Have you read “Flyboys” by James Brady. I highly recommended it. He writes quite a bit about MacArthur’s collusion in not prosecuting the Japanese war criminals.
8 out of 10 of the crews that flew the Hump never returned, an 80% death rate. My father bailed out 3 times, into the Himalayan jungles, and flew over 750 missions. He weighed 90 lbs when he returned and suffered bouts of malaria many years after his return. When I was a kid he would occasionally start scratching his arm while watching TV and pull out a sliver of shrapnel.
One of the few times I saw him cry was when I was drafted.
Thanks for your story about your Dad. He must have been a fine, fine gentleman. So few can survive under such pressure. It took exceptional courage (and some good luck).
I hope they took him off those missions after his third walk out. With the really bad case of malaria he had they probably did.
Me, I know I have been living on borrowed time since my Viet Nam days. How vastly more intense was his experience.
What you say about MacArthur being a publicity hound is true. “Self effacing” he certainly was not. He wanted everyone to see him as Mr. Amazing, as Mr. Incredible. He demanded worship but not excellence from his staff. I could go on. Like I said, a difficult man to like.
Still, I stand behind what I wrote earlier.
“Have you read “Flyboys” by James Brady.”
Yes, I have.
“I highly recommended it. He writes quite a bit about MacArthur’s collusion in not prosecuting the Japanese war criminals.”
I lived in Japan for 20 years, and am pretty familiar with that issue. Unfortunately, it is true—although it wasn’t collusion, it was an exercise of his power.
His father had been known as the father of Philippine democracy, and I think MacArthur wanted to become known as the father of Japanese democracy, equalling his father’s achievements.
He thought that trying the Emperor would provoke a suicidal uprising among the Japanese Nazis, and he thought he could use the Emperor to shape Japan into the kind of country he thought it should be.
It’s said that MacArthur thought he understood “the oriental mind,” but didn’t. He thought that if he punished too many war criminals, it would drive a wedge between America and Japan forever.
He did whip a constitution on them, although the Japanese got over on him time after time.