Douglas MacArthur: "I Shall Return!" It Didn't Happen Exactly the Way (or Where) You May Have Thought

Quick answer: Where did MacArthur say "I shall return"?

Douglas MacArthur first said "I came through and I shall return" on March 20, 1942, at the Terowie railway station in South Australia, after escaping Corregidor by PT boat and flying to Australia on President Roosevelt's orders. He kept his promise when he landed on Leyte in October 1944.

In February 1942, President Roosevelt could not accept the idea of Douglas MacArthur, one of America's best-known generals, falling into Japanese hands if Corregidor fell. On February 23, General George Marshall sent MacArthur the order: "The President directs that you make arrangements to leave and proceed to Mindanao." From there he would go to Australia to take command of U.S. forces. Left behind on Corregidor and Bataan were about 90,000 American and Filipino troops, short of food and supplies. On the evening of March 11, MacArthur, his wife Jean, his young son Arthur, and his staff, later called the Bataan Gang, left aboard four PT boats commanded by Lieutenant John D. Bulkeley. Each boat carried twenty 55-gallon drums of extra fuel on deck, and 32 sailors had to stay behind to make room. Each passenger was limited to one bag of 35 pounds. Before leaving, MacArthur told General George Moore, "George, keep the flag flying. I'm coming back." The boats ran about 560 miles through rough seas, minefields, and Japanese-held waters, a 35-hour trip MacArthur later described in terms of towering waves battering their blacked-out boats. At Mindanao he told Bulkeley, "You've taken me out of the jaws of death, and I won't forget it," and awarded every officer and man the Silver Star. On March 17 the party flew by B-17 to northern Australia, then went on by plane and train. On March 20, at the Terowie railway station in South Australia, he told reporters, "I came through and I shall return." Bulkeley received the Medal of Honor from Roosevelt on August 4, 1942, and his story became the 1945 film They Were Expendable. MacArthur returned to the Philippines in October 1944. Only about a third of the men he left behind survived to see it.

Why it matters for leaders: A promise made in a moment of defeat carries weight only when it is kept, and MacArthur spent two and a half years keeping it.

Q: How did MacArthur escape the Philippines?

A: By PT boat from Corregidor to Mindanao on March 11 to 13, 1942, then by B-17 to Australia.

Q: Who commanded the PT boats?

A: Lt. John D. Bulkeley, who received the Medal of Honor for his service in the Philippines.

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By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation