📅 On This Day in Military History

October 20

1 event across history

⚔️📍 Leyte Island, Philippines1944

MacArthur Returns — 'I Have Returned'

General MacArthur waded ashore on Leyte Island in the Philippines, fulfilling his 1942 promise 'I shall return.' He broadcast: 'People of the Philippines: I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil.'

MacArthur's return was one of WWII's great dramatic moments and fulfilled America's moral obligation to the Philippine people who had suffered under Japanese occupation.

Outcome

Philippine liberation begins; Japan's strategic position collapses