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Thanks for the post - an interesting take on the
American Caesar.
When I was with the Students Army (aka -
"partisans") in North Korea, MacArthur was a hero and a god to me. Among other
things, his 'Home by TG', 'Home by Xmas' had meant a great deal for me, because
it meant home-coming for me, too.
In 1945, my family, a landlord in Kapsan, was
mobbed by a gang of peasants (formerly our tenant farmers) and we barely escaped
with our lives. Since then, I dreamed everyday of going back to Kapsan and
reclaiming my lost properties (my father gave me a mountain), and in
1950, Gen. MacArthur made me believe that my dream would come true. I
believed he knew what he was doing and his words were the Bible for me.
By the end of 1951, however, I had come
to the conclusion that I would not be climbing my mountain any time
soon. By this time, my faith in the "Great General" turned into
personal hatred and contempt, perhaps as intense as that of those American
GIs abandoned by the general in the Philippines once and then, more
seriously, again, at Mukden, when the general embraced Gen. Ishi who used
the captured GIs for BW experimentation.
I am sure the good general meant well, but a man in
his position should have been more careful with his promises. He should
not have promised things he could not deliver.
ysk
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