August 23, 1945. Jonathan Wainwright walks out of a Japanese prisoner of war camp in Manchuria. He looks like a man who has been through a terrible experience. He spent three and a half years locked up, starved, and broken. The Russians find him, and that is good news.
It began in March 1942. MacArthur is told to evacuate the Philippines. Wainwright commands a war already going down the drain. Corregidor is the last stand. Bombs daily. Shelling ripping the island apart. They last for a month but everyone knows it is over. On May 6 he surrenders and with it the whole defense of the Philippines. He signs the order and carries it as a curse.
He’s cargo from then on. Shuffled from camp to camp. Skin and bones. Hair white. Eyes dead. Believes America will call him a coward.
Rather, they refer to him as a hero. He is made a full general and awarded the Medal of Honor. MacArthur does not even know him at the Tokyo Bay surrender.
He did not win. He remained alive. At times that is sufficient.
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