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The Nashville bore shoreward. The first land sighted by General MacArthur was the islet of Suluan, the first seen by Magellan when he discovered the Philippines in 1521. The first landings, on Homonhon, where Magellan had made his first landing, and on nearby Dinagat (see below), were only the preliminaries in MacArthur's vast and meticulously planned schedule of operations. His first major goal was Leyte, in the heart of the islands, where devoted Visayan guerrillas had been heard calling by secret radio for help a year ago.
The Deceptive Blow. This was what Douglas MacArthur had long advocated, with an intensity which seemed wholly justified because he believed he had been ordered out of Corregidor only in order to lead a counterinvasion soon. Now at last he was striking his massive blow, far behind the enemy's main positions, where the enemy neither expected it nor had organized himself to resist it effectively.
Five hours after the first wave of Army infantrymen dashed across the shell-pocked beaches, General MacArthur and his party filed down a ladder from the Nashville's deck into a landing barge. With him were men who had left Corregidor with him 31 months ago, like his Chief of Staff, Lieut. General Richard K. Sutherland; men who had been sent out later to hib command, like his air chief, Lieut. General George C. Kenney; men who were going back to their homeland, like President Sergio Osmeña of the Philippine Commonwealth. There was-one notable absentee: Manuel Quezon, first President of the Commonwealth, who had died in the U.S.
Voice of Freedom. MacArthur sat upright in the stern of the barge. When it grounded in shoal water, he walked down the ramp and waded ashore. He was wet to the midriff, but the sun glinted on the golden "scrambled eggs" on his strictly individualistic cap as he faced a microphone. To Filipinos his first words were the fulfillment of a promise: "This is the Voice of Freedom." That was how the last Corregidor radio programs began. Said Douglas MacArthur:
"People of the Philippines, I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God, our forces stand again on Philippine soil. ... At my side is your president, Sergio Osmeña, worthy successor to that great patriot, Manuel Quezon, with members of his cabinet. The seat of your government is therefore now firmly re-established on Philippine soil. . . . Rally to me. . . . Let every arm be steeled. The guidance of Divine God points the way. Follow in His name to the Holy Grail of righteous victory."
To Dick Sutherland MacArthur said the same thing in homelier language: "Believe it or not, we're here."
The Hard Road. There was a great difference between the Douglas MacArthur who had said goodbye to Lieut. General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright at Corregidor and the man who now returned to the Philippines. He had been a good general then; now he was one of the great. Outwardly he was the same colorful, often theatrical soldier, visibly aged since December 1941, a little flabbier around the jowls and beltline, half bald, with a brushed-over lock of hair which he selfconsciously stroked when his cap was off. But his military stature had grown vastly. He still spoke sound military theory in rounded periods, full of historical allusions. But theory had now been backed by experience in a new kind of war.