‘I shall return’: General Douglas MacArthur’s famous catchphrase remembered at Terowie, South Australia
The remote SA place where famed US General Douglas MacArthur first delivered his famous catchphrase has hosted an international ceremony to remember the historic moment.
SA News
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The moment famed US General Douglas MacArthur made world history at an isolated South Australian railway station has been commemorated with an international ceremony.
At the abandoned Terowie station, 225km north of Adelaide, where MacArthur uttered his catchphrase: “I shall return”, dignitaries gathered on Wednesday morning included Governor Frances Adamson, Philippines Ambassador Ma. Hellen B. De La Vega and US military attache Colonel Shane Gries.
About 250 people gathered to watch speeches from the platform, where MacArthur spoke his famous words to two Advertiser journalists.
Having left 90,000 American and Philippines troops to face a Japanese offensive on the Bataan Peninsula in March, 1942, on the orders of President Franklin Roosevelt, MacArthur and his family made a hair-raising journey “out of the jaws of death” from the Philippines to Melbourne, via Darwin and Adelaide.
Changing trains at Terowie on March 20, 1942, MacArthur inspired Australians and forged his mantra for the war by saying to the waiting journalists: “I came out of Bataan and I shall return.”
The event was a long-term project of federal Trade and Tourism Minister Don Farrell, who was unable to attend due to parliamentary commitments.
Among the crowd was respected South Australian World War II veteran Keith “Chook” Fowler, aged 102, who said the ceremony was “overwhelming”.
“You hear of these things and you read of these things but when you actually experience them it’s a different thing altogether,” he said.
“The depth of what has happened and how it happened hits you like a bolt. When you come to this you appreciate just how much work we did to get this country back again.”
Colonel Gries said: “The speech that General MacArthur gave, saying that he shall return back to the Philippines, was a tremendous moment in American military history and world history.”
General MacArthur’s son, Arthur, who was with him and wife Jean at the Terowie platform, conveyed a message of thanks, saying the commemoration “brings into focus his promise to the people of the Philippines that they would not be forgotten but would be liberated in World War II”.
Ambassador De La Vega said: “We are aware of the many challenges that lie ahead and we are assured that we can continue to count on the help of friends, as we have done so over the last 80 years.”
The Advertiser Editor Gemma Jones said the momentous events of the time were demonstrated by “one of the most stirring speeches in history” being marked only by a small picture story on page one of the paper’s March 21, 1942 edition.
“Because the war was won – and in no small part because of the General – so much of what took greater prominence that day has faded into the past,” she said.
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