General Douglas MacArthur is arguably the most famous U.S. World War II general next to Dwight Eisenhower. However, unlike the latter, MacArthur was not known for being mild-mannered and level-headed. Quite the opposite, by all accounts, MacArthur could be quite the blowhard. For his achievements, the general would boast loudly and proud. But while he never admitted it, he also made mistakes, and they cost many, many lives.
In 1941, MacArthur was given command of the U.S. Army in the Far East. On December 8, several hours after the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, they went after another airfield — Clark Field — in the Philippines. Despite having received word of what transpired at Pearl Harbor, MacArthur severely delayed in mobilizing Clark Field’s aircraft for a potential offensive. And when the Japanese attacked, the American bombers were still grounded. This was another total victory for the Japanese. The Philippines would eventually be overrun early in the war, with President Franklin Roosevelt ordering MacArthur to leave for Australia. The general left thousands of American and Filipino troops; these troops would then be forced to endure what is now notoriously known as the Bataan Death March.
MacArthur’s follies continued throughout the war. In 1944, to support his campaign to take the Philippines back, the Marines were sent to engage the Japanese at Peleliu. The prolonged and bloody engagement lasted months, and saw over 1,000 Americans killed and several thousand wounded. To this day, the battle remains shrouded in tragic controversy as, in the end, Peleliu didn’t really factor into MacArthur’s grand plans for the Philippines.
