPA in early 1943 but MacArthur had only three American divisions , and they were tired and depleted from the fighting at Buna and Guadalcanal . As a result , " it became obvious that any military offensive in the South - West Pacific in 1943 would have to be carried out mainly by the Australian Army . " In New Guinea , a country without roads , large - scale transportation of men and material would have to be accomplished by aircraft or ships . A multi - pronged approach was employed to solve this problem . Disassembled landing craft were shipped to Australia , where they were assembled in Cairns . The range of these small landing craft was to be greatly extended by the landing ships of Rear Admiral Daniel E . Barbey ' s VII Amphibious Force , which began arriving in late 1942 . Barbey ' s force formed part of Carpender ' s newly formed Seventh Fleet . Carpender reported to MacArthur as Supreme Allied Commander , SWPA , but to Admiral Ernest King as Commander Seventh Fleet , which was part of King ' s United States Fleet . Since the Seventh Fleet had no aircraft carriers , the range of naval operations SWPA was limited by that of the fighter aircraft of the Fifth Air Force . Although a few long - range P - 38 Lightning fighters had arrived in SWPA in late 1942 , further deliveries were suspended owing to the demands of Operation Torch . The main offensive began with the landing at Lae by Major General George Wootten ' s Australian 9th Division and the 2nd Engineer Special Brigade on September 4 , 1943 . The next day MacArthur watched the landing at Nadzab by paratroops of the 503rd Parachute Infantry from a B - 17 circling overhead . The B - 17 made the trip on three engines because one failed soon after leaving Port Moresby , but MacArthur insisted that it fly on to Nadzab . For this , MacArthur was awarded the Air Medal . Vasey ' s Australian 7th Division and Wooten ' s 9th Division converged on Lae , which fell on September 16 . MacArthur advanced his timetable , and ordered the 7th Division to capture Kaiapit and Dumpu , while the 9th Division mounted an amphibious assault on Finschhafen . Here , the offensive bogged down . Part of the problem was that MacArthur had based his decision to assault Finschhafen on Willoughby ' s assessment that there were only 350 Japanese defenders at Finschhafen when there were actually nearly 5 , 000 . A furious battle ensued . In early November , MacArthur ' s plan for a westward advance along the coast of New Guinea to the Philippines was incorporated into plans for the war against Japan approved at the Cairo Conference . Three months later , airmen reported no signs of enemy activity in the Admiralty Islands . Although his intelligence staff did not agree that the islands had been evacuated , MacArthur ordered an amphibious landing on Los Negros Island , marking the beginning of the Admiralty Islands campaign . MacArthur accompanied the assault force aboard , the flagship of Vice Admiral Thomas C . Kinkaid , who had recently replaced Carpender as commander of the Seventh Fleet . MacArthur , who came ashore with Kinkaid only seven hours after the first wave of landing craft , was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in this campaign . After six weeks of fierce fighting , the 1st Cavalry Division captured the islands ; the campaign officially ended on 18 May 1944 . MacArthur now bypassed the Japanese forces at Hansa Bay and Wewak , and assaulted Hollandia and Aitape , which Willoughby reported to be lightly defended . Although they were out of range of the Fifth Air Force ' s fighters based in the Ramu Valley , the timing of the operation allowed the aircraft carriers of the Pacific Fleet to provide air support . Though risky , the operation turned out to be a brilliant success . MacArthur caught the Japanese off balance and cut off Lieutenant General Hatazō Adachi ' s Japanese XVIII Army in the Wewak area . Because the Japanese were not expecting an attack , the garrison was weak , and Allied casualties were correspondingly light . However , the terrain turned out to be less suitable for airbase development than first thought , forcing MacArthur to seek better locations further west . Moreover , while bypassing Japanese forces had great tactical merit , it had the serious strategic drawback of tying up large numbers of Allied troops in order to contain them , and Adachi was far from beaten . In the Battle of Driniumor River , he would bring on " the New Guinea campaign ' s bloodiest and most strategically useless battle . " Philippines Campaign ( 1944 – 45 ) . Leyte . In July 1944 , President Roosevelt summoned MacArthur to meet with him in Hawaii " to determine the phase of action against Japan . " Nimitz and MacArthur agreed that the next step should be to advance on the southern and central Philippines . MacArthur emphasized the moral and political issues involved in a decision to liberate or bypass Luzon . He also spoke briefly of his plan to use the Australian Army to liberate Indonesia . Although the issue was not settled , both Roosevelt and Leahy were convinced of the soundness of MacArthur ' s plan . In September , Halsey ' s carriers made a series of air strikes on the Philippines . Opposition was feeble and Halsey concluded that Leyte was " wide open " and possibly undefended , and recommended that projected operations be skipped in favor of an assault on Leyte . On October 20 , 1944 , troops of Krueger ' s Sixth Army landed on Leyte , while MacArthur watched from . That afternoon he arrived off the beach . The advance had not progressed far ; snipers were still active and the area was under sporadic mortar fire . When his whaleboat grounded in knee - deep water , MacArthur requested a landing craft , but the beachmaster was too busy to grant his request . MacArthur was compelled to wade ashore . In his prepared speech he said : Since Leyte was out of range of Kenney ' s land - based aircraft , MacArthur was entirely dependent on carrier aircraft for cover . Japanese air activity soon increased , with raids on Tacloban , where MacArthur decided to establish his headquarters , and on the fleet offshore . MacArthur enjoyed staying on " Nashville " s bridge during air raids , although several bombs landed close by , and two nearby cruisers were hit . Over the next few days , the Imperial Japanese Navy staged a major counterattack in the Battle of Leyte Gulf . MacArthur attributed the near - disaster to command being divided between himself and Nimitz . Nor did the campaign ashore proceed smoothly . The timing of the assault so late in the year forced the combat troops , pilots , and the supporting logistical units to contend with heavy monsoonal rains that disrupted the airbase construction program . Adverse weather and valiant Japanese resistance slowed the American advance ashore . MacArthur was forced to ask Nimitz to recall the carriers to support the Sixth Army but they proved to be no substitute for land - based aircraft , and the lack of air cover permitted the Japanese Army to pour troops into Leyte . By the end of December , Krueger ' s headquarters estimated that 5 , 000 Japanese remained on Leyte , and on December 26 MacArthur issued a communiqué announcing that " the campaign can now be regarded as closed except for minor mopping up . " Yet Eichelberger ' s Eighth Army would kill more than 27 , 000 Japanese on Leyte between then and the end of the campaign in May 1945 . On December 18 , 1944 , MacArthur was promoted to the new five - star rank of General of the Army — one day before Nimitz was promoted to Fleet Admiral , also a five - star rank . MacArthur had a Filipino silversmith make the rank badges from American , Australian , Dutch and Filipino coins . Luzon . MacArthur ' s next move was the invasion of Mindoro , where there were good potential airfield sites around the San Jose area . Willoughby estimated , correctly as it turned out , that the island had only about 1 , 000 Japanese defenders . The problem this time was getting there . A parachute drop was considered , but the airfields on Leyte lacked the space to hold the required transport aircraft . Kinkaid balked at sending escort carriers into the restricted waters of the Sulu Sea , and Kenney could not guarantee land based air cover . The operation was clearly hazardous , and MacArthur ' s staff talked him out of accompanying the invasion on the " Nashville " . As the invasion force entered the Sulu Sea , a kamikaze struck " Nashville " , killing 133 people and wounding 190 more , including the task force commander , Brigadier General William C . Dunkel . The landings were made unopposed on December 15 , 1944 , and within two weeks Australian and American engineers had three airstrips in operation , but " not since Anzio had the navy experienced so much difficulty supporting an amphibious operation after the initial landing . " The resupply convoys were repeatedly attacked by kamikaze aircraft and on December 26 – 27 a Japanese naval force attacked the area , sinking a destroyer and damaging other ships . The way was now clear for the invasion of Luzon . This time , based on different interpretations of the same intelligence data , Willoughby ' s G - 2 Section at GHQ estimated the strength of General Tomoyuki Yamashita ' s forces on Luzon at 137 , 000 , while that of Sixth Army estimated it at 234 , 000 . The Sixth Army Brigadier General Clyde D . Eddleman attempted to lay out the reasons for the Sixth Army ' s assessment , but MacArthur ' s response was " Bunk ! " . He felt that even Willoughby ' s estimate was too high . " Audacity , calculated risk , and a clear strategic aim were MacArthur ' s attributes , " and he was prepared to disregard the intelligence estimates . However , all the estimates were too low : Yamashita had more than 287 , 000 troops on Luzon . This time MacArthur traveled on the , watching as the ship was near - missed by a bomb and torpedoes fired by midget submarine s . The GHQ communiqué read : " The decisive battle for the liberation of the Philippines and the control of the Southwest pacific is at hand . General MacArthur is in personal command at the front and landed with his assault troops . " MacArthur ' s primary concern was the capture of the port of Manila and the airbase at Clark Field , which were required to support future operations . He urged his front line commanders on . On January 25 , 1945 he moved his advanced headquarters forward to Hacienda Luisita , closer to the front than Krueger ' s at Calasiao . On January 30 , MacArthur ordered the 1st Cavalry Division ' s commander , Major General Verne D . Mudge , to conduct a rapid advance on Manila . On February 3 , it reached the northern outskirts of Manila and the campus of the University of Santo Tomas where 3 , 700 internees were liberated . Unknown to the Americans , Rear Admiral Sanji Iwabuchi had decided to defend Manila to the death . The Battle of Manila raged for the next three weeks . In order to spare the civilian population , MacArthur prohibited the use of air strikes , but thousands of civilians died in the crossfire or Japanese massacres . He also refused to restrict the traffic of civilians who clogged the roads in and out of Manila , placing humanitarian concerns above military ones except for emergencies . Most of MacArthur ' s 8 , 000 - volume military library , which included books inherited from his father , was lost . Nonetheless , he continued his habit of reading military history and biography until his death . For his part in the capture of Manila , MacArthur was awarded his third Distinguished Service Cross . Southern Philippines . Although MacArthur had no specific directive from the Joint Chiefs to do so , and the fighting on Luzon was far from over , he committed the Eighth Army , Seventh Fleet and Thirteenth Air Force to a series of operations to liberate the remainder of the Philippines from the Japanese . A series of 52 amphibious landings were made in the central and southern Philippines between February and July 1945 . In the GHQ communiqué on July 5 , MacArthur announced that the Philippines had now been liberated and all operations ended , although Yamashita still held out in northern Luzon . Starting in May 1945 , MacArthur used his Australian troops in the invasion of Borneo . MacArthur accompanied the assault on Labuan on USS " Boise " , and visited the troops ashore , along with Lieutenant General Sir Leslie Morshead and Air Vice Marshal William Bostock . En route back to his headquarters in Manila , he visited Davao , where he told Eichelberger that no more than 4 , 000 Japanese remained alive on Mindanao . A few months later , six times that number would surrender . In July 1945 , he set out on " Boise " once more to be with the Australian 7th Division for the landing at Balikpapan . MacArthur was awarded his fourth Distinguished Service Medal . In April 1945 , MacArthur became commander in chief U . S . Army Forces Pacific ( AFPAC ) , in charge of all Army and Army Air Force units in the Pacific , except the Twentieth Air Force . At the same time , Nimitz became commander of all naval forces . Command in the Pacific therefore remained divided . GHQ became AFPAC headquarters in addition to SWPA . MacArthur created two new commands , AFMIDPAC under Lieutenant General Robert C . Richardson , Jr . , and AFWESPAC under Lieutenant General Wilhelm D . Styer , which absorbed USASOS and USAFFE . This reorganization , which took some months to actually accomplish , was part of preparations for Operation Downfall , the invasion of Japan . The first phase , the invasion of Kyushu , known as Operation Olympic , was scheduled to commence on November 1 , 1945 . The invasion was pre - empted by the surrender of Japan in August 1945 . On September 2 , MacArthur accepted the formal Japanese surrender aboard , thus ending World War II . In recognition of his role as a maritime strategist , the U . S . Navy awarded him the Navy Distinguished Service Medal .