We're looking at the daring escapes of both Douglas Arthur and President Manuel L. Quezon from the Philippines. Parts of both escapes were on fast motor torpedo boats, captained by the legendary Lt. John D. Buckeley. He was the commander of a tiny unit of just six boats, that were tasked with protected the area around Manila, and then Corregidor Island after Manila was abandoned. The MacArthur escape was portrayed in the Hollywood movie, "They were Expendable". The Quezon escape is much less well-known. This is History on Location.

Please note that these small unit actions are not usually very well-documented and even less often filmed. There’s a very limited amount of archive footage out there on PT boats, especially since they operated mostly at night, and especially before the tide of the war turned in America’s favor. I’m aware some of the footage I’ve used is post-war, from other Pacific Theater campaigns or from the Korean War. I use these to show the general style and capabilities of this class of boats and decided that’s more useful than showing you the same five clips of period-correct boats over and over. I hope that doesn’t get in the way of the history.

Buckeley's career decorations are listed here again.

Navy Cross
Medal of Honor
Distinguished Service Medal
Silver Star Medal (Army) with Gold Star
Legion of Merit with Combat “V”
Army Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster
Purple Heart Medal, Army Distinguished Unit Emblem
French and Philippine Decorations
China Service Medal with bronze star
American Defense Service Medal, Fleet Clasp
Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal
American Campaign Medal
European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal
World War II Victory Medal
National Defense Service Medal with bronze star
Korean Service Medal
United Nations Service Medal
Korean Presidential Unit Citation Badge
Philippine Defense Ribbon
Expert Pistol Shot Medal
Expert Rifleman Medal

References:
http://www.navsource.org/archives/12/...
https://www.militaryfactory.com/ships...
https://www.navalhistory.org/2015/03/...
https://pacificwrecks.com/ships/ptboa...
https://philippinesfreepress.wordpres...
https://www.amazon.com/At-Close-Quart...

Chapters:

0:00 Start
0:44 MacArthur escapes Corregidor
3:05 Mistaken identity and friendly fire
5:54 Quezon's soiree
8:58 Quezon takes flight
11:47 Eyewitness account
12:48 Departure site visit
13:54 The run for Mindanao

#ptboat #pt41 #macarthur