Bittersweet Reunion, Part 2 of 2
On 20 Aug 1945, as Russian troops liberated a Japanese prisoners of war camp in Manchuria in northeastern China, Jonathan Wainwright found himself a free man for the first time in more than three years. The Japanese treated the defeated general of the Philippine Islands with typical coldness, and he suffered. What got him going through the years was the news of Douglas MacArthur’s advance across the islands of the Pacific. News, especially that of the enemy’s successful campaigns, were hard to come by in a Japanese prisoners of war camp, but they meant so much to Wainwright that he was willing to trade whatever he had for them. Pens or wrist watches, whatever personal effects he was able to keep as a prisoner of an officer rank were traded away to anyone with the latest information on his friend and former commanding officer MacArthur. There was one thing he kept near him at all times, however, never willing to give away: a walking cane. It was given to him by MacArthur, originally intended to be something of a swagger stick, but now he needed it. It helped him to move around physically, for his health deteriorated rapidly in the camp; it also helped him spiritually for it connected him to MacArthur, who was miles upon miles away.
In Japan, MacArthur arrived to begin arranging the formal surrender. On the second evening, 30 August 1945, he dined at the New Grand Hotel in Yokohama. He was not aware that he would have a visitor until the visitor was standing outside the door. When his aide announced that Wainwright had arrived, MacArthur, usually calm and collected, practically jumped up from his chair. The general recalled:
I rose and started for the lobby, but before I could reach it,
the door swung open and there was Wainwright. He was
haggard and aged…. He walked with difficulty and with the
help of a cane. His eyes were sunken and there were pits in
his cheeks. His hair was snow white and his skin looked like
old shoe leather. He made a brave effort to smile as I took
him in my arms, but when he tried to talk his voice wouldn’t
come. For three years he had imagined himself in disgrace for
having surrendered Corregidor. He believed he would never
again be given an active command. This shocked me. “Why,
Jim,’ I said, ‘your old corps is yours when you want it.”
“General…”, Wainwright responded, and that was all he could say. The men stood arm-in-arm.
It was not until after the two men had parted when MacArthur realized that the cane that the emaciated Wainwright used to support himself was his pre-war gift, and MacArthur was hit emotionally a second time.
Old friends were now reunited, however bittersweet.
This two-part guest blog is written by C. Peter Chen. He is the Founder and Managing Editor of the World War II Database, and is also a staff member at the Imperial Japanese Navy Page.
Author Bio: World War II researcher and historian working to preserve history and educate future generations. A student of Military History working to author and collect as much data as possible on the WWII time period. 
