Macarthur Memorial Podcast

From 1919 to 1941, Clark Field in the Philippines was home to American air power in the western part of the Pacific. Attacked by the Japanese at the start of the war and then abandoned in the retreat to Bataan, the airfield was taken over by Japanese troops before being recaptured in 1945. To explore the development and history of Clark Field, we sat down with Dr. Richard Meixsel, author of Clark Field and the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Philippines, 1919-1942.

On February 13, 2020, the MacArthur Memorial hosted bestselling author Hampton Sides for a discussion of his book On Desperate Ground: The Marines at the Reservoir, the Korean Wars’ Greatest Battle. On Desperate Ground explores the Korean War and a controversial chapter of MacArthur’s career.

Victory Mail - more commonly referred to as V-Mail - was a mail process used by the United States during World War II. It was designed to reduce the weight and fuel costs of mail, while helping citizens correspond with service members stationed overseas. To learn more about V-Mail, we sat down with Lynn Heidelbaugh, curator at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum.

General Arthur MacArthur, the father of Douglas MacArthur, traveled to the Philippines in the summer of 1898 and took part in one of the most interesting battles of the Spanish-American War – the land Battle of Manila. The American victory there began the transition of the Philippines from a Spanish colony to an American territory, and ultimately set the stage for the Philippine-American War.

History has always been a regular and dependable muse for Hollywood. However, there is always tension between "real" history and "reel" history. The Battle of Midway is an excellent example of this tension and how Hollywood's take on history is influenced by contemporary events and social issues. Recently, we sat down with Dr. Tim Orr to discuss the Battle of Midway and how it has been portrayed in major films since 1942. We also asked if Hollywood was GOOD or BAD for history!

Who was Vicente Lim? Dr. Richard Meixsel, author of the book Frustrated Ambition: General Vicente Lim and the Philippine Military Experience, 1910–1944, answers this question with a brief exploration of Lim's life and times. The first Filipino to graduate from West Point, Lim’s military career spanned more than three decades. Although disappointed when World War I ended before he could get to France with a Filipino Division, Lim would later be instrumental in the development of the Philippine military and he would serve with distinction in World War II. After the fall of the Philippines and his later release by the Japanese, Lim worked with guerrilla networks to continue to resist the Japanese occupation. He was captured and later executed in December 1944.

At 2:22 p.m. EST on December 7, 1941, Franklin Roosevelt’s Press Secretary, Stephen Early, announced to the press pool: "The Japanese have attacked Pearl Harbor from the air and all naval and military activities on the island of Oahu, principal American base in the Hawaiian islands." Within minutes, millions of Americans were informed of the attack. However, it would take days, months, and years for a more complete picture of the attacks to emerge. In this episode, Laura Orr of the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, discusses firsthand accounts of several servicemembers who were at Pearl Harbor on the day of the attack. Some of them fought the Japanese, some rescued other servicemembers, and some were killed in the attack (18:14)

The American Civil War was an immediate and formative experience for General MacArthur’s parents and their families. General MacArthur even referred to himself as the “reunion of blue and gray personified.” In this special lecture, historian Chris Mackowski tells the story of the Battle of the Wilderness.

The American Civil War was an immediate and formative experience for General MacArthur’s parents and their families. General MacArthur even referred to himself as the “reunion of blue and gray personified.” In this special lecture, historian Dan Welch tells the story of a MacArthur relative, William J. Hardy, who fought with the 1st Richmond Howitzers at the Battle of Gettysburg.

General MacArthur was a voracious reader. Prior to World War II, he owned thousands of books. He had to leave this library behind when he escaped to Corregidor during the Japanese conquest of the Philippines. Sadly, most of the library was destroyed or looted by the end of World War II. Despite this loss, through gifts and purchases, he was able to amass a second library. Today, this post-1941 library is housed at the MacArthur Memorial. It is a fascinating library of over 5000 volumes - with subjects ranging from earthquakes in Japan, to sports, to military history, literature, religion, astronomy, and much more!

In 1948, Sibyl Kathigasu became the only Malaysian woman to receive the George Medal for gallantry, the highest civilian honor given by King George VI. Why did she receive such an honor? During World War II she actively resisted the Japanese occupation of what was then British Malaya. As a trained nurse, she provided medical care for members of the guerilla resistance movement. She also passed along important information and helped smuggle guerilla fighters through Japanese held territory. Captured by the Japanese in 1943, she was repeatedly tortured but never betrayed the other members of the resistance movement. Her commitment to the Allied cause made her a heroine to the people of Malaya and to the British.

In April 2018, the Memorial hosted a talk by Dr. Frank A. Blazich, Curator of Modern Military History at the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and editor of Colonel David L. Hardee's memoir Bataan Survivor: A POW's Account of Japanese Captivity in World War II. Dr. Blazich gave a fascinating talk about Col. Hardee's POW experience.

The Korean War always generates a lot of questions. Did MacArthur really want to use nukes? Did China make use of valuable intelligence from the Cambridge Five? Were Russian pilots engaging American planes on the Yalu River? Why was the air war in Korea so restricted? Or was it? To discuss these questions, the MacArthur Memorial staff sat down with Dr. Conrad Crane, ‎Chief of Historical Services and Support at the United States Army Heritage and Education Center and author of American Airpower Strategy in Korea, 1950-1953.

Ned Almond is regarded as one of the more controversial American generals of World War II and the Korean War. While most historians agree that Almond was talented and had a distinguished combat record, he also openly espoused the idea that black soldiers were less capable than white soldiers. This overt racism has dominated scholarship of his life, but does not help explain why men like George Marshall, Douglas MacArthur, and Mathew Ridgway saw him as an asset. To help unpack this complicated story, MacArthur Memorial staff recently discussed Almond’s career with Dr. Michael Lynch, a research historian at the US Army Heritage and Education Center.

1942 was an eventful year for the United States military. To mark some of the interesting and important events that happened that year, the MacArthur Memorial and the Hampton Roads Naval Museum hosted a 1942" symposium in October 2017. At the symposium, Pete Bulkeley, son of the skipper of PT-41, discussed his father's role in MacArthur's escape from the Philippines.

In August 2017, Dr. Allen D. Boyer visited the MacArthur Memorial and discussed Rocky Boyer’s War: An Unvarnished History of the Air Blitz that Won the War in the Southwest Pacific. Based on an “unauthorized” diary that was kept by Dr. Boyer’s father, Rocky’ Boyer’s War provides a soldier’s history of General George Kenney’s air war in the Southwest Pacific from New Guinea to the Philippines.

In June 2017, the MacArthur Memorial, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, and the VA WWI and WWII Commemoration Commission hosted a symposium to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Anthony Tully, co-author of Shattered Sword: The Untold Story of the Battle of Midway, explored the battle from the Japanese perspective.

In June 2017, the MacArthur Memorial, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, and the VA WWI and WWII Commemoration Commission hosted a symposium to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Elliot Carlson, author of Joe Rochefort's War, discussed how cryptanalysis and intelligence shaped the outcome of the Battle of Midway.

In June 2017, the MacArthur Memorial, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, and the VA WWI and WWII Commemoration Commission hosted a symposium to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Dr. Timothy Orr, co-author of Never Call Me a Hero, explored the role of USN pilots at the Battle of Midway.

In June 2017, the MacArthur Memorial, the Hampton Roads Naval Museum, and the VA WWI and WWII Commemoration Commission hosted a symposium to commemorate the 75th Anniversary of the Battle of Midway. Walter Borneman, author of The Admirals and MacArthur at War, kicked off the symposium with an overview of the Pacific War leading up to June 1942.