What did General MacArthur mean when said I'll be back?

Answer 1

MacArthur's return to the Philippines

In March 1944, the second anniversary of his arrival in Australia, MacArthur was invited to a dinner at Parliament at which a knighthood (recommended to the King by Curtin) was bestowed on him. In his speech on that occasion Curtin accepted publicly that his close relationship with MacArthur was coming to an end. As previously indicated, Curtin, in reflecting on the experience of entrusting Australian forces to 'an officer of another country' as had been done in the past with British officers, referred to MacArthur as having

'exhibited a regard for the rights of this Government and its people, which could not have been exceeded if he had been an officer of our own army'.62
MacArthur in turn responded:

The last two years have been momentous ones for Australia. You have faced the greatest peril in your history. With your very life at stake, you have met and overcome the challenge. It was here that the tide of war turned in the Pacific and the mighty wave of invasion rolled back. Two years ago when I landed on your soil I said to the people of the Philippines whence I came - I shall return'. Tonight I repeat those words. I shall return.63
Privately the two men also discussed Curtin's forthcoming visit to Washington with MacArthur asserting that Roosevelt was 'quite unscrupulous... in repudiating his own word if it suits him'64 but was nevertheless the man most important to talk to. As it was, while Curtin had few specific gains to show for his trip to Washington and London, he did, on 2 June, secure the agreement of the joint Chiefs of Staff for Australia to reduce its combat formations in the Australian Army to six divisions and two armoured brigades. On his return to Australia, and after conferring with MacArthur, Curtin informed the Advisory War Council of the decision.65

Answer 2

General Macarthur Quotes

Answer 3

Gen Macarthur Quotes

Answer 4

"The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed from Corrigedor to Australia for the purpose, as I understand it, of organizing an American offensive against Japan, a primary objective of which is the relief of the Philippines. I came through and I shall return"

This statement was made to reporters shortly after his arrival in Australia.

Here's a link with the quote.

There was a movie about MacArthur made with Gregory Peck in the 70s, where there is mention of a plan by Washington to put the "I shall return" on candybars and matches and drop them in to the Philippines. The General said he thought it was a first rate idea. The officer delivering the message said that they wanted a slight change in the text to "We shall return". The General's response was that he failed to see the difference.

Answer 5

Well he was running away and leaving his men to the tender mercies of the Japanese. His explanation for this act of betrayal was that he was such an expert in fighting the Japanese that he would be helpful to the Allied Cause. His Australian opposite number tried to offer the same excuse for the same betrayal and was ridiculed in the Australian press and forced to resign. The American press, both then and later, gave MacArthur the benefit of the doubt. The real hero of the Pacific was Nimitz. MacArthur was a great spin-meister rather than a great soldier. His best role was as head of the occupation forces in Japan after WWII.

Answer 6

Although he was criticized by some of his troops for leaving the Philippines before the inevitable surrender, his orders came directly from President Franklin D. Roosevelt, and this was one presidential order that MacArthur chose to obey.

MacArthur was evacuated by patrol torpedo (PT) boat and B17 to Australia in March where he was named supreme commander of the Southwest Pacific and began his plans to launch an attack on Japanese power in the Pacific.

"The President of the United States ordered me to break through the Japanese lines and proceed (for proceed read 'Escape') to Corregidor to Australia for the purpose, as I understand it, of organising an American offensive against Japan, the primary purpose of which is the relief of the Philippines. I came through and I shall return."

It was here at Terowie Railway Station about 220 kms north of Adelaide at 2 pm on 20 March 1942 that MacArthur made his first statement to the Australian Press. It was here that his most famous statement was made "I came out of Bataan and I shall return", meaning that he would re-invade the Philippines and defeat the Japanese.

Answer 7

the people who said he ran away and left his troops know NOTHING about Doug MacArthur. When it became evident that the US and Filipino forces were doomed, and when it became evident to Mac that, despite promises from Washington the Navy and Army were NOT coming to relieve his garrison, MacArthur resigned his commission as a US 4 star General and Marshall of the Philippines; he gave his wife Jean a 2 shot Derringer his father had carried in the Civil War so she wouldn't be taken prisoner and went to enlist in the Philippine Army as private so he could die with his troops.

MacArthur had risen through the US Army until in the 1930's he retired as Chief of Staff ie the highest rank........he was somewhat of a legend already, and Roosevelt knew what a propaganda defeat it would be not only to loose the Philippines but MacArthur as well. FDR did indeed order Mac to breakout and make it to Australia,an order Mac resisted until FDR really lost his temper and REALLY ordered him out.

MacArthur, his wife and son, a few specialists in radar that couldn't fall into Japanese hands, the President of the Philippines and bunch of gold were loaded onto Lt William Buckley's 4 PT boats. Running by night, hiding in swamps and creeks by day the 4 PTs made a 1500 mile passage to Mindanao with the whole Japanese Navy looking for them.

He made his pledge that he would return when he commanded little more than the men in the sound of his voice, for the Australian army was in North Africa, and the American army was, well, left behind on Bataan.

Not 800 days later he came back, this time with not just 4 wooden PTs but a 1000 ship strong wall of Navy gray steel and 3,000 planes and 150,000 men to redeem his pledge and America's honor, to liberate his men and the islands from the Japanese.

When the Japanese surrendered to MacArthur on the deck of the Missouri, MacArthur signed as Supreme Allied Commander. He had insisted that the Japanese find the US General, Jonathan Wainwright who had surrendered the Philippines, and British Percival Wavell who had surrendered Singapore, and deliver them from their prison camps to him on Missouri; these two men who had been prisoners the week before for 3 years after the greatest defeat their countries had ever known, accepted the surrender of Japan on behalf of the United States and Great Britain, because Mac insisted on it.

and some think MacArthur ran away..............

Answer 8

Dear,

MacArthur when he said I'll be back means that "He will come back to Philippines".

MacARTHUR, DOUGLAS (1880-1964), American general. Born in Little Rock. Ark., he graduated (1903) from the U.S. Military Academy at the head of his class. His first assignment was a construction engineer in the Philippines. His Next tour of duty took him to San Francisco, where he worked with the California Debris Commission after the 1906 earthquake. He next served as an aide to his father, Lt. Gen Arthur Mac Arthur, in Tokyo. From 1906-`1907 he was and aide to President Theodore Roosevelt.

Chief of Staff:
In Oct., 1930, Mac Arthur became Army Chief of Staff, one of the youngest officers to hold the highest military office in the Army.

RETURN TO THE PHILIPPINES:
When ordered to leave Bataan, Mac Arthur had promised that he would return to the Philippines and liberate that country. He gave notice of his intension to achieve this goal with his occupation of Morotai, 300 mi. south of the Philippines, on Sept. 14, 1944. With this move he penetrated another Japanese defense perimeter and at the same time threatened the Japanese in the East Indies by envelopment and air attack.

He landed in the Philippines on the island of Leyte on Oct. 20th. By invading Leyte, MacArthur pierced thhe centre of the strongly held Japanese strategic defense line, a perimeter extending from Japan through Formosa, the Philippines, the East Indies, Singapore, and Burma. He thus cut the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere in the two and severed the souther part of the Japanese empire from the homeland.

MacArthur took the enemy by surpise when he invaded Luzon on Jan. 9, 1945, landing on the Lingayen Gulf coast north of Manila.

Answer 9

I think he said "I Shall Return." I've always wanted to ask my history teachers in grade school on why did he leave in the first place. You just don't leave your comrades and soldiers behind in times of grief. If the future looks grim, you just have to go down with them.

To answer your question, he did return! No need to rack your brains out, he was not figuratively or metaphorically speaking, he promised to return and he did.

Answer 10

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