With the United States observing the National War Recognition Day, former prisoner of war on April 9, Fox News Anchor and former White House secretary Dana Perino interviewed former White House speech and historian Jonathan Horn for his newest book, “The fate of the generals“The book tells the true story of General Jonathan Wainwright, the highest American power of World War II.
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Dana Perino: Who was General Jonathan Wainwright?
Jonathan Horn: General Wainwright was a brave knight who grew up in Montana not far from the small battle field Bighorn – the place of one of the last most famous stands of a story – but he could not know that he would one day have to do a last attitude. It happened in the Philippines (then an American colony) during the early days of World War II, when the Japanese invaded the islands after attacking Pearl Harbor.
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Wainwright became the senior commander of the United States in the Philippines after his superior Douglas MacArtur received orders to flee the islands, even though his troops there fought against impossible opportunities. While MacArtwh pledged to return to the islands, Wainwright made a very different oath: to stay there and share the fate of his husbands, even if he would give up with them and become the American prisoner of the highest rank of Japanese.
General Jonathan Wainwright, right, broadcasts his delivery message after capturing Corregidor by the Japanese, May 1942. (Dr. Godad M. Ya, Editeror-Pubbilher, Batan Magazine, Whington, DC, 1971)
Perino: Why do the United States observe the National War Recognition Day former prisoner of war on April 9?
Horn: It is the anniversary of the greatest surrender of the United States forces in history. When the Japanese landed in the Philippines in December 1941, American and Philippine troops returned to the Bataan Peninsula jungles, where they fought without enough food or medicine until their bodies could no longer fight. That sad day came on April 9, 1942.
Nearly 80,000 men lay their wings. Those who survived the Mars of Mars of Death Bataan would find new horrors as prisoners of the Japanese. Wainwright would continue the fight for another month on a small island called Corregidor, a few miles away from Bataan’s top. He finally agreed to surrender himself and the rest of the Philippines only because he feared the Japanese would do a massacre.
A photograph of the delivery of General Jonathan Wainwright for the Japanese island on the small island of Corregidor in the Philippines in May 1942. (National Archive)
Perino: Happened what happened to Wainwright during his time as a Japanese prisoner?
Horn: Wainwright remained imprisoned for the rest of the war. The Japanese subjected him to what he called “systemic hunger” and beatings as they moved it from the Philippines to Taiwan and eventually all the way to Manchuria.
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Perhaps the wildest torture was isolation from the outside world. By not receiving letters for long and detached from the news, Wainwright worried that the American people would never forgive him for the decision he had made to surrender for the sake of his people.
General Douglas MacArur, left, hugs an ematized general Jonathan Wainwright on August 31, 1945 after the release of Wainwright from prison. (National Archive)
Perino: When Wainwright returned to America after the war, he received a welcome of a hero and the medal of honor. Why do you think so many Americans today are unknown by his name?
Horn: The story of MacArtur’s commitment to return to the Philippines is in the shadows of the Wainwright’s pledge to stay with his people there. It’s been more than four decades since a biography came out for Wainwright for the last time.
During that time, Wainwright’s personal letters boxes, including his diaries and letters, have become available for research in the military archives. As a result, it is possible to tell his story now in a way never before possible and restore it to his right place in history.
General Jonathan Wainwright, dressed in his honor of Honorary Congress, presented to him the day before by President Harry S. Truman, is shown with his wife leaving the White House in a convertible after the presentation. (Harris & Ewing, Harry S. Truman Library & Museum)
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Perino: What lesson do you hope that Americans today will withdraw from Wainwright’s story?
Horn: I hope Americans today remember the lesson that Wainwright himself withdrew from his terrible test: the need for military readiness. I also hope that they will never forget the courage he and his imprisoned war friends showed the sacrifice they made for our country.
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“The Fate of the Generals: MacArtur, Wainwright and Epic Battle for Philippines” will be published by Scribner on April 15.
