Posted on 01/09/2012 4:42:13 AM PST by Homer_J_Simpson
Wow.. Thanks for the great post.
FRegards,
LH
Getting close to the time in January that my uncle was killed on Bataan. I’ll be watching close for that news. Thanks so much for posting these threads.
Re: SEVASTOPOL REPORTS SIEGE ENDED
Very sobering.
That would also be a way for the song to have gotten out. While I am aware of the American and Filipino guerrillas, I never have read any first hand accounts by American guerrillas in the Philippines. If the book you are speaking of dealt with first hand guerrilla accounts, I'd be interested in reading it if you could be so kind as to provide a title and author.
Had they known of the song, upon coming back to the States, they would have found that MacArthur had already been deified as a hero by Washington and the press, and likely would have decided it was in their best interests to keep their mouths shut.
That and the fact that the rescued American guerrillas were no longer attached to front line units. My question remains how did front line troops in the Pacific after the fall of Corregidor come to use the term "Dugout Doug"? Was it perhaps something spread through interservice rivalry?
I’m reminded of an attitude noted by Stephen Ambrose in one of his books, regarding the issue of the frontline troops’ concept of “the rear”...one said that to him “rear” was anybody who wasn’t to his left or right on the front line. If the troops weren’t seeing MacArthur, or at least hearing of him coming to the front once in a while, I can see them gradually becoming disgusted and coining a name like “Dugout Doug”.
Very true and especially for freshly arrived, ill equipped, green troops. However, this has to be weighted against attitudes of the badly trained, ill equipped Filipino troops who to my understanding appeared to be fiercely loyal to MacArthur to the very end.
Moreover, I can easily see frontline troops, ill-equipped and consistently doing nothing but fall back, getting progressively p!$$ed at a distant commander
Gen. Wainwright says he was pissed at receiving orders from MacArthur to go on the defensive and retreat into Bataan under War Plan Orange. Presumably Wainwrights attitude was mirrored down the chain of command. By the time word reached men at the front to stop attacking and retreat, the orders may have been perceived as cowardly.
who had already lost them their air force of B-17s, acted indecisively in the first weeks of the war before he issued the order to withdraw to Bataan, and making grandiose declarations of his forces’ success totally at odds with the reality the troops on the front were seeing.
For the moment, I would ask what it is you believe MacArthur did to "lose their air force of B-17s"?
I made a post a few weeks ago on this topic which you may want to review here:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2824193/posts?page=16#16
“Dugout Doug” was a Democrat smear of MacArthur, who frequently exposed himself to enemy fire in both World Wars.
He did the only thing he could do in the Philippines, which was to follow the war plan to hold out for reinforcement or evacuation.
Now you know why FDR ordered the Doolittle Raid. It was a crazy plan, but it will be a huge morale builder when announced, and help provoke Japan into a huge blunder...
Apparently, this moniker not only was attributed to MacArthur at that time, but stuck and was also a reference made of him by soldiers in the future campaigns in the war like the bloody attacks on Buna.
I don't have a copy of James' books on MacArthur, but if I have time I'll go pull it from the library at the University. Many of James' notes and extensive research he did on MacArthur are deposited at the Mitchell Library at Mississippi State University and also, many of the interviews he conducted in his research were given to the MacArthur Memorial Archive in Norfolk for those with the time to go search them out.
My understanding is that “Dugout Dug” originated with the soldiers on the Bataan Peninsula. Though I could easily see Democrats at that time latching onto the phrase later since MacArthur was always mentioned as a potential presidential candidate for the Republican Party.
I will look up “The Years of MacArthur” next time I get to the library.
As noted in post 17 above, very few soldiers escaped from Bataan. I also doubt that outgoing mail made it out. How would such a story get out? I think it much more likely that it originated with MacArthur’s detractors in high places in the US.
I have this book and referenced it in a prior post on this topic but unfortunately had a dyslectic moment and attributed it to Clayton rather than D. C. James: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2830494/posts?page=17#17
As I mentioned in the linked post, D. C. James, mentions other versions but only copied Col. Miller's version from his 1949 book "Bataan Uncensored". This 1949 version is the earliest printed one I am aware of. I have not seen in "The MacArthur Years" where D.C. James provides a reference of any sort to other "Dugout Doug" versions he claims existed. Although, I based that only on a search of pages listed in the index as containing "Dugout Doug". Even then, I found an error in the index.
Assuming my wife doesn't have too many "honey do's", this evening after I get off work, I'll scan the relevant pages from "The MacArthur Years", OCR them and post them as a reply to you. We can then take it from there with an understanding that D.C. James's index is incorrect and that a key reference may be contained somewhere else.
Apparently, this moniker not only was attributed to MacArthur at that time, but stuck and was also a reference made of him by soldiers in the future campaigns in the war like the bloody attacks on Buna.
Yes, this is what M1903A1 and I had been discussing and copying you on; Given how few Americans got out of the Philippines during the war years, how did this moniker come to be used against MacArthur in subsequent campaigns?
The first post Philippines campaign D.C. James mentions "Dugout Doug" in is the Admiralty Islands (Feb 1944) where D.C. James makes the very curious mention of it being used by "resentful soldiers" under MacArthur's command. Again, the Admiralty landings were in Feb 1944. How in such an allegedly well researched book would D.C. James know the soldiers in the Admiralties who never served in the Philippines were "resentful" towards MacArthur's cowardice? D.C. James cites no reference and this little detail didn't seem to arouse any curiosity in him either.
I'm sure we will discuss this more but I haven't read Homer's post for today and I need to get to work. As I said, this evening, I'll scan, OCR and post the paragraphs from "The MacArthur Years" where D.J. James lists them in the index. he writes in a manner such that each page contains about two paragraphs so, the containing paragraphs should provide sufficient context for purposes of our discussion.
We have a number of lively posts across multiple threads on this subject which hopefully will be merged into a single thread in the near future.
If you could find something that would corroborate that I would be interested since everything I’ve seen suggests it did originate with the troops. There may have only been a few that got out of Bataan, but they did nonetheless.
I noticed that after I posted to you last night. I really should have picked that up.
Remember that it doesn't take but a few to get nickname started. Just because it was a very limited number that escaped Bataan doesn't mean it can't be the source of Dugout Doug. From there it can spread like wildfire considering how controversial the man already was (and remained throughout his career). Any additional sources we could turn up on this would be interesting. But this is one of those details that there may not be any existing primary source material on unless it is buried in some of the interview recordings at the MacArthur Archive.
Tonight probably won't happen either because it's my daughter's birthday.
Remember that it doesn't take but a few to get nickname started. Just because it was a very limited number that escaped Bataan doesn't mean it can't be the source of Dugout Doug.
From there it can spread like wildfire considering how controversial the man already was (and remained throughout his career).
True. Ask any kid that ever had a nickname how difficult it was to get rid of it, especially if it was a nickname he/she didn't like.
None of this takes away from the question of if the "Dugout Doug" nickname originated in Bataan, how and when did it get out to fresh units having no prior contact with MacArthur's former units?
Radioing it out of Bataan/Corregidor would be risky to the sender because logs were kept of radio communications in those days and multiple listeners would have been able to hear it. Furthermore, the transmission would have to have been in code otherwise, the Japanese would have heard it and made great propaganda out of it.
Mail was censored across the board in those days and very little mail made it out of Bataan/Corregidor. I seem to recall one pickup of pre-printed "health and well being" postcards that the men only had enough room to address and sign the card.
Some may point to the last letters from Stalingrad as evidence that bad morale can find it's way onto such letters but German censors caught those letters.
As we already discussed, the number of personnel evacuated from Bataan/Corregidor was very small and comprised mostly higher level staff officers, specialists, nurses and perhaps a couple of female American civilian wives that had not evacuated in early 1941.
Because one of the two boatplanes that evacuated nurses, officers and specialists struck an obstacle and sank on a Philippine island farther south, it may be safe to say less than 100 made it from Luzon to Australia after WPO-3 went into effect.
A small number of men managed to escape/evade capture on Luzon and join up with guerrillas. Some of these got off Luzon and into friendly hands pre-1944 but for the most part, they had to ride it out with the guerrillas on Luzon.
Once the Japanese got wind that MacArthur was in Australia, their propagandists may have originated the nickname.
Of those evacuated from Bataan/Luzon, I would tend to suspect the nurses would have been most likely to hear such nickname from a bitter amputee with specialists less likely and staff officers even less likely to have heard such nickname.
Once in Australia, the nurses would have had little contact with combat units coming over from Stateside in preparation for Guadalcanal. Furthermore, I would expect the nurses kept what they saw and heard within the medical community.
Any additional sources we could turn up on this would be interesting. But this is one of those details that there may not be any existing primary source material on unless it is buried in some of the interview recordings at the MacArthur Archive.
MacArthur like Patton had many detractors in the press. A review of "Stars and Stripes", UPI dispatches, etc should turn up something related to the nickname "Dugout Doug" during the war years. Just as there was no shortage of reporters and cartoonists eager to pillory and lampoon Patton, I think it reasonable to presume an earliest public wartime record of "Dugout Doug" should exist in media archives.
If the nickname was as widespread as is popularly believed, some reporter/cartoonist had to have gotten wind of it and written it up.
Few of the Bataan veterans remain among the living and given their advanced age, their recollections may have issues. It would be interesting if this is discussed in the archives of Bataan veterans organizations?
As for the ballad sung to the melody of The Battle Hymn of The Republic and printed in Col. Miller's 1949 book "Bataan Uncensored", that I question. It has a certain feel to it.
Given the potential political effect to FDR of the Feb 1942 "Battling Bastards" poem and understanding that FDR blocked press publication of reports handed them by MacArthur of Japanese atrocities against American and Filipino prisoners, one can understand how Iowamark could suspect FDR as the source.
For a historian, clearing up an historical record can benefit ones career. However, because the record pertains to MacArthur, it might be wise to wait until being tenured or to at least be solidly on a tenure track in a known "friendly" history department.
So far we have:
The soldiers on Bataan
Democrats
FDR
Japanese propagandists
Honestly, nothing has been presented that eliminates any of these as possibilities. In fact, it could be a combination of a couple of them (ie. journalist hears it from a soldier and spreads it) Let me add one more to the mix: isolationists.
Though the bulk of the isolationists disappeared after the attack on Pearl Harbor, they were not entirely eliminated. In fact the remainder were very critical of MacArthur. So much so that on March 31st, two of them were taken into custody and charged with criminal libel on MacArthur (That's in April 1st's New York Times).
I really would be interested in digging into this deeper if I had time. I am already committed to a major paper on Asian diplomacy in the 1930s and one on cryptology that we have already discussed.
As to waiting on tenure to pursue things like this in a history department, I'm not really worried about that. It's a pretty even mix here which is one of the reasons I moved here to work on my doctorate. I wrote a pretty significant paper on the political polarization of modern historiography which was quite well received by both the professors and my peers, even though they didn't all agree with it. Fortunately, not all history departments in the United States are liberal Meccas.
Apparently, this moniker not only was attributed to MacArthur at that time, but stuck and was also a reference made of him by soldiers in the future campaigns in the war like the bloody attacks on Buna.
I don't have a copy of James' books on MacArthur, but if I have time I'll go pull it from the library at the University. Many of James' notes and extensive research he did on MacArthur are deposited at the Mitchell Library at Mississippi State University and also, many of the interviews he conducted in his research were given to the MacArthur Memorial Archive in Norfolk for those with the time to go search them out.
I have an old worn copy of "The MacArthur Years"
In Vol II, "Dugout Doug" is indexed on pages 74, 153, 384, 618 and 667. This is an error in the index because “Dugout Doug” also occurs on pg 66 of Vol II.
(page 65, This is just lead-in to pg 66)
Besides problems of health, food, clothing, and shelter, the Bataan defenders also had to cope with Japanese propaganda. There is little indication that the USAFFE combat troops were significantly influenced by the propaganda barrages of either side. Affecting them far more was a radio broadcast of a “fireside chat” by Roosevelt on February 22, in which he analyzed the global predicament of the Allies and emphasized the many demands upon American men and materiel by the far-flung theaters of war. The President reiterated his commitment to defeating Germany first, and no hope of relief for the Philippines could be inferred from any of his remarks. Colonel Mallode commented, “The President had-with regret-wiped us off the page and closed the book.”
Despite disease, starvation,. and enemy efforts to under their morale, the Bataan troops generally maintained a strong esprit de corps and a dogged determination to give a good account in the final round of fighting. MacArthur’s reputation remained untarnished among virtually all the Filipino soldiers and probably among a large majority of the Americans. But some of the American soldiers on Bataan lost faith in him, although officers tended to refrain from caustic comments about him at least until their later period in Japanese prison camps. The situation that was developing on Bataan portended the worst disaster ever suffered by an American army, and it was to be expected, especially in view of their physical deterioration that some men would seek a scapegoat.24
(Page 66)
Sometime in February a ballad, set to the tune of “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” began to appear in camps at the front, Colonel Miller first saw a copy when he walked into tank headquarters and found the men “laughing quite heartily” over the anonymous verses. He claimed that the ballad depicted “with clarity, just what went on in the minds of the men on Bataan.” A less prejudiced observer would conclude that it represented the thinking of some men but, on any count, was malicious and grossly unfair to MacArthur. Several versions of the anonymous ballad were circulated, the one below being that which Miller obtained:
USAFFE Cry of Freedom
Dugout Doug MacArthur lies ashaking on the Rock
Safe from all the bombers and from any sudden shock
Dugout Doug is eating of the best food on Bataan
And his troops go starving on.
Dugout Doug’s not timid, he’s just cautious, not afraid
He’s protecting carefully the stars that Franklin made
Four-star generals are rare as good food on Bataan
And his troops go starving on.
Dugout Doug is ready in his Kris Craft [sic] for the flee
Over bounding billows and the wildly raging sea
For the Japs anre pounding on the gates of Old Bataan
And his troops go starving on.
We’ve fought the war the hard way since they said the fight was on
All the way from Lingayen to the hills of Old Bataan
And we’ll continue fighting after Dugout Doug is gone
And still go starving on.
Chorus:
Dugout Doug, come out from hiding
Dugout Doug, come out from hiding
Send to Franklin the glad tidings
That his troops go starving on 26
The citation was for #26 but is listed as #25 in the "Notes" section, of Chapter II “Nowhere to Retreat” where D.C. James cites Miller’s 1949 “Bataan Uncensored” as the source.Missing a page in the index and missing a citation number are minor errors but when encountered on the first item searched in the book, one has to wonder how many other “minor” errors are contained in “The MacArthur Years”?
(Page 74)
This scene was reenacted many times when the general vis- ited batteries during attacks and refused to seek cover. On January 6, to cite another example, he was at Battery Chicago when enemy bombers appeared overhead. The battery commander urged him to get down as the gun crews dived for shelter, but MacArthur “stayed up, watching through his binoculars, counting off the attacking planes, and remarking calmly that the bombs would fall close.” Sayre said that MacArthur told him “he believed that death would take him only at the ordained time” - a conviction that he had voiced ever since his days with the 42nd Division in World War I. Even if he was a confirmed fatalist, the USAFFE commander demonstrated such bravery, boldness, and sometimes foolhardiness under fire that his exploits became widely known on the island. Few Corregidor survivors cannot relate an instance in which they personally witnessed MacArthur courageously exposing himself to enemy fire. It is unfortunate that the Bataan soldiers did not have an opportunity to see this side of Dugout Doug.The men on Corregidor were impressed by the inspiring con. duct not only of the USAFFE chief but also of his wife. Leaving her four-year-old son with his nurse in the tunnel, Jean MacArthur frequently visited gun crews to chat amiably and sometimes eat lunch with them. At least one officer said that he saw her visiting the troops nearly as often as he saw his own battery commander
(Page 153)
It must be remembered, too, that MacArthur did everything within his power, and his influence in Washington was far greater than that of any other officer in the Pacific - to try to get reinforcements sent to the islands. In fact, he did so with such vehemence and persistence that it lost him personally no small amount of sympathy among certain key Army and Navy leaders in the Pentagon. In addition, it should be pointed out that he was neither the cowardly Dugout Doug, as some resentful soldiers chimed, nor the Lion of Luzon, as enthusiastic supporters in the States called him. His,departure from Corregidor, since it was made under presidential orders, marked him as neither coward nor opportunist despite his detractors’ comments.
Admiralty Islands (Page 384)
In his tour of the beachhead MacArthur seemed to be mined to refurbish his image as a “fighting general” and to bury the unjust Dugout Doug legend, which still circulated among some embittered soldiers. His deliberate exposure within range of enemy guns and his calmness when bursts of small arms firing erupted close by amazed both oficers and enlisted men who witnessed his casual tour. At one stage an uneasy cavalry officer touched him on the sleeve and pointed toward a spot in the jungle fifty yards ahead: “Excuse me, sir, but we killed a Jap sniper in there just a few minutes ago.” MacArthur responded as he continued to walk in that direction, “Fine. That’s the best thing to do with them.” Coming across two Japanese soldiers who bad been killed less than twenty minutes before, he looked at them a long while and, as he walked away, mut- tered, “That’s the way I like to see them.”
(Page 618)
Somewhere along the long path - maybe at Los Negros, Hollandia, Aitape, Morotai, or Leyte - “Dugout Doug” had disap- peared from most soldiers’ jargon in the Southwest Pacific.
(Page 667)
There is little doubt that his role-playing was effective in his relations with his immediate staff. That his dramatic ef- forts had a positive impact on the soldiers of his theater is moot. Nevertheless, whereas veterans of the European operations‘, normally responded, “First Army,” “Ninth Army,” or whatever Southwest Pacific veterans, even those who enjoyed the "Dugout Doug" doggerel, would not uncommonly reply that they were with “MacArthur’s Army.”
There is no index in Vol I or Vol II of "The MacArthur Years to the "Battling Bastards" poem. That the author would ignore this poem shows poorly on the book and supports what I said from the outset of this discussion about what has been done to MacArthurs record.
I will give you that it does reflect poorly on that book in general when we look at how “Dugout Doug” is addressed in it. The thing I find with this book series, what I’ve read of them which has not been cover to cover, is that it is relatively neutral in its handling of MacArthur. Even in the entries you cite, the author does not agree with the assessment of the “cowardly Dugout Doug” or the “Lion of Luzon”. I don’t feel like it is a book intended to be bent on smearing MacArthur or overly patting him on the back (like Willoughby’s work). But then again, maybe I need to sit down and cover that book end to end.
So I would guess the next effort would be to try and find a Dugout Doug reference that can be dated to at least during the war.
Understanding that the volumes were created using an IBM Selectric typewriter, I can easily understand the editing errors such as incomplete index and incorrect citation numbers.
Where I start taking issue is in citing a 1949 source that even D.C. James admits is "prejudiced"and then bringing up "Dugout Doug" multiple times in a post-Philippine context without further citation.
To be fair, there is a chance that D.C. James lost track of his citations and therefore, we should check not only the number he cites but also several on either side. For example, if he cites #25, we should look up from say #23-#28.
23. 11th Engineers Op. Rpt., 35; Operations Report of the 21st Infantry Regiment (Philippine Army), 1941-1942. 7, CMH; Romnlo, Fall of the Philippines, 102-58; Rosenman, comp., Public Papers and Ad- dresses of Roosevelt, XIII, 105-16; Mallonbe, “Bataan Diary,” 11, 69.24. Inti, Chynoweth, Bluemel, Carter: Col. A. D. Amoroso, Dec. ‘7, 1966; Col. Joseph L. Chabot, July 2, 1971; William E. Brougher, “The Battle of Bataan” [MS on 11th Div. op., 1942], 5, Brougher Papers.
25. Miller, Bataan Uncensored, 193-94, See also Ralph G. Martin, The GI War, 1941-1945 (Boston, 1967). 21; Rovere and Schlesinger, General and President, 57; Joseph Rosner, The Hater‘s Handbook (New York. OP. Rpt., 35.1965). 128-29.
26. Lee, Nothing But Praise, 192, 195.
27. Morton, Fall of the Philippines, 388; Mallonbe, “Bataan Diary,” 11, 67. On Bataan veterans’ opinions of MacArthur and Wainwright, see various issues of their societies’ periodicals, such as Chit Chat, T h e Quan, and The XPW Bulletin, in the Brougher Papers and Benson Guyton Papers, MSU.
28. USAFFE-USFIP Op. Rpt., Annex VIII, 1-79; Rockwell, Narrative, 2: Belote and Belote, Corregidor, 14.
29. Belote and Belote, Corregidor, 76.
Concerning #25 above, The Rovere and Schlesinger book General and President was published in 1951. Google Books won't let me look at the entire page but Rovere and Schlesinger appear to use Miller's 1949 Bataan Uncensored
Unless I missed it, failing to make mention of "The Battling Bastards" in VI or VII is another eyebrow raiser.
My understanding is that after publishing VI and VII together, D.C. James came out with a later VIII which I have not read.
The thing I find with this book series, what I’ve read of them which has not been cover to cover, is that it is relatively neutral in its handling of MacArthur. Even in the entries you cite, the author does not agree with the assessment of the “cowardly Dugout Doug” or the “Lion of Luzon”. I don’t feel like it is a book intended to be bent on smearing MacArthur or overly patting him on the back (like Willoughby’s work). But then again, maybe I need to sit down and cover that book end to end.
So I would guess the next effort would be to try and find a Dugout Doug reference that can be dated to at least during the war.
Human nature being what it is, I have no doubt that once word spread that FDR ordered MacArthur to Australia, morale sank and men could easily become embittered. In such situation, no amount of explaining that MacArthur left under protest would suffice. However, as we already discussed, after MacArthur left, very few others were able to get out. Of those that did, perhaps as many as half were female nurses.
Given how widespread we have been led to believe use of the nickname "Dugout Doug" was post-Philippines, one would think that such wartime reference exists.
Surely if the nickname was as widely in use as we are led to believe, an author somewhere recalled seeing a cartoon or reading a newspaper article.
The example of Patton's relationship with the press would tend to rule out censorship or "wartime patriotism" and therefore justify a search of media archives.
I'm sure that in doing his daily NYT edits, Homer will be keeping an eye out for such reference as will we when reading his posts.
MacArthurs record is a bit like like global warming. Everyone believes it but no one knows why. You really have to isolate each specific criticism of MacArthur and trace it back.
There were still more than enough for the moniker to have gotten out. According to General Wainwright, over 2000 men and women managed to escape the night of the Bataan surrender alone. This included 300 men from the 31st Infantry, some scouts from the 26th Cavalry Division, some Naval personnel, and some Filipino Army personnel. (General Wainwright's Story, pp 86-87) That is more than enough to be a possible source for the Dugout Doug reference.
Given how widespread we have been led to believe use of the nickname "Dugout Doug" was post-Philippines, one would think that such wartime reference exists.
I'm not sure how "widespread" it was used honestly. Like I've said, my understanding is that it originated with soldiers on Bataan, and has been said to have been used by who knows how many people during the Buna campaign, and as you said, the Admiralties campaign. How prolifically it was used is hard to measure which is why I'm more interested into seeing if we can pin down the origin more so than how heavily it was used, though that too may be an impossible task.
Now this does not mean that a war time reference to Dugout Doug doesn't exist (or did at one time) and we just have not pinned it down yet.
Given how widespread we have been led to believe use of the nickname "Dugout Doug" was post-Philippines, one would think that such wartime reference exists.
Surely if the nickname was as widely in use as we are led to believe, an author somewhere recalled seeing a cartoon or reading a newspaper article.
Again, are we talking widely used, or widely known? I doubt you would have seen it much in newspaper articles and certainly not in cartoons, but again it can be we still haven't run across it. Remember, there was a degree of idolization of the man in the press as well as with the administration and MacArthur, unlike Patton, was an excellent self promoter. Here in these days surrounding the fall of Philippines there was a need for some sort of hero, and MacArthur was it. You'll notice that the bulk of the information coming out of the Philippines right now are coming from MacArthur communiques and press releases. Referring back to James' work, there were 142 of these between December and March and of them 109 of them do not mention any other commander except for MacArthur. Just a cursory look at the communications from the Philippines over the last week, 4 of the 7 mention MacArthur, and none of them mention any other commander. The only mention of other commanders are coming from the War Department in Washington, and the Navy department.
I might have a lead on this, but I'm not sure. I have to run up to the University to pick up a couple of books I ordered so I will follow up on that real quick and get back to you tomorrow.
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