ABSTRACT

At the beginning of World War II, General Douglas MacArthur (1880–1964) decided to kill himself. In February 1942, MacArthur, commander of all the U.S. and Filipino troops fighting the Japanese invaders of the Philippines, knew the enemy would eventually starve out his besieged forces on the Bataan peninsula and the island fortress of Corregidor. Surrender would be too shameful for the 62-year-old son of a Medal of Honor winner, for a man who himself won the Silver Star for valor seven times over in World War I. Besides, it would be too great a victory for the enemy. He knew how obsessed the Japanese were with honor, and that this was one honor he had the power to deny them. So, eschewing the standard Army-issue .45-caliber pistol, he carried a lightweight, palm-size, double-barreled derringer. As he loaded two bullets into the barrels, he stared into the eyes of Lt. Col. Sidney Huff of his staff and said: “They will never take me alive, Sid.”