MacArthur wading ashore in the Philippines
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by Carl Mydans, October 1944


On October 20, 1944, a few hours after his troops landed, MacArthur waded ashore 
onto the Philippine island of Leyte. That day, he made a radio broadcast in which he 
declared, "People of the Philippines, I have returned!"

Carl Mydans of Life took the dramatic photograph of General Douglas MacArthur and 
staff coming ashore at Lingayen Gulf, Luzon, in the Philippines on January 9, 1945. 
MacArthur was commander of the United States forces in the Pacific. When the United 
States lost the Philippines, he promised to return. Here’s Mydans’ description of 
that event:

"Luck is forever at play in a photographer’s life. It is part of his intellectual 
training to know where luck is most likely to lie and to take advantage of it. In 
January 1945 I was the only press photographer aboard General Douglas MacArthur’s 
command ship as he prepared to invade Luzon, in the Philippines. I was invited to 
go ashore with him. As our landing craft neared the beach, I saw the Seabees had 
got there before us and had laid a pontoon walkway out from the beach. As we headed 
for it, I climbed the boat’s ramp and jumped on to the pontoons so that I could 
photograph MacArthur as he stepped ashore. But I suddenly heard the boat’s engines 
reversing and saw the boat rapidly backing away. I raced to the beach, ran some hundred 
yards along it and stood waiting for the boat to come to me. When it did, it dropped 
its ramp in knee-deep water, and I photographed MacArthur wading ashore."