Published Aerospace Power Journal - Winter 1997

Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas MacArthur by Geoffrey Perret. Random House, 201 East Fiftieth Street, New York 10022, 1996, 663 pages, $32.50.

After reading and enjoying Geoffrey Perret's previous works-There's a War to Be Won and A Country Made by War-I approached this book with great anticipation but wondered how he would make the switch from narrative history to biography. I had one more reason to read this book. Perret's last book, Winged Victory, was a one-volume history of the Army Air Forces in World War II, and I was curious to see if the author would incorporate airpower into his new work. I was not disappointed. Some readers will consider Old Soldiers a standard biography of a great general. If they look carefully, however, they will find a discussion of airpower hidden within these pages. Airmen should read this book because Perret shows an unknown side of the icon-warrior of the Pacific. General MacArthur was as pro-air as one could get-something MacArthur's other biographers allude to but not as strongly. Perret describes the general's doubts as to the efficacy of airpower, his education at the hands of Gen George C. Kenney, and his final conversion to the true faith during World War II.

Perret describes the key role airpower played in MacArthur's Pacific strategy. Once Kenney proved the effectiveness of airpower in New Guinea, MacArthur structured his ground campaigns around it. Until the invasion of Leyte in October 1944, Allied forces in the Southwest Pacific advanced no further than the range of Fifth Air Force fighters. MacArthur paid heavily for that leap. When Navy carrier air departed, leaving the ground troops vulnerable, the general vowed never to carry out another operation without land-based airpower.

It is not necessarily the fact that Perret relates MacArthur's love of airpower-all of MacArthur's biographers have stressed the importance the general placed on airpower and the close relationship he had with Kenney-but the way he tells it. For instance, note the way D. Clayton James, in volume 2 of The Years of MacArthur, relates the story of what happened when land-based airpower finally arrived in Leyte on 27 October:

Monsoon rains and frequent Japanese air attacks during the week following the capture of Tacloban airfield made it difficult for the engineers to lay the 2500 feet of steel matting for a runway for the waiting Fifth Air Force fighters on Morotai. . . . When the first two squadrons of P-38's landed at the field on October 27, MacArthur and Kenney were waiting to greet the pilots as they stepped down from their fighters. (P. 568)

James's recounting of the episode does emphasize MacArthur's interest in his airmen. But compare James's passage to Perret's:

Two days later MacArthur was having lunch when he heard a familiar sound, the engines of P-38s being throttled back. Kenney had ordered half the 49th Fighter Group to fly up from Morotai. . . . MacArthur called for his car and headed for the airfield to greet the thirty-four fighter pilots. He shook hands with the first three as they descended from their planes onto the half-finished strip. One of them was the AAF's top scoring ace, Major Richard Bong, with twenty-eight victories to his credit. "You know how glad I am to see you," he told them, beaming. He turned to the journalists who were clustering around. "The Fifth Air Force has never failed me." (P. 429)

These are slight, but significantly different, ways of telling the same story.

Perret weaves airpower vignettes throughout Old Soldiers. Some of these are subtle. For instance, when MacArthur attended a strategy conference in Hawaii in 1944, he arrived, Perret points out, wearing his A-2 flying jacket (p. 403). That A-2 is captured for posterity. A statue of MacArthur with his A-2 draped across his arm overlooks the Plain at West Point. At other times, Perret is more direct. Once, after reading a biography of Robert E. Lee, MacArthur told Kenney, "Lee's . . . last words were 'Bring up A. P. Hill's light infantry.' If I should die today, tomorrow, next year, anytime, my last words will be, 'George, bring up the Fifth Air Force.' "

Besides explaining how MacArthur wove airpower into his campaigns, Perret explains that in late 1942 and early 1943, MacArthur, thrown out of the Philippines and fighting two wars (one against Washington for resources and one against Tokyo), relied on airpower to carry the war to the enemy. While Australia and the United States were busily raising and preparing troops for battle, Kenney's air forces performed all sorts of missions, from airlift to close air support. More importantly, however, this is a biography of a good joint commander. Although intimately involved with strategy, MacArthur left the execution of the war to his ground, naval, and air commanders.

Old Soldiers Never Die is the best one-volume biography of one of this nation's greatest generals and would be a welcome addition to anyone's bookshelf. From a "jointness" perspective, Perret provides many lessons on how to fight wars correctly. Airmen will appreciate the emphasis MacArthur placed on airpower.

Capt Jim Gates, USAF
Washington, D.C.