Changes

==World War II==

==World War II==

In 1935 Manuel Quezon was president of the newly-created Philippine Commonwealth, and invited MacArthur to return to Manila as head of the American military mission charged with preparing the islands for full independence by 1946.  On the way to Manilla, he had a stop in Tennessee and met Jean Marie Faircloth of Murfreesboro, falling in love almost immediately; she would be instumental in filling the void when his mother passed away soon after their arrival.  And, at 58, MacArthur became a father, and would dote on his only son, Arthur IV.  These years in the Philippines would prove the happiest of his life, even as they were slowly overshadowed by an expanding, and aggressive, Japan.  Money, troops and material from the States would not come in time when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; when the Japanese made a simultaneous strike on the Philippines, MacArthur's air force was knocked out, and his army left to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.  He would sit at his command post on the nearby island of Corregidor, nearly helpless as everything around him crumbled.  

In 1935 Manuel Quezon was president of the newly-created Philippine Commonwealth, and invited MacArthur to return to Manila as head of the American military mission charged with preparing the islands for full independence by 1946.  On the way to Manilla, he had a stop in Tennessee and met Jean Marie Faircloth of Murfreesboro, falling in love almost immediately; she would be instumental in filling the void when his mother passed away soon after their arrival.  And, at 58, MacArthur became a father, and would dote on his only son, Arthur IV.  These years in the Philippines would prove the happiest of his life, even as they were slowly overshadowed by an expanding, and aggressive, Japan.  Money, troops and material from the States would not come in time when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941; when the Japanese made a simultaneous strike on the Philippines, MacArthur's air force was knocked out, and his army left to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula.  He would sit at his command post on the nearby island of Corregidor, nearly helpless as everything around him crumbled.  

 

He had intended to fight alongside his men, but President Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't allow it.  A direct order from him had MacArthur and his family placed onboard a small PT boat, where he met up with a larger transport to Australia, and from there he began the plans to retake the Pacific from the Japanese, vowing "I shall return" to the Filipino people, a remark which became synonymous with the war effort.  MacArthur's war was then a two-front war, as he fought the Japanese forces on one side, and the United States Navy on the other.  But his plan, which called for "island hopping" - bypassing Japanese-held islands in favor of those strategically placed for use by American forces - prevaled, as well as his intent to liberate the Philippines as part of it.  By October, 1944 America's most famous general made his dramatic landing at Leyte; the remainder of the islands were fully liberated within months.  On September 2, 1945, onboard USS ''Missouri'' in Tokyo Bay, he presided over the Japanese surrender, ending World War II.  His last remarks on ending the war were simple.  "These proceedings are closed."

He had intended to fight alongside his men, but President Franklin Roosevelt wouldn't allow it.  A direct order from him had MacArthur and his family placed onboard a small PT boat, where he met up with a larger transport to Australia, and from there he began the plans to retake the Pacific from the Japanese, vowing "I shall return" to the Filipino people, a remark which became synonymous with the war effort.  MacArthur's war was then a two-front war, as he fought the Japanese forces on one side, and the United States Navy on the other.  But his plan, which called for "island hopping" - bypassing Japanese-held islands in favor of those strategically placed for use by American forces - prevaled, as well as his intent to liberate the Philippines as part of it.  By October, 1944 America's most famous general made his dramatic landing at Leyte; the remainder of the islands were fully liberated within months.  On September 2, 1945, onboard USS ''Missouri'' in Tokyo Bay, he presided over the Japanese surrender, ending World War II.  His last remarks on ending the war were simple.  "These proceedings are closed."