Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.  Macarthur sounded so humble when I was learning who he was.   The more I learned, the worse it got,.  There were some positive outcomes, but not much.     I had a math teacher in the 70s that survived the Battan Death March.

Mac Arthur should have been beside, and probably even in front of, Kimmel and Short in the courts marshal and investigation.

Fully agree with your assessment of MacArthur.  His bumbling in 1941 and 1942 should have gotten him removed.  But politics saved him.  He partially redeemed himself later in the war, and his oversight of post war Japan, and the landings at Inchon were brilliant.  A deeply flawed career at best.

Gents, sorry to be late to the party.  I just recently found your site and am going back to review all the older broadcasts.  Mac has a lot to be responsible for here.  However the most egregious thing was not leveling with Wainwright.  Great job Seth and Bill!

Good job guys.  I had read all about the pacific war when I was in college.  My best friend's father was the captain of a landing ship, LST, and he had a library of books that I completely devoured.  Not one of them had anything bad to say about MacArthur, so these first two episodes were a real eye opener for me.

Another outstanding broadcast. Please continue your WWII Pacific war analysis. They're pure gold!

I love the idea of a pow episode. Another great episode would be about those that actually managed to escape from the Philippines. Epic Odyssey.

Loved the episode. All my family was involved in this, being Filipino, but particularly my late maternal grandfather. He was a Captain, later a Major in the United States Army Forces Far East (USAFFE) who was a teacher before the war, was part of the Filipino reservist corps and was inducted into the 73rd (Provisional) Infantry Regiment of the 71st Division, defending one of the middle (Visayan) islands, Negros, while most of the rest of the division was fighting in Luzon.

He was forced to surrender when Wainwright surrendered all forces including those in the southern islands who weren't even involved yet in the fightng. He spent a portion of the war in the dreadful and infamous Capas POW camp and later, after his release, joined the guerrillas.

In his honor, let me quote another bit of Bataan creative artistry:

Dugout Doug MacArthur
Lies a shakin' on The Rock
He is safe from any bombers
And from any sudden shock
Dugout Doug is eating
The best food in Bataan
His troops go starvin' on.

Dugout Doug come out from hiding
Dugout Doug come out from hiding
Send to Franklin these glad tidings
That his troops go starving on!

You two are two of the most thought provoking historians I've ever run across. Keep up the good work!

watching this many months later a second time,

one notices the reasons of its uniqueness and overall success.
Two friends, with different backgrounds, both sharing well thought profssional insight on one of the most significant five year  monemts of this century.  unique coloquial style comforts the listener,  great chemistry!  thank you Bill. thank you Seth. thank you guests.   wonderful show

I am enjoying this series of podcasts. Thank you! Regardless of the competency or incompetency of American military leadership in both Hawaii and the Phillipines in 1941, it seems hard to avoid the conclusion that the remoteness of both locations from  North America made it extremely difficult for the US to adequately respond to a surprise attack (Pearl Harbor) or prevent Japanese occupation (the Phillipines).

When Wainwright was nominated for a Medal of Honor, McArthur stopped it.

Fascinating.  I have a very different impression of the fall of the Philippines and MacArthur than I had before watching this.

Watching this for the third time in December 2025. It’s great to see you guys at the very beginning of what has become an absolutely wonderful podcast. I have shared it with so many people and I hope they are all watching as I’ve said on a comment on another episode, this is like a graduate course in Pacific war history God bless you guys!

You guys are right about how hard fought and brave the Filipinos and Americans who were left to defend Bataan. This include the pilots who flew in the USAFFE.

Just to share a story. I have a friend from our local flying club based on a grass strip near Clark Pampanga who is a legend in his own right having flown F-4 phantoms during Vietnam, got shot down and spent time in the Hanoi Hilton for 7 years. After the war he chose to retire in the Philippines. He told me a story of how one time he led an effort to locate the remains of a P-40B pilot who went missing during a dogfight over Mount Mariveles in Bataan.

Years later, witnesses came forward who claimed they last saw the aircraft in a swirling dogfight with a Japanese Nate over one side of Mt Mariveles. Both airplanes dissappeared into a large cumulus cloud that usually forms on the leeward side of the mountain on a hot afternoon. With this lead, he led a team of locals who climbed into the jungle of the mountain. A few days later, they found the remains of the Japanese Nate along with the remains of the pilot, then days after that found also the remains of the P-40B not too far from the Japanese Nate in the jungle.

It turns out the two were locked into a swirling dogfight the brought them into the cumulus cloud with both aircraft crashing onto the side of the mountain.

Both the remains of the American and Japanese were recovered and reunited with their respective families.

There are thousands of stories like these in this country and most of them will never be told. It brings me goose bumps sometimes to fly over these hallow grounds especially over the mountains of Mt Mariveles and Mt Natib in Bataan. Actually taking off from our club’s grass strip alone and seeing the majestic slopes of Mt Arayat near Clark brings awe considering the events that happened here

You guys are doing good work. Looking forward to you guys getting into the Leyte Gulf campaign. Visiting the hallow grounds of the American Cemetery in Manila where they have the names of those who were burried at sea and missing in action makes me appreciate the herosim of those who fought in the Pacific. Names like Daniel Callaghan, Norman Scott, Ernest Evans and even all 5 of the Sullivan Brothers are etched on the walls of “Those whose final resting place are known only to God”.

This series is bliss. Thanks, gents.

One of my great uncles was captured on Bataan and endured the famous march. The local paper did an amazing interview with him when he returned home after the war and one of my great aunts saved it. He said that they ran out of the means to fight before they ran out of the will to. He said that they were already sick or starving by the time that they started the march into captivity and that’s why so many of them died. He suffered from the effects of his maltreatment for the rest of his life (the portion of general Wainwright reminded me of him) He hated MacArthur more than the Japanese. Thanks for this episode and all the others, you do a really outstanding job for all those that love history

Having initially having seen a late episode I have started watching the episodes from episode 101.
This is a very well researched and presented series, well done guys.

Loved "The Batling Bastards of Bataan" poem. I have heard it several times before, but as a closer for this pod cast, it was excellent!

Superb