Most Filipinos I've talked to would say that's exactly why we (re)invaded the Philippines in 1944. https://twitter.com/wjhenn/status/1288168061686755329

The Navy thought invading the Philippines was a waste of lives and time. MacArthur was deep into colonialism in the archipelago though. His father had been a US colonial governor-general. Doug was "Field Marshal of the Philippines" before the fled the Japanese invasion in 1941.

MacArthur's famous radio speech ("I came through and I shall return") was made in Australia after he'd escaped in 1942. Mussolini called him a coward. His men called him "Dugout Doug" because he'd spent most of the invasion hiding with his family while they were dying on Bataan.

In his mind there were two ways it could go: Either he'd die in disgrace, or he'd make good on his promise to "return."

And not just to Leyte (the place where the most famous, unstaged photo was taken). He also made sure to stage a similar photo op on the big island of Luzon.

This was the result of MacArthur's instance on making it all the way back to his old "hometown" of Manila: the city was utterly destroyed. Roughly 200,000 of the Filipinos he was coming to "save" were killed -- in a battle even the US Navy said was totally unnecessary.

So, in short ... you can see why Trump and Barr would consider MacArthur a hero!

Btw MacArthur was also the guy who in 1932 led a cavalry charge against the WWI veterans in DC protesting for back pay at the height of the Great Depression.

His soldiers shot two protesters to death, fired an arsenic-based tear gas and burned their camp. A baby was killed.

Bonus Bonus: @TaskandPurpose has a blog post about my man Smedley Butler's speech at the Bonus March just before MacArthur (and George Patton!) led the charge that destroyed the protest today. https://taskandpurpose.com/history/marine-medal-of-honor-smedley-butler-bonus-army-speech