Allied Commanders of World War Two/MacArthur, Part Four

"Douglas MacArthur" Part 4

MacArthur was determined to return to the Philippines and to free the multi-island nation from Japanese occupation. In the fall of 1944, the point chosen for the initial assault was the island of Leyte, which lies more to the eastern part of the Philippines. After heavy fighting and stubborn Japanese resistance, much of the island was subdued, but fighting continued there well into 1945.* MacArthur was promoted to "General of the Army" (5 Star General) in mid December 1944 (made his permanent rank in 1946). The bloody campaign in the Philippines continued for months, but eventually the area was essentially secured.** MacArthur and the Allied command planned an invasion of Japan, but the war ended before such a costly operation had to be undertaken. MacArthur received the formal surrender by the Japanese on September 2, 1945 aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay.

For three years after the war ended, General MacArthur, Supreme Allied Commander in Japan, effectively became the head of the Japanese government. A new constitution was put in place which limited Japanese military matters and very much limited the power of the Emperor of Japan. MacArthur instituted various reforms, including the encouragement of Japanese workers to join unions, and the sale of land to former tenant farmers (Oh boy! Today's Republican leaders would call him all sorts of nasty names, with "socialist" undoubtedly being the kindest). Under MacArthur's guidance, Japan was well on the way to becoming a democratic nation. In 1949, MacArthur gave over his power to the Japanese government.

Next, the final installment on General MacArthur.

* The Philippines had a lot of jungle and rough terrain (besides a multitude of islands), areas perfect for concealment and ambush. This terrain worked for the Filipino resistance movement early on, and then for the Japanese defenders against American forces. A decent movie depicting the terrain is 1950's "American Guerrilla in the Philippines," which starred Tyrone Power. It is "based" upon a true story of an American PT boat crew stranded in the Philippines during the Japanese occupation and how they hid out and helped the Filipino resistance. It is well worth seeing.

** Throughout the war in the Pacific groups of Japanese military personnel were often bypassed by Allied mopping up operations, including in the Philippines. Sometimes months or even years after the war ended, Japanese soldiers were discovered in hiding. They were out of radio communication with their homeland and they did not know the war had ended, or their military honor dictated that they had not received orders to lay down their arms. An episode of "Gilligan's Island" in the mid 1960s played on this theme when the castaways are captured by a Japanese sailor (with a mini-submarine). In real life, some Japanese soldiers only gave up in the 1960s and 1970s, after some twenty to thirty years in hiding!

WORD HISTORY:
Pine (2)-This is the verb with the meaning "to long for painfully, to grieve for." It is not related to the noun meaning "a type of evergreen tree,"^ but it is very closely related to the word "pain." This word apparently goes back to Indo European "kwei/kwoi," which had the idea of "pay, compensate." This gave its Greek offspring "poine," which meant "penalty, fine." This then gave Latin "poena," which meant "penalty, punishment," which later became "pena." This was then borrowed into Old Germanic, which gave Old English (Anglo-Saxon) "pinian," which meant "to cause pain or suffering, to torture." This later became "pinen," before the modern version. German has "Pein," which means "pain," as does Low German Saxon "Pien," Dutch "pijn," and Frisian "pine;" Danish and Norwegian have "pine," which means "torment," as does Swedish "pina." Apparently usage in Icelandic has died out, as I could not find a form of the word.

^ For the history of the noun, see: http://pontificating-randy.blogspot.com/2012/03/allied-commanders-of-world-war_11.html