The reclusive only child of five-star Army Gen. Douglas MacArthur made a rare public statement to honor the Americans and Filipinos who fought to liberate the Philippines from Japanese occupation ...

(Shannon Smith/U.S. Navy) The fight to free Manila, the Philippine capital, raged from Feb. 3 to March 3, 1945, as Allied forces led by Gen. Douglas MacArthur wrested the city from Japanese occupiers.

Against the threat of Japanese invasion in 1941, MacArthur had convinced George Marshall, the Army chief of staff, that the long-held American strategy to defend the Philippines by concentrating ...