General MacArthur's return to the Philippines on Leyte, October 20, 1944. Public Domain: Gaetano Faillace.
General Douglas MacArthur's Philippine landings brought with them confident images of dominance. MacArthur promised his return after the Japanese defeat of the Allied Forces in the Philippines: "I shall return." MacArthur's return marked a turning point for the Pacific Theater of World War II.
LIFE photographer Carl Mydans traveled with the general to capture beach landings and other photographic opportunities. Gaetano Faillace, an army photographer, was assigned to accompany MacArthur throughout the Pacific Theater; Faillace captured the photos of the Leyte landing. The visuals of the MacArthur landing tell a different story about the experiences on Leyte in October 1944 than told by the soldiers there. Japanese, short on resources and lacking leadership, still threatened American forces. For many soldiers stationed at Red Beach and nearby, MacArthur's landing on October 20, 1944, was the same as any other day. The firefights ended so that MacArthur could go ashore, declare victory, and leave in time for the Battle of Surigao Strait to commence in his wake only a few days later.
The stories of Wisconsin veterans Charles Stearns, Wilbur Sundt, Donald Mercier, and Charlie May come together to show the context of what happened around MacArthur's landings and other photos circulated in American publications like LIFE Magazine.
Charles Stearns was in the United States Army and talked about his experience on Leyte on October 20, 1944:
STEARNS: [A]nd then we went up to invade Leyte in the Philippines. And that was quite a convoy ‘cause wherever you looked, when we were on the way, wherever you looked in any direction there were ships. And we got into Leyte Bay, and then they said, "Well, I guess we are going to go ashore now." I have to check the date. I think it was the 20th of October 1944. So, we all jumped in a boat and went charging ashore and so forth.
INTERVIEWER: What kind of a boat did you jump into?
STEARNS: Well, it was a landing craft vehicle, personnel. We were infantrymen, and I was in the Heavy Weapons Company of the 381st Infantry Regiment. And we went in right away.
INTERVIEWER: In the Philippines?
STEARNS: Yeah, and then so we charged around there and eventually got rid of most of the Japanese on the island or captured ‘em, either captured ‘em or dead.
INTERVIEWER: You captured the Japanese on the Philippines?
STEARNS: Very seldom did we capture ‘em, usually they were just dead. We made sure they were dead. There were not many prisoners taken.
INTERVIEWER: How did they get dead? Just from the battle?
STEARNS: We killed ‘em.
INTERVIEWER: You killed ‘em?
STEARNS: Well sure, how the hell do you think a war is fought? You kill ‘em.
Wilbur Sundt served in the United States Navy. He was in the area of the Leyte landing but didn't come ashore. He discusses the need for more organization among the Japanese soldiers. The lack of resources brought them to desperate acts:
INTERVIEWER: But you didn't make the landing there?
SUNDT: No.
INTERVIEWER: In October of '44?
SUNDT: No. We didn't make the landing in Leyte. We were backing it all up. When we got there, they told us there were still a hundred thousand Japanese soldiers on the island. But they were no longer organized, and so
INTERVIEWER: I know, but they were armed.
SUNDT: They were armed, and they did even sneak into chow lines.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, really?
SUNDT: To get something to eat.
INTERVIEWER: They were starving to death.
SUNDT: That was their big problem was getting something to eat. And--
INTERVIEWER: So, how'd they deal with that? Just shoot them when they saw them?
SUNDT: Ah, I would have to say yes.
Donald A. Mercier was a gunner in the Army's C Company, 44th Tank Battalion and his unit headed to the Philippines in late 1944. He touches on stories he heard from Leyte but wasn't in the Philippines until he landed in Luzon in early 1945. He talks about observing MacArthur during the landing:
MERCIER: Then when we landed in Lingayen [a municipality in Luzon], we stopped out in the beach, or the water in the Gulf first and that was the first time I’d seen rockets. The Americans would have these ships that would have a bank of rockets and they shot those rockets and cannons from the naval vessels and aerial bombardment and strafing. They did that whole area in Lingayen Gulf while we were still out there in the water. I remember the front of our LST [landing ship, tank] it was 740, the thing was open, there’s a ramp that goes down and then the sides open this way. I was standing on that ramp with my tank commander, and I don’t know who else, and I saw this naval motor launch go by and MacArthur was in it. So, they had pulled up to this little pier and then they backed away and they let him out so he could wade ashore because the cameras were rolling. That’s the picture that shows up on the front of the Life magazine. If people remember that, and you wouldn’t know that was me standing back there because I’m such a small figure, but I remember that.
Charlie May served in the United States Navy from 1941 to 1946. He talks about working as a yeoman on the USS Phoenix (CL-46), often accompanying MacArthur throughout the Philippines. May shares an experience of MacArthur posing for a photograph:
MAY: Right, uh-huh. So, under my tour of duty, we went through seventeen Naval actions in the Pacific, but I wasn't on the ship all that time. About halfway up, when we were advancing with MacArthur, MacArthur incidentally would just about at every landing be on our ship.
INTERVIEWER: Oh, really?
MAY: Yeah, he liked the Phoenix, and he would watch the bombardment and all. I still remember one picture that I saw in Life magazine of MacArthur standing over a dead Jap on an airfield and saying, "That's the way I like to see them." It was all publicity because he didn't go ashore until after the Marines had completely secured the land.
INTERVIEWER: Of course.
MAY: Then he went ashore, and that's when the picture was taken.
INTERVIEWER: Of course.
MAY: It would have been foolish for him to go ashore with them of course, but he liked to give the impression that he did.
For complete interviews:
Click here to view the full interview between James McIntosh and Wilbur Sundt (OH127).
Click here to listen to the full interview between Mark Van Ells and Donald Mercier (OH66).
Click here to listen to the full interview between Doris Litscher Gasse & Dr. Charles Stearns (OH309).
Click here to view the full interview between James McIntosh and Charlie May (OH172).
For more interviews that explore General MacArthur, we invite you to keyword search these Wisconsin Veterans Museum oral history interviews:
Lawrence Pankratz (OH1099) shares thoughts on MacArthur's leadership
Thomas Doherty (OH876) discusses the motto "No More Bunas"