These more than life-sized statues stand shining proud and golden under the sunlight on a shallow manmade pool. The statues mark the spot where MacArthur fulfilled his promise of “I shall return” (probably the most used words in and out of our classroom back in high school) at Red Beach. “Red” because of the blood spilled on it during the naval war against the Japanese. In front of the statues, two historical markers, written in English and Filipino, can be found.
Also known as the Leyte Landing Memorial Park and MacArthur Park, this one of the region’s major tourist attractions depicted the historic landing of General Douglas MacArthur in Leyte Gulf which led to the largest naval battle of World War II and commemorated the start of the Philippine liberation against the Japanese Imperial Forces during the Second World War.
The war memorial site sits on coastal plain in the municipality of Palo on Leyte island in Eastern Visayas, some kilometers away from Leyte’s provincial capital, Tacloban. It was damaged by Typhoon Haiyan (Yolanda) with one of its seven statues knocked from its base but it was immediately repaired by the government and the statue of Carlos P. Romulo was restored.
Today, the site where General Douglas MacArthur fulfilled his promise of “I shall return” has become a park. It has become not just a place to re-live history but also to relax and play either with family or friends.
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