On March 11, 1942, U.S. General Douglas MacArthur escaped the island fortress of Corregidor under orders from President Franklin Roosevelt. After a harrowing thirty-five-hour boat ride through rough seas laced with Japanese mines, MacArthur flew in a B-17 Flying Fortress to Australia to begin planning the liberation of his beloved Philippines. 

The agony of leaving troops under his command trapped in the islands prompted him to issue the now-famous statement to the press, “I shall return.” It was a mantra he repeated often in public appearances over the next two and a half years, promising neither to forget nor abandon American soldiers and the people of the Philippines.

Commanding limited forces, MacArthur launched a major offensive in New Guinea, winning a string of victories. Then, gaining support from the U.S. Joint Chiefs and  Admiral Chester Nimitz’s Pacific Fleet, MacArthur turned his attention to an invasion of the Philippines. On October 20, 1944, a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore on the island of Leyte. In a radio announcement later that day, the general declared, “People of the Philippines, I have returned!” 

It would take months to recapture Corregidor, and even longer to take Manila. By the time the Philippines were fully liberated, only one-third of the men MacArthur had been forced to leave behind survived to see his return. “I’m a little late,” he told them, “but we finally came.” [“General MacArthur leaves Corregidor,” https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/macarthur-leaves-corregidor.]

MacArthur was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his valiant defense of the Philippines. He is remembered not only for his bold promise to return, but for his steely determination make good on it. In a very real sense, MacArthur helped set things right in the Pacific Theater. And on September 2, 1945, aboard the U.S.S. Missouri in Tokyo Bay, MacArthur received the Japanese surrender on behalf of the U.S. and its allies.

MacArthur’s promise to return, and his fulfillment of that promise, serve as pinnacles in a storied military career featuring many peaks and valleys. They also cast a long shadow backwards in history to an intimate dinner in a borrowed upper room. In the hours leading up to his passion, Jesus gathers with his apostles and prepares them for his departure – first to the cross and then, after his resurrection, into heaven. But he makes a bold prediction: “I will come again” (John 14:3). 

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