Post by legionnaire on Sept 15, 2008 20:01:37 GMT -5
Here's an interesting read taken from an interview with Lieutenant Colonel (Retired) Edward Ramsey,
26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts):
I: I wanted to explore a little bit about the image, which was created by MacArthur when he said, "I shall return."
Was it exploited? Was it a true term? How did the Filipinos respond to that?
Did they believe it? Was it something that was really meaningful?
Ramsey: Yes, I can answer that very easily. After the Air Force had been destroyed, and the Air Force troops were sent back to the rear, they were not combat soldiers, it's true. But, because they were back there and they were eating the food, all that we had left in Bataan, they were participating in. They were given rifles and made to get up in part of the combat area. Which irritated them to no end.
So, the Air Force (AAAC) is the one that started the expression, "Dug Out Doug."
Implying that MacArthur was a coward, and that was a d**n lie, it was not true at all.
They would say that he was never on Bataan. He was, I saw him there, but that is beside the point.
He had before received in World War I, one Medal of Honor aside from a lot of other medals, and then later on he was given a second one.
As for the expression, "I shall return", I don't know any Filipino or anybody who knew Mac Arthur and respected him as I did who didn't believe him. He was almost like a god to the Filipinos. Anything that he did, they believed in. He had become a point of dependence of the Filipinos. When he said, "I shall return', they believed him. That encouraged them to continue fighting, that's what helped an awful lot of us, I wasn't the only one in the guerrilla business, but that is the reason they were so loyal and continued to fight for the rest of the war until he came back.
The more detailed text can be found at:
www.militarymuseum.org/Ramsey.html
26th Cavalry Regiment (Philippine Scouts):
I: I wanted to explore a little bit about the image, which was created by MacArthur when he said, "I shall return."
Was it exploited? Was it a true term? How did the Filipinos respond to that?
Did they believe it? Was it something that was really meaningful?
Ramsey: Yes, I can answer that very easily. After the Air Force had been destroyed, and the Air Force troops were sent back to the rear, they were not combat soldiers, it's true. But, because they were back there and they were eating the food, all that we had left in Bataan, they were participating in. They were given rifles and made to get up in part of the combat area. Which irritated them to no end.
So, the Air Force (AAAC) is the one that started the expression, "Dug Out Doug."
Implying that MacArthur was a coward, and that was a d**n lie, it was not true at all.
They would say that he was never on Bataan. He was, I saw him there, but that is beside the point.
He had before received in World War I, one Medal of Honor aside from a lot of other medals, and then later on he was given a second one.
As for the expression, "I shall return", I don't know any Filipino or anybody who knew Mac Arthur and respected him as I did who didn't believe him. He was almost like a god to the Filipinos. Anything that he did, they believed in. He had become a point of dependence of the Filipinos. When he said, "I shall return', they believed him. That encouraged them to continue fighting, that's what helped an awful lot of us, I wasn't the only one in the guerrilla business, but that is the reason they were so loyal and continued to fight for the rest of the war until he came back.
The more detailed text can be found at:
www.militarymuseum.org/Ramsey.html