As U.S. troops captured island after island, Japan felt the war slipping away. At Leyte Gulf, Japan lost its navy. In the Philippines, it lost its footing. MacArthur captured the world stage and the next step was Japan. MacArthur returned to the Philippines and came in through the north. He came ashore in a whale boat and waded to the shore, Philippinos came out in canoes singing "God Bless America," which Irving Berlin had written, but service personnel didn't know the words because they were already at sea when it was written. Some credit him with being a genius as a military commander, but his statement that "men were expendable" and his toughness as a general made him unpopular with those who served under his command. Some think he was too egotistical and a show-off. General MacArthur's statement, "There is no substitute for victory," lives on.
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