Douglas MacArthur's combat weapons

[44 AMP]

I am looking for some obscure information, about the gun(s) used by MacArthur in combat. What he carried and used as a young officer, NOT what he had as a general.

A friend of mine asked me about it, as he had run across an article stating that MacArthur was fond of the Colt SAA .45, and had used it to kill bandits in Mexico. My friend thought the author had confused MacArthur with Patton, but later in the article Patton is mentioned.

A quick look at Wikipedia shows that MacArthur killed two Philippine "banditos" with his "pistol" in 1903. We assume this to have been the issue .38 Long Colt, but would be happy with confirmation, if possible.

The Mexican incident was not the Pershing expedition, but the Vera Cruz expedition in the spring of 1914. MacArthur apparently went on his own adventure, involving a railroad handcart, the "services of 3 Mexicans, whom he disarmed" and $150 in gold. During his return trip, he was attacked three different times, and shot a total of 7 men and a horse. He was put in for the Medal of Honor, but it was refused, because he had acted without the knowledge of his superiors.

So, the question is, during the Vera Cruz fight, what did he use?? His "service pistol"? (if so what pistol? A 1911? something else?) A privately owned pistol? A rifle? both? neither??

If anyone actually knows, please, enlighten us!

 

[drobs]

http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/Search/Results?searchPhrase=Veracruz

http://www.macarthurmemorial.org/documentcenter/view/410

There's a chest up photo of him from 1914 on the link.

 

[carguychris]

MacArthur... escaped with only four bullet holes in his clothing.

ONLY FOUR?!!

 

[DaleA]

MacArthur... escaped with only four bullet holes in his clothing.

Yeah, that does kind of raise a question or two...

We've got a local radio guy that keeps saying reporting isn't what it used to be...I'd say this shows it wasn't what it used to be back when it was what it used to be.

 

[44 AMP]

Do remember that in general, clothing, including uniforms were of a more "baggy" cut than today's fashions. Still, it is an incredible piece of luck.

So, a ".38 revolver"....again. Interesting. No mention of the .45 Colt or SAA (so far).

Thanks for the info, and if any more is known, please share!

 

[Minorcan]

I just got finished looking through a few hundred pictures of MacArthur and only found on where he was carrying a firearm. It appears to be early in the war and he is afield. He is carrying what looks like a 1911 in a holster on his right side. There are lots of pictures of Patton with firearms but this was the only one I could find of Mac.. I tried to post a link but it wouldn't work.

 

[Rembrandt]

Interesting side note, MacArthur's father received the Medal of Honor during the Civil War. Douglas was put in for it as mentioned above but was denied. He later received it for leadership in Phillipines during WWII.

 

[44 AMP]

Am not certain, but I think the MacArturs are the only father & son to be awarded the Medal.

I always found it somewhat ironic that he was denied the Medal for personal combat (which, he won) and awarded it for the defense of the Philippines (which, he LOST).

 

[Chaz88]

He only left because the president ordered him to. He said he would return and did.

He must not have been as flashy or dedicated to hand guns as Patton was, or I think there would be more known about them. Of course Patton tended to more of an outspoken primadonna than most.

 

[Evan Thomas]

You'd be hard pressed to find an American commander who was more of a prima donna than Gen. MacArthur; here's what President Truman wrote about him in his diary in June, 1945:

We discussed public relations in Germany, Italy, France, Holland, Belgium, England and Russia. Food, fuel, transportation and what to do about it. Japanese War and the relations with China, Russia and Britain with regard to it, Supreme Commander and what to do with Mr. Prima Donna, Brass hat, Five Star McArthur. He's worse than the Cabots and the Lodges - they at least talked with one another before they told God what to do. Mc tells God right off. It is a very great pity we have to have Stuffed Shirts like that in key positions. I don't see why in H___ Roosevelt didn't order Wainwright home and let McArthur be a martyr, guess he was afraid of the Sabatoge Press - McCormick - Patterson Axis. We'd have had a real general and a fighting man if we had Wainwright and not a play actor and a bunco man such as we have now.

He didn't need to "express himself" through guns -- his personality was more than enough. (And his hat, of course. )

 

[44 AMP]

He only left because the president ordered him to. He said he would return and did.

He left, when he did, because he was ordered to, very true. That was one order he did obey....and it was disobeying a different Presidential order, from a different President, during the Korean War that got him cashiered.

Remember that MacArthur quit (retired) from US service in 37. He went to work for the Philippine govt, directly. The history books don't say what kind of deal Roosevelt made with MacArthur to convince him to be "reactivated" to direct US service in 41, but if you think there wasn't one, you're not being realistic.

And yes, he kept his promise to return. There are those who believe that he put keeping his word to return above what was best for the overall war effort.

It is interesting that, while heroes to many (especially civilians) the two LEAST well thought of Allied commanders from the (US) regular troops perspectives were MacArthur and Montgomery.

 

[DaleA]

One of my favorite fictional authors W.E.B. Griffin writes a lot about MacArthur in his 'The Corps' series of WWII and Korean war books.

https://www.amazon.com/Semper-Fi-Co...UTF8&qid=1471109985&sr=1-1&keywords=the+corps

He has his characters speak almost reverently of MacArthur's military acumen (points to me for using an obscure word) but he also has them refer to MacArthur as 'El Supremo' too.

An important career point in MacArthur's history is how he handled Japan after WWII and ignored the Russians attempt to have an active part in post WWII Japanese recovery. Russia DID declare war on Japan August 9, 1945 (after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima) and technically should have been involved in post WWII Japanese recovery but like I said MacArthur never let Russia into any positions of power there. Disclaimer: I'm very weak on this point and will cheerfully be corrected if someone the straight data on this.

 

[T. O'Heir]

Dougie was a BGen in W.W. I. Read 'The America Caesar' by William Manchester, long ago. Don't recall any firearm being mentioned. Can't recall any pictures of Dougie carrying any firearm either. Commissioned as an Engineer. Carried a shovel. snicker.
"...deal Roosevelt made with MacArthur to convince him..." "You can command the entire Pacific Theatre." Dougie was a prima donna. Moreso than GS.
"...'El Supremo'..." I recall that being given by his staff types. Also a character in one of the Hornblower books.

 

[Chaz88]

two LEAST well thought of Allied commanders from the (US) regular troops perspectives were MacArthur and Montgomery.

I knew Montgomery was not well thought of. But I can not claim to know a lot about Mac. Most of what I know of him I learned when in the Philippines. A visit to Corregidor was the reason I read up on him at all.

I know more about Naval commanders of the time and some of them are now held in much higher esteem than deserved. Admiral Nimitz for one.

My grandfather served under Patton and used to tell me stories about him so I have learned more about him than most others in the Army.

 

[SPEMack618]

Okay, I'm intrigued. Why do you think FADM Nimitz is held in too high esteem?

I'll grant that ADM Halsey gets a lot of undue praise but I believe he is granted a certain pass for ensuring we won off the Canal. And Admiral Lee doesn't get enough praise for his work there.

I get imagine General MacArthur in actual personal combat.

He always struck me as the General who would happily send me and my Company off to die as long he got a good headline.

I firmly believe that General Kreuger and General Truscott are the most overlooked field commanders of WWII

 

[Old Bill Dibble]

A very large anti-aircraft gun?

 

[kilimanjaro]

I personally hold most of the WWII military leaders in high esteem. Given the state of the US military in 1941, ranking just behind Portugal, and interwar budgets, we could have very easily had a bunch of time-serving incompetents in the top slots and lost the war as a result. We certainly had plenty of them at the one- and two-star levels and spent years getting rid of them.

So a general was a prima donna? Name one who isn't. If you want reasons to like or dislike the top brass of WWII, then look at their combat results. That's what their job was and what they were paid for. Anything else is just window dressing. A general would call it a 'diversion', and not the main issue at hand.

Say what you will, MacArthur took less casualties than any other commander of the war, while engaging similar forces. An uncle of mine would probably have enjoyed service under MacArthur a lot more than under Bradley in Europe. The 'G.I. General', which was also a prima donna pose, got more of his men killed in poorly planned and sloppily executed battles in order to take worthless terrain than any other US general in the war.

 

[Glenn E. Meyer]

Is Dugout Doug's military performance a veer off topic - even though staff likes to discuss it? I just read a book on Leyte Gulf indicating that Doug making the case for the Philippines might have short circuited a better attempt to get Japan to surrender earlier. If we took Taiwan has suggested by some, then the economic blockade would have had more effect sooner.

Blah, blah - who knows.

Anymore gun stuff?

BTW, a quad 40 is a medium AA gun in those days. The 5' 38 cal was the big AA gun (also dual purpose).

 

[Chaz88]

Okay, I'm intrigued. Why do you think FADM Nimitz is held in too high esteem?

I will keep it short so I do not take it too much further off topic.

He and his staff told visiting reporters and politicians that the Japanese were having little effect on our subs because they did not have big enough depth charges set deep enough. They fixed that problem in short order.

Another problem was not listening to his sub commanders and giving them the new torpedoes that were setting around. He just fired the commanders and we lost subs to our old torpedoes that had a bad habit of coming back on them.

There were other things but I said I would keep it short.

I got nothing for on topic, sorry.

 

[Old Bill Dibble]

Is Dugout Doug's military performance a veer off topic - even though staff likes to discuss it? I just read a book on Leyte Gulf indicating that Doug making the case for the Philippines might have short circuited a better attempt to get Japan to surrender earlier. If we took Taiwan has suggested by some, then the economic blockade would have had more effect sooner.

Could be. However the PR coup for retaking the Philippines was the real prize.

I looked at a bunch of photos of him the other day. In most pictures he has no gun at all even when in a bona fide combat zone.