Missouri S&T professor delivers final volume in WWII trilogy

Historian John C. McManus’ latest book opens with Gen. Douglas MacArthur aboard the USS Boise plunging through the deep blue waters of the South China Sea in January 1945.

MacArthur was on his way to liberate the Philippines from Japanese control — a quest that was deeply personal to the general. It was no small task, and the number of troops serving throughout the Pacific and Asia conveyed that: nearly 1.4 million.

“He loved the Philippines and its people. He'd served there for many years on and off throughout his career. His family had ties there. His child had been born there,” explained McManus, the Curators’ Distinguished Professor of U.S. military history at Missouri S&T.

MacArthur and the soldiers under his command had also been famously defeated in the Philippines in 1942.

“I think it's important to understand that the people of the Philippines are going to take a major role in liberating themselves alongside the Americans,” McManus said. “MacArthur is then going to lead this kind of mass army to come back and fight this major liberation campaign.”