GENERAL MacARTHUR RESCUED FROM THE PHILIPPINES
BY PT BOATS

visits since 19 January 2003

MacArthur decides to escape Corregidor by PT boat to Mindanao and fly to Australia from Del Monte on a B-17 Flying Fortress. MacArthur arranges for himself and his family and military entourage of 13 officers, two naval officers and a technical sergeant to travel on four decrepit PT boats of Lt. John Duncan Bulkeley's Motor Torpedo Boat Squadron 3, based at Bataan. He also ordered three B-17's to fly from Australia to Del Monte airfield on Mindanao.

By 3:30 a.m. on 12 March 1942, John Bulkeley's four PT boats are separated by heavy seas. PT 32, was having trouble keeping up with the other three boats. It saw an enemy destroyer, and jettisoned some of its gasoline to escape. This meant it would not now reach Mindanao.

The four war weary PT boats stagger into the Cuyo Island hideout. PT 32 was. It was low on gasoline and it engines were unserviceable. Another boat, PT 35 was also unserviceable with fouled gasoline strainers.

The passengers were divided between two PT boats, PT 32 and 41.

By the time they reached Cuyo Island MacArthur and his son were both soaked and very seasick. Jean MacArthur put on a brave face.

The escape plan was behind schedule. They were originally meant to move on from Cuyo Island in the dark. MacArthur ordered Bulkeley to depart Cuyo Island at 2:30 p.m.. They risked a possible daylight encounter with the Japanese Navy.

The PT boats were in the open sea by 3:30pm. Within 15 minutes they spotted the Japanese heavy cruiser Ashigara. It carried eight-inch guns and Long Lance torpedoes and could travel at 35 knots. By then, PT 41 was only capable of 18 knots.

They took evasive action and were never seen by the Japanese. As they approached Negros Island that evening, Japanese artillerymen hear the PT boats engine noises, and thought they could hear American aircraft. They fire their artillery and light up the sky with flak tracer shells. The PT boats have another lucky escape.

By now General MacArthur is extremely sea sick in the lower cockpit of PT 41. His wife Jean comforts him by rubbing his hands.

At 6:30 am on 13 March 1942, PT 34 sights Cagayan Point on Mindanao Island. They had spent 35 hours travelling through 560 miles of Japanese waters. John D. Bulkeley, who had commanded his boat continuously for those 35 hours, arrived at Del Monte precisely on time.

General Douglas MacArthur stood on the prow of his PT boat shaking the salt water from his braided cap. He flipped it back on at a jaunty angle, and helped his wife ashore. MacArthur was most appreciative of the crews of the PT boats and he told their commander:-

"Bulkeley, I'm giving every officer and man here the Silver Star for gallantry. You've taken me out of the jaws of death, and I won't forget it."

He then apparently proceeded to ask Col. William Morse where he could relieve himself!

A book and a movie called "They Were Expendable" was made about their amazing escape. Bulkeley became quite famous after this. After commanding some PT boats in the Mediterranean, he eventually rose to the rank of Admiral. He died in 1996 and was buried at Arlington with full military honors.

On 15 March 1942, while they waited for the B-17's to rescue them, MacArthur's aide, Sid Huff, takes Jean MacArthur's mattress off PT 41. This event lead to a wild story that the mattress was supposedly full of gold bars. It was only full of feathers.

After the General MacArthur's staff were transferred from PT-32, Lt. (jg) V.E. Schumacher and his crew were picked up by the submarine USS Permit, which took them to Fremantle. They intentionally destroyed PT-32 during the rendezvous, to prevent the Japanese from capturing it.  With the crew of PT-32 on board, USS Permit was severely overloaded with passengers.  The Permit's mission had been to evacuate from Corregidor a group of code breakers who were capable of translating intercepted Japanese military communications. These code breakers apparently knew beforehand, the position of the Japanese destroyers that depth-charged the Permit a few days later, but did not tell the captain of USS Permit for fear that his taking another route to avoid them would reveal that the US had broken the Japanese code.

NOTE:-  Bill Glenn of Ingalls Shipbuilding Public Relations, advised me on 28 April 2000 that Ingalls Shipbuilding was christening an Aegis guided missile destroyer named Bulkeley, after John Duncan Bulkeley in June 2000.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I'd like to thank Bill Bentson for his assistance with this home page. I'd also like to thank John Schumacher, son of Lt. (jg) V.E. Schumacher (PT 32), for his assistance. I'd like to thank Michael Hallinan and Pat Rogers (Ron 9, Ron 4, AGP3) for his assistance with this web page.

Were you amongst the crew of the four PT Boats
that rescued MacArthur and his party?

Or are you related to one of the crew members?

If you are, I'd love to hear from you.

Heaps of WW2 books available at Amazon.com

"Australia @ War"

This page first produced 01 August 1999

This page last updated 04 May 2008