ALL HANDS ARCHIVE

Article · WWII Pacific · Oct 20, 1944

Leyte, 1944: “I have returned”

By All Hands Archive · Published Oct 21, 2026 · Updated Oct 21, 2026 · About 8 min read

C3 D2.His.1.6-8C3 D2.His.10.9-12C3 D2.His.12.6-8CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.1CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.6-8.2CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RH.9-10.1CC Cycle 3 (unofficial)

Leyte, Oct 20, 1944: The Landing, Hour by Hour · YouTube
Taffy 3 vs. Yamato: Leyte Gulf 1944 · YouTube

Free teacher guide (PDF)

The promise

In March 1942, as Japanese forces closed in, General Douglas MacArthur was ordered out of the Philippines. In Australia he made a promise: “I shall return.”[1][5] For more than two and a half years Filipinos lived under Japanese occupation. On Leyte, guerrillas led by Colonel Ruperto Kangleon kept the resistance alive.[1] In September 1944, American commanders moved the invasion of the Philippines forward by two months and chose Leyte as the first target.[1]

The approach

The first Americans arrived three days early. On October 17 the 6th Ranger Battalion landed on Suluan and Dinagat, small islands guarding the entrance to Leyte Gulf, to set up navigation lights for the convoy.[1] At six o’clock on the morning of October 20, battleships of the Southern Attack Force opened fire on the beaches near Dulag; at seven the Northern force joined in off Tacloban. A Navy observer, Captain Ray Tarbuck, wrote: “Gray smoke plumes are rising from the shores. Battleships move inshore and renew their constant thunder.”[1] At a quarter to ten, rocket ships raced ahead of the landing craft.[1]

H-Hour: four divisions ashore

At 10:00 a.m. four divisions landed. In the north, X Corps put the 1st Cavalry Division on White Beach and the 24th Infantry Division on Red Beach near Palo. About fourteen miles south, XXIV Corps landed the 96th and 7th Infantry Divisions near Dulag.[1] The cavalrymen met only light fire and by four in the afternoon held the Tacloban airstrip, the most important objective of the day.[1]

Red Beach was different. The Japanese let the first five waves land before their artillery and mortars opened up; landing craft were hit and four were sunk. With men of the 34th Infantry pinned down on the sand, their commander, Colonel Aubrey Newman, came onto the beach and called, “Get up and get moving. Follow me.”[1][4] By dusk the 19th Infantry had reached the crest of Hill 522, the high ground above Palo.[1]

The return

That afternoon MacArthur waded ashore at Red Beach with the President of the Philippines, Sergio Osmeña.[1][5] His message to the Filipino people, which he had recorded beforehand, began: “People of the Philippines: I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil.”[6] You can hear his own voice in our Short. By nightfall Sixth Army held its beachheads. Landing day cost 49 Americans killed, 192 wounded and 6 missing.[1] President Roosevelt radioed: “You have the nation’s gratitude and the nation’s prayers for success, as you and your men fight your way back.”[7] Nine days later, Army nurses of the 1st and 2nd Field Hospitals came ashore and within three hours were caring for the wounded in a former cathedral in Tacloban.[8]

The Battle of Leyte Gulf, Oct 23-26

Japan answered with its navy. Its plan, Sho, sent a decoy carrier force under Admiral Ozawa to draw Admiral Halsey’s Third Fleet north while battleship forces struck at the landing area.[2][3] On October 24, carrier planes sank the giant battleship Musashi in the Sibuyan Sea. That night in Surigao Strait, Rear Admiral Oldendorf’s battleships, some raised from the mud of Pearl Harbor, crossed the Japanese “T” in the last battleship-versus-battleship action in history.[2][3]

On the morning of October 25, off Samar, Admiral Kurita’s force, led by Yamato, came out of San Bernardino Strait and found only “Taffy 3”: six escort carriers and seven escorts under Rear Admiral Clifton Sprague. Destroyers Johnston, Hoel, Heermann and the destroyer escort Samuel B. Roberts attacked; Commander Ernest Evans of Johnston received the Medal of Honor posthumously. At about 9:15 Kurita broke off. The same day brought the first organized kamikaze attacks, which sank the escort carrier St. Lo, and off Cape Engaño all four of Ozawa’s carriers were sunk.[3] The Navy calls Leyte Gulf the largest naval battle in modern naval history; it effectively ended serious opposition from the Imperial Japanese Navy.[2][3]

Think about it

  1. Why might MacArthur have recorded his message before the landing?
  2. Who wrote each quote above, when, and why? Which are primary sources?
  3. Why did three words, “I shall return,” matter so much to people in the Philippines?

How we made this

Every fact here comes from the official sources below and our fact-checked video scripts. Quotes are exact; the Newman quote begins partway through his line, and the Roosevelt sentence is cut at “back” (it continues “to Bataan”), as the Army history does. Our videos use landing-day film; ship shots under the Leyte Gulf narration in the landing Short are illustration, not the battle. See the source library.

Sources

  1. M. Hamlin Cannon, Leyte: The Return to the Philippines, United States Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific (Washington, DC: US Army Center of Military History, 1954; CMH Pub 5-9), chs. I-VI; rockets quote p. 62, Newman quote p. 68. history.army.mil · PDF
  2. Naval History and Heritage Command, “The Battle of Leyte Gulf.” history.navy.mil
  3. Naval History and Heritage Command, H-Gram 038-1 and 038-2, “Leyte Gulf.” 038-1 · 038-2
  4. US Army Center of Military History, “Follow Me” (Army Art Collection caption). history.army.mil
  5. National Archives, FDR Library blog, “I Have Returned: General MacArthur and FDR,” Oct 20, 2015. fdr.blogs.archives.gov
  6. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, recorded message, 1944, Voice 4334, G. Robert Vincent Voice Library, Michigan State University. d.lib.msu.edu
  7. Franklin D. Roosevelt, “Congratulations to General MacArthur,” Oct 20, 1944, American Presidency Project. presidency.ucsb.edu
  8. AMEDD Center of History and Heritage, The Army Nurse Corps in World War II (CMH Pub 72-14). achh.army.mil
  9. Film: US Navy, 428-NPC-5802 and 428-NPC-5804, Oct 20, 1944, National Archives. NAID 77670 · NAID 77672

Standards

C3 Framework (NCSS, official wording): D2.His.1.6-8 “Analyze connections among events and developments in broader historical contexts” (the landing in the wider Philippine campaign and Leyte Gulf); D2.His.10.9-12 “Detect possible limitations in various kinds of historical evidence and differing secondary interpretations” (illustrative film shots, partial quotes, the dating of the MacArthur recording); D2.His.12.6-8 “Use questions generated about multiple historical sources to identify further areas of inquiry and additional sources” (the Think-about-it questions and source list). Common Core: RH.6-8.1 “Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources”; RH.6-8.2 “Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary of the source distinct from prior knowledge or opinions”; RH.9-10.1 “Cite specific textual evidence to support analysis of primary and secondary sources, attending to such features as the date and origin of the information.” Classical Conversations Cycle 3 (American history) is an unofficial alignment by us; it is not endorsed by Classical Conversations.

Corrections log

Date (PT)Change
Oct 21, 2026Before publication: standards descriptions replaced with official C3/CCSS wording; Cannon page numbers added.
Oct 21, 2026First published. No corrections yet. Spot an error? Tell us.