For an excellent take on MacArthur I recc a reading of just published, "The Generals," by Thomas Ricks. Then again, "The American Cesar," by William Manchester is an excellent bio on the man.
Today is the 71rst anniversary of the Doolittle raid.
Regarding General MacArthur;
he built his reputation fighting in the Pacific.
He is most notable for his actions in the Philippines.
He was sacked by the President for insubordination, and his return home started a national controversy.
And that was ARTHUR MacArthur!!!
He had a son named Douglas who ended up doing the same things!
I dunno about 300 years, but they got understandably cocky after soundly defeating the richest and biggest country in the world (Russia).
Midway was THE pivot point in the Pacific War. Defense and offense permanently changed sides.
But I was thinking of Woody again today and The Last Stand Of The Tin Can Sailors.
Now that was an amazing battle! Destroyers and destroyer escorts taking on the biggest battleships in history and getting in so close that they couldn't depress their huge guns enough to fire on us.
(OK, too bad the other ships could)
The first planned kamikaze attack (it sank a "jeep" aircraft carrier)
The US Navy's finest day.
I recommend the book "Shattered Sword" by Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully.
It tells the tale from the Japanese point of view, and it is full of details.
The bottom line is this: we won cause our carriers were better built to survive battles and we displayed flexibility with our battle plan while the Japanese stuck to the "BOOK".
The battle didn't win the war with Japan but it evened the count of Carriers with them. This allowed the USA to take the war to them, at Guadalcanal, sooner rather then later.
The Japanese never built a single new Carrier in the war, we started pumping one out almost every other month... that's equipped, planes, pilots, trained seamen.
No Japanese naval planner could have ever imagined that.
Midway was won by guts and bravery and the US industry.
Let us know!