Pinoy-Hapon United Foundation (PHUF), a non-profit organization, Honorary Chairman Takeshi Asanuma

　”General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964)” appears without fail in history textbooks. I presume you are all familiar with his accomplishments, so this time I will omit them and instead introduce his father, “Lieutenant General Arthur MacArthur Jr. (1845–1912).”

　Like his son, “General MacArthur,” he was deeply involved with the “Luzon region (today’s Republic of the Philippines),” which had been an American colony since 1898, and he was also a “general” who had ties with “our country,” Japan.

　At 17 he was commissioned a lieutenant in the 24th Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry Regiment. He served in the “Civil War,” the “Spanish–American War,” and other conflicts, distinguished himself in each, rose steadily through the ranks, and was recommended for colonel while still young.

　After winning the “Spanish–American War” and acquiring sovereignty over the “Philippine Islands” from the “Spanish Empire” on favorable terms, the United States sent him to the Philippines in 1898 as commander of U.S. Army units taking part in the war. First a brigade commander and later a division commander, he led the capture of Manila and the Philippine–American War.

　There he clashed with the army of “Emilio Aguinaldo (first president of the First Republic),” and he commanded the fierce “Philippine–American War” from 1899 to April 1, 1901.

　The materially superior U.S. forces pressed “President Aguinaldo” hard again and again, but he, who styled himself “President of the Republic,” had the advantage of terrain and the support of the people, and fought back with complete determination.

　The “American side” apparently resorted to quite ruthless methods in this campaign of suppression. It is said that over 300,000 local soldiers and civilians were slaughtered in a little under two years, and some accounts put the figure at 600,000 to 700,000; it is also said that Filipinos have still not forgotten this massacre.

　Did “white American soldiers,” in particular, with their tendency toward “contempt for people of color,” carry out a “massacre of everyone” against the “ethnic minorities” who continued to resist?

　The “anti-American” “President Aguinaldo” was “pro-Japanese.” He was deeply interested in the “Meiji Restoration” in particular, and was a “statesman” who aimed at “reform within the system.” He strongly resented being called a “revolutionary” or a “soldier”; his habitual words were “I am a statesman” and “I am a statesman who seeks reform.” And he held to that conviction until his death.

　During the war against the United States, he also sent an “envoy” to our country to request military aid.

　Our government, too, secretly entrusted a reliable private citizen with the task and sent out the “aid ship Nunobiki Maru,” loaded with weapons and ammunition, but unfortunately it was sunk by a “typhoon” in the “East China Sea” and never reached him.

　He never forgot, until his death, this support from the “Japanese government and people.”

　At the end of March 1901, “President Aguinaldo” fell into a “trap” set by the “U.S. Army” and was captured at Palanan in Isabela Province in the northeast. In April he “surrendered,” “submitted to the United States,” and disbanded the “Republican Army.”

　”General MacArthur Jr.” was praised for his achievements in the “campaign against Aguinaldo” and was appointed “Military Governor of the Philippines,” but his term ended and he returned home in 1903. He was later promoted to “lieutenant general.”

　He went to Manchuria as an observer attaché in the Russo-Japanese War. After that he served as U.S. Army attaché at the American legation in Tokyo.

　When “General Arthur MacArthur Jr.” completed his term and returned home, the “Emperor Meiji,” in praise of his achievements, presented him with a “commemorative ceramic trophy cup.” His son, “General Douglas MacArthur,” treasured it and later displayed it in his office in the “Manila Hotel suite,” but it is said to have gone missing when the “Japanese Army entered Manila without bloodshed” in January of Showa 17 (1942).

　This is a tale of fate linking “the MacArthurs, father and son, the Philippines, and Japan.”