These are highly prized squats to get into the u. S. Army for these guys. You head on the eve of world war ii a military force that is unique in American History. Its like the british model. Its about 20 to 25 american in the west as local guys. They are run by the americans. He is recalled to active duty on the eve of the war he is given three start rank and eventually fourstar rank. He has to decide how im going to defend the philippines at the japanese ever come. They come up with something called warplane orange. It is the whole long boring things. It says there is no way for the japanese proximity we can defend them. We just cant do that. If they do invade we are going to retreat to the peninsula which is acting with defensible ground. You can really stymie the japanese and then what we will do is our fleet well fly to major open engagement. Defeat them we will deal with pushing the japanese out of there. We wont try to defend the whole coast. Macarthur looks at that and says no way. We can defend everything. We will stretch out the army and forces weve got. And working to stop the japanese right at the waterline. I believe seldom in American History had they so badly mismanaged a campaign and yet be perceived at the time is a great battle captain. Perhaps even a genius. Is his position is extremely difficult. He loses the bulk of his air force on the ground with about 12 to 16 hours a pearl harbor knowing that they have commenced. Bottom line he is the guy in charge. The japanese get a drop on them. What that means is they are not get controlled air which means they control the sea. They can only and people wherever they want to regardless of where they have their troops deployed. Later in december they land in two places in the northern part of lausanne. And they have a main landing. Its right about there. And then they move down towards manila from both directions. Macarthur comes to realize maybe it have something to recommend after all. You are a Philippine Army soldier. Youre barely armed or trained. Youre not outnumbered. That is a myth. In fact they out number the japanese by two to one. You just dont control the air and the sea and thats important. To his credit he doesnt just cling to the bad plan. Lets get our people out of where we are. And certainly that makes sense. Manila is declared an open city. And the japanese are going to take that by the end of the year. The army doesnt get the battalion partially because its fighting overall. And considering the chaos. The japanese just dont have enough people in mobility to track them and destroy them. They just dont have that. By early january the army has made it through most positions. But there is a tremendous consequence for what has happened. They had been scattered all over lausanne. Macarthur refuses to give orders. The japanese own food parcels in packages. If terrible consequence that eventuates from this. By the time you are there in the first week of january you are in a really dicey situation. The quartermaster estimated the following situation by the first week of january. Read 30 days of ration with 50 days of can meet orpheus. Thirty days of flour and canned beans. In tomatoes in 20 days of race. For an army of about 80 plus. To almost a hundred thousand. The civilians were there also. Can you turn to local food resources, not really. Mainly by the testimony of veterans who are part of this is very tough meet. About 30 to 40 animals per date which meant 6 ounces of meat per day per man. , what about fishing. Of course you still have the local population. And what that meant for you is that you are down to half rations and then quarter rations by the end of february or so. You are hungry and probably disease at that point. The japanese arent in much better shape. Thats about the only good news. They are not in good terms of food either. They were trying to launch an invasion behind allies. Already you are seeing seen the japanese pensions and this war for fighting for the death rather than surrender. They are fighting really hard and cannot seem to squats the army. One of them wrote in the diary. One of the invaders. Here in his diary i have made up my mind i will not have a disgraceful ending i went back to my patients and told them its better and more honorable to die with the pistol shot. The japanese commander. Eventually had to bend to reality. It meant that he lost faith. This was to them a crisis situation. Macarthur will tell his starving troops the help was on the way even though he knew this is untrue. The exact time of arrival is unknown. It have to fight their way through. Imagine if you got that and you read that same this is the head guy. He must know. That is or has headquarters was. American engineers have turned into a major fortified island. They had blasted lateral tunnels. Where macarthur is could have his headquarters. Weve a pretty substantial allied military presence on the island. He lost 25 pounds in two and half months because like many of his soldiers he is with not eating particularly well. About 1500 to 200 calories per day. A lot of fish and rice kind of thing. The constant worry as well over his wife and 4yearold son arthur. It has been breezed over in many assessments. Everyone complied except one. They were true soulmates. All of like three or four years old at that point are now stuck in corregidor with him. That had to have some sort of bearing on his mindset. On his decisionmaking. Not a good situation. Is sent out to the american public. He was in a rear area and there is nothing really going on. Theyre so farcical they are so farcical in some ways. , had committed suicide. That have happened. It was just totally nonsense. Another one claimed that a bomb exploded. What i call a cult of personality have swept the nation. They were naming their kids after macarthur. I love macarthur clubs. There were people lobbying for him to be put in charge of the whole war effort and all of this kind of stuff. He is beginning at underground political campaign. A little dicey again. Fdr ordered him out in late february. In early march he decides to comply with the order. The president has ordered you to do this because of the reasons ive explored. Losing him to captivity would be devastating. He doesnt like or trust macarthur. In the personal correspondence they are very nice and flowery with each other. Very polite people. Behind the scenes they dont really like or trust each other too much. There was a larger good to be again. They decide to comply. And then the escape for him and his family. And select members of the staff. Famously says i shall return to the philippines. He will think in terms of building of the up the army to go back to the philippines. Almost a messy antic mission. When he gets to australia that he left the philippines under the pretense that there were these big reinforcements waiting in australia and he would immediately go back and counter attack the japanese in the philippines. I personally feel that i couldnt of been the case but thats what he will often clean. Before he left. He accepted half a Million Dollar payment from the philippines treasury but also was not known at the time. Personal money to him on active duty. That is about 8 million in todays money. Needless to say the average american did not know that. The person left behind to deal with the philippines. They had been first captain. Remarkable guy. He holds on his best it can. They surrender on april 9. Sort of historical based. The base. The guy who surrender there. And of course he knew full well that that day he was surrendered. Thats all he could think about that date when he surrendered the whole thing. I would rather die a thousand deaths thats exactly what king was thinking over and over again. Soaking in his guys surrender. In April Wainwright in the others in may. And then others by june. In total about 25,000 americans they end up dealing with the horrors of captivity. Take a sense of that. It is another major thing that i explore. One of the best ways to understand this experience is through the eyes of the sky. Harold keith johnson. West point class of 1933. Im talking about him earlier in life he was with the philippine scouts in the fillet peanut infantry. He was one of the people that made at the unit the unit go. He asked to surrender along with everyone else. Im sure you heard all about this. Misery, neglect, chaos. He is thinking of his wife dorothy back home and their kids the situation like many other people whats interesting about johnson. This situation brought out the best in him not the worst. The vast majority i would say would bring out the worst. The struggle for survival. It seemed out bring out the very best in johnson. They almost equated to life and survival. Leadership to him was about selflessness in professionalism. And his conditions grew worse. He will later say. God was very close and very real. It claimed the lives of about 600 americans between five and 10,000 filipinos. The survivors johnson and the others were consigned to camp odonnell conditions were even worse. If you were there. You cannot have been in that death march. Everybody ends up at odonnell. For over two months. Even occasional arbitrate beating or execution. They told the prisoners. An introductory speech. We will fight you and fight you for 100 years. He was a captain where his colleagues were all colonels. He was one of these kinda guys. And he made the place a living hell. They waited in line all day under the tropical sun for a canteen of water. Men died awash of wash in their own stilts. A lot of people quit hanging on. After surviving the death march johnson had a terrible case of dysentery. Almost no one lived but he let i just know that i came out. Many others were not as fortunate. 1,547 americans have died at odonnell. In between 21 and 26,000 filipinos were treated for worse. Most of their survivors ended up at command where death rates persisted the high throughout much of the rest of the summer of 1942 a bit more food more medical care began to stabilize things into conditions that you can describe as port rather than overtly deadly. He began to organize an efficient fair and vital commentary system. He was unanimously chosen by the fellow prisoners for this job for the impeccable honesty and consideration for others. He was a student of human nature. Building trust. But also interestingly enough. Deceiving them if it meant that he could get more food or medicine for the permit of his fellow prisoners. Those who did not had much money to purchase things who were in bad shape you could have a general welfare fund so they could be taken care of also. That was leadership. He deceived the japanese through audits and out and out loss and lies. He have a secret diary. It said at one point my commentary business is booming. The death rates plummeted life stabilized and normalized although the prisoners remain hungry. The death petered out by the end of the year. Johnson began during captivity. He emerged as a great leader. His striking sense of ethics and accountability. I look at the pows here. To give you a sense of the larger pow experience. Fortunately for them the work was starting to turn around a little bit for the allies and if we go back to our larger map there. They begin a counteroffensive. And also at new guinea. The japanese understood this also. Macarthurs forces are operating on a shoestring. They did not like the europe first policy and you can understand why. He felt the priority out to go to him. The theater is split up between the southwest pacific area. And the South Pacific area here. Americans tend to think of the battle spot its two different metals. They were not. They were part of the same campaign they are like chapters of the same book because the japanese looked at it that way. They will diffuse forces in both places. Thats one of the ways why things turn out the way they do. They had first halting counter offense we have to realize also that this is a southern hemisphere. Im talking about september 3 december. Here is what he is doing you want to get the north coast he is very worried that the japanese are going to use that to come back. In the southern coast. And used as a jump point to go back to australia again. They tried this twice in 1942. Once by a land and then once the by sea. Twice they had been turned back. They felt like time was that the since. The americans are starting to go for war. The campaign was going poorly the newly arrived infantry division. Had run into a terrible nest. A bunkers, and swamps. No where to nowhere to advance. All of this kind of stuff. The 32nd was a National Guard unit. Michigan wisconsin and illinois. They had been trained will but not prepared for jumbo combat. Macarthur is becoming desperate at this point. He turns to a man that he is known for many years a fascinating guy. And i would propose to you probably the best american commander that youve never heard of. He had worked for macarthur when macarthur was chief of staff. He was the youngest of five children he was sort of the baby of the family. Almost the mascot. No one took all of that seriously. His father certainly didnt. It was a hypercompetitive family. Very successful guy and farmer. He grows up with this yearning for achievement and distinction. He found an avenue to do that has been a soldier. He served in world war i. With the force that tries to go there. He have served credibly dolorous lee is a small unit leader. He also studied the japanese at that point also. He have met and married emily dodger. From an upper middleclass background in these two were soulmates. Joined like that. They have each other and they have roberts career. And he will write to her two or three times a day throughout all of world war ii he is like a mini historian in a way. It makes it easy. He has a diary and these letters. And dictations he has later on. Its remarkable stuff. Its kind of underutilized. He is itching once he goes to buna to get an action into distinguish himself and lead soldiers always the way he could. Another interesting order. Before he leaves. He may be sure that i should always be with you in my thoughts. He arrives on december 1. Poor supply situation. They are hungry and demoralized. They are living and swamps. There is nothing going on. One of them described them he reluctantly relieves a major classmate of his. Hardy never forgive him and so class reunions were kind of awkward for them. After the war it wasnt quite his fault in the sense. He orders apposite. He decides the train makes a big push. You have all these little routes of advance you can get half a dozen guys through or Something Like that. Youre fighting the war on the shoestrings at this stage. I get a step back and hit these guys a different way. They were impenetrable to our fire. You can look right into one. And it looked like jungle. Our troops could not fight as units but brad our individuals at two or threes. He just starts to put constant pressure on them with smaller units. His not just a matter of sending guys forward to do this. I need to be there with them. So he is there almost every day of this fight with the tommy gun in hand leading people and controlling them. Challenging their manhood whatever it takes to go forward. Hes constantly roaming around. Who wants to go get the japanese. He leads himself. His key aides are wounded. Fortunately not killed. They are very tight. Fortunately hes not killed. He loses 30 pounds a month. He dodges death many times. Torrential rains poured down almost every day. No one could remember when he had been dry. They were hideous they are prodding him for final victory. He never went there. So part of this is an interesting figure in the sense. He has to attempt to puff himself up that much more. The second half of december though. What the americans didnt realize. The japanese were in worse shape. They were trying to hold off the americans that never arrived. Partially because of the canal. The sergeant wrote in his diary what discouraging and miserable state of affairs. The hospital is in a horrible place. Another soldier sadly wrote. You will find so one is a where rare in this world. I will always be grateful. All along this spot. He himself right there at the front as he said. The annihilation of the japanese. Theres almost no prisoners taken. Some are swollen 11 green. Tattered clothes covering other white bones. When ended he had one of the First American ground victory of world war ii. He is very accommodating with the war correspondents. He was very will liked throughout the army too. A lot of friends. Macarthur wants it to be about macarthur. For the next year of the training command. He knows hes too good to lose. He also did that with the rain right. He holds off. His medal of honor in several times folks in the european theater have inquired about the services for the normandy invasion. In macarthur said im neck and let him go. He sort of sidelights and. He would come to realize this. And the resentment builds. It is that hunger for achievement. And then that resentment. When you look at has letters and his letters and diaries. Theres a lot of that in there. He will serve him wildly. And have a Good Relationship without the entire time together. Nonetheless the anger will stay with him through much of his life. The allies well then be able to continue the advance. So new guinea becomes a major place to negotiate on the way to the philippines. After buna you are can have the building up of a major american presence on one of the Worlds Largest and most for bidding islands. Practically look at new guinea and you have that. Thats what this is like. Yet they have a control to control the north coast in order to continue that advance. It presented a great challenge. The army is really fighting to battles. One against the enemy and the jungle. He was so right. One hundred to 150 inches. Temperatures in the 90s and belong beyond. Humidity about 90 . And interspecies war. They are fighting against the insects also. And theyre not always winning. They were due to disease. In 1943 for every soldier the americans were losing. Five were down with disease. Its almost like the civil war. Fortunately it was not fatal. When a soldier went down with malaria he went down it was transmitted by little mites in the foliage. It have a 5 fatality rate. By late 194317 control units of epidemiologists insect people and others. They were attempting to fight the problem in the main way they weight they were doing that was a spray insect side. They would also flame likely breeding areas with diesel fire. The real solution was pharmaceutical. They would simply suppress the symptoms. That was the fix if there was one. They had effects that were not always that pleasing. There was at a bream psychosis you didnt really want to roll the dice on that though. There were rumors. You can imagine how that would spread throughout soldier ranks. Be an excuse to not take your pill. You could tell a specific a war veteran very quickly because it would have yellowish skin. Life in new guinea was hard and brittle. Morale was usually low. There are only fold for things that will keep them h