Under direct orders from President Franklin Roosevelt, a reluctant General Douglas MacArthur escaped from Bataan to Australia, vowing one day to return and continue the fight.
After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the Japanese launched a major offensive in the Philippines that eventually led to U.S. forces and soldiers of the Philippine Commonwealth to be cornered on the Bataan peninsula in the Philippines. Under direct orders from President Franklin Roosevelt, a reluctant General Douglas MacArthur escaped from Bataan to Australia, vowing one day to return and continue the fight.