Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV

Graduating from West Point in 1906, Wainwright served in World War I as a captain. In 1940, as major general, he assumed command of the Philippines Division. Commanding North Luzon forces during the opening days of the Japanese invasion in December 1941, he redeployed American forces to defensive positions on the Bataan Peninsula.

On 11 March 1942, after Gen. Douglas MacArthur left for Australia, Wainwright assumed command of U.S. forces on Bataan and the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay. Promoted to lieutenant general and put in command of all U.S. forces in the Philippines, Wainwright proved unable to prevent the collapse of resistance on Bataan on 8 April. In order to ensure continued resistance of U.S. forces in other areas of the Philippines, he released them from his control shortly before he surrendered the U.S. forces on Corregidor on 6 May. Gen. Homma Masahura, commander of a Japanese force invading Corregidor, refused to accept this partial surrender. Out of concern for those already in captivity, Wainwright ordered the capitulation of all U.S. forces, and more than 80,000, Americans and Filipinos then surrendered to the Japanese.

Wainwright spent the remainder of the war in a series of Japanese prisoner‐of‐war camps. Liberated in Manchuria in 1945, the frail, emaciated general took part in the formal surrender ceremonies aboard the USS Missouri in Tokyo Bay. Greeted with a hero's welcome upon his return to the United States, Wainwright resumed active service for a brief time before retiring in 1947.

[See also Bataan and Corregidor, Battles of; World War II, U.S. Naval Operations in: The Pacific.]

Bibliography

• Louis Morton, The Fall of the Philippines, 1953.
• Duane P. Schultz, Hero of Bataan: The Story of General Jonathan M. Wainwright, 1991

Wainwright, Jonathan Mayhew (1883-1953) U.S. army officer. Born at Fort Walla Walla, Washington, Jonathan Wainwright graduated from West Point in 1906 with a commission in the cavalry. He served at western posts and in the Philippines fighting Moro rebels before filling a position on the staff of the first officers training camp at Plattsburg, New York in 1917. Early the next year he became assistant chief of staff for the 82d Infantry Division in France, participating in both the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. After a series of routine postwar cavalry and school assignments, he reported back to the Philippines in 1940 to take command of the Philippines Division. When the Japanese invaded in December 1941, he served as senior field commander of American and Filipino forces under Gen. Douglas MacArthur. The defenders retreated back into positions in the Bataan peninsula and threw back many Japanese attacks, though supplies were dwindling. When MacArthur was ordered off Bataan in March, Wainwright was promoted to lieutenant general and succeeded to command of U.S. Army Forces in the Philippines. Bataan fell in April, while Wainwright and a small core of starving defenders held out on the island fortress of Corregidor. The Japanese gained a foothold there on May 5, and Wainwright surrendered the next day. He was forced to broadcast orders for other local American commanders to surrender as well. He was held in a series of prison camps until the Russians liberated him in Manchuria in August 1945. He witnessed the surrender on the battleship Missouri the next month and then returned to the Philippines to receive the surrender of Japanese forces there. After the war he received the Congressional Medal of Honor, was promoted to full general, and took over Fourth Army. He retired in 1947 and died in San Antonio, Texas.

See the Introduction, Abbreviations and Pronunciation for further details.

Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright (1883-1953) commanded the American forces in the Philippines during World War II. He became a world symbol of resistance to the Axis in the siege of Corregidor and during four years in Japanese captivity.

Jonathan Wainwright was born on Aug. 23, 1883, in Walla Walla, Wash., the son of a career Army officer. A solemn young man, Wainwright graduated from the U.S. Military Academy in 1906. He served in the cavalry in Texas and the Philippines. In World War I he was a member of the general staff of the 82d Division and saw action in Europe.

Wainwright attended the Army's postgraduate schools and advanced to the rank of major general. In October 1940 he went to the Philippines to help Gen. Douglas MacArthur prepare the American colony for the expected Japanese invasion. A shortage of funds, however, meant few improvements, and when war came on Dec. 7, 1941, the Americans and the Philippine troops were woefully unprepared. The Japanese caught their B-17 bombers on the ground at Clark Field and destroyed them, making the defense of the islands hopeless. The Japanese landed on the major island of Luzon on December 10 and by early January 1942 had forced Wainwright, commanding the North Luzon Force, to fall back to the Bataan peninsula.

The Navy, badly hurt at Pearl Harbor, dared not sail into Japanese-controlled waters to lift the siege. Wainwright continued to fall back. On March 12 he took command on Luzon. He moved his headquarters to the tiny island of Corregidor, at the mouth of Manila Bay, under constant Japanese artillery bombardment. On April 8 the pitiful remnants on Bataan surrendered, and Wainwright's force of 11,000 men faced the vastly superior Japanese alone.

Manila harbor was a key strategic point in Japanese offensive plans, so they committed major forces to Wainwright's destruction. Except for an occasional submarine, no supplies reached Wainwright. He and his men suffered terribly but held out for nearly a month. Finally, on May 5, 1942, Wainwright wired MacArthur: "As I write this we are being subjected to terrific air and artillery bombardment and it is unreasonable to expect that we can hold out for long. We have done our best, both here and on Bataan, and although we are beaten we are still unashamed." That night the Japanese landed on Corregidor, and at noon the next day Wainwright initiated surrender negotiations.

Wainwright's opponent, Gen. Homma, refused to accept the surrender of the garrison unless Wainwright ordered the remaining American forces on the southern Philippine islands to lay down their arms also. Desperate to avoid the annihilation of his troops on Corregidor, Wainwright complied. MacArthur, in Australia, was furious and ordered Wainwright's subordinates to disregard the surrender order. They did not. MacArthur refused to agree to Gen. George Marshall's recommendation of a Medal of Honor for Wainwright. "His animosity toward Wainwright was tremendous," Marshall recalled later.

Wainwright had become America's first World War II hero. The press gave the siege of Corregidor enormous coverage. In the prisoner-of-war camps Wainwright shared all his men's privations and - often at great personal risk - intervened with his Japanese captors to try to obtain better treatment for the men. He was liberated in early September 1945; always a thin man, he now looked like a walking skeleton.

Congress awarded Wainwright the Medal of Honor in 1945. He retired in 1947, became a successful businessman, and died in San Antonio, Tex., on Sept. 2, 1953.

Further Reading

Wainwright's own account of the Philippine campaign and of his experience in prison are in General Wainwright's Story (1946). By far the most competent account of the campaign is Louis Morton, The Fall of the Philippines (1953).

Additional Sources

Beck, John Jacob, MacArthur and Wainwright; sacrifice of the Philippines, Albuquerque, University of New Mexico Press 1974.

Schultz, Duane P., Hero of Bataan: the story of General Jonathan M. Wainwright, New York: St Martin's Press, 1981.

This article is about General Wainwright. For others named Jonathan Wainwright, see Jonathan Wainwright (disambiguation).

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (February 2008)

Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright IV
August 23, 1883(1883-08-23) – September 2, 1953 (aged 70)
Wainright after World War II and promotion to full General
Nickname	"Skinny" "Jim"
Place of birth	Walla Walla, Washington
Place of death	San Antonio, Texas
Place of burial	Arlington National Cemetery
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Army
Years of service	1906-1947
Rank	General
Battles/wars	Moro Rebellion World War I *Battle of Saint-Mihiel *Meuse-Argonne Offensive World War II *Battle of the Philippines (1941-42) **Battle of Bataan **Battle of Corregidor
Awards	Medal of Honor Distinguished Service Cross Army Distinguished Service Medal Bronze Star

Jonathan Mayhew "Skinny" Wainwright IV (August 23, 1883 – September 2, 1953) was a career American army officer and the commander of Allied forces in the Philippines at the time of their surrender to the Empire of Japan during World War II. Wainwright is a recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Contents 1 Early life and training 2 World War I 3 Inter-War period 4 World War II 5 Medal of Honor citation 6 Post-War years and retirement 7 Tributes 8 See also 9 Books by Jonathan Wainwright 10 References 10.1 Notes 10.2 Books 10.3 Web

Early life and training

Wainwright was born at Fort Walla Walla, an army post now in Walla Walla, Washington, and was the son of Robert Powell Page Wainwright, a U.S. Army officer who had served as a 2nd Lt in the US 1st Cavalry in 1875, commanded a squadron at the Battle of Santiago de Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and in 1902 was killed in action in the Philippines. His grandfather was Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright II. He graduated from Highland Park High School in 1901 and from West Point, in 1906, and was commissioned in the cavalry. He served with the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment in Texas from 1906–08 and in the Philippines from 1908–10, where he saw combat on Jolo, during the Moro Rebellion. Wainwright graduated from the Mounted Service School, Fort Riley, Kansas, in 1916 and was promoted to Captain. By 1917 he was on the staff of the first officer training camp at Plattsburgh, New York.

World War I

In February 1918, he was ordered to France, during World War I. In June, he became Assistant Chief-of-Staff of the U.S. 82nd Infantry Division, with which he took part in the Saint Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives. As a temporary Lieutenant Colonel, he was assigned to occupation duty in Germany with the 3rd Army at Koblenz, Germany, from October 1918 until 1920. Having reverted to the rank of Captain, he was then promoted to major.

Inter-War period

After a year as an instructor at the Cavalry School at Fort Riley, he was attached to the General Staff from 1921–23 and assigned to the U.S. 3rd Cavalry Regiment, Fort Myer, Virginia, from 1923–25. In 1929, he was promoted to Lieutenant Colonel and graduated from the Command and General Staff School, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, in 1931, and from the Army War College in 1934. Wainwright was promoted to Colonel in 1935, and served as commander of the 3rd Cavalry Regiment until 1938, when he was promoted to Brigadier General in command of the U.S. 1st Cavalry Regiment at Fort Clark, Texas.

World War II

Generals Wainwright (left) and Douglas MacArthur, c. 1940.

In September 1940, Wainwright was promoted to Major General (temporary) and returned to the Philippines, in December, as commander of the Philippine Department. As the senior field commander of Filipino and US forces—under General Douglas MacArthur—Wainwright was responsible for resisting the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, which began in December 1941. Retreating from the Japanese beachhead of Lingayen Gulf, Allied forces had withdrawn onto the Bataan Peninsula and Corregidor by January 1942, where they defended the entrance to Manila Bay.

Wainwright ordering the surrender of the Philippines and watched by a Japanese censor

Following the relocation of MacArthur to Australia in March, to serve as Allied Supreme Commander, South West Pacific Area, Wainwright inherited the unenviable position of Allied commander in the Philippines. Also that March, Wainwright was promoted to Lieutenant General (temporarily). On April 9, the 70,000 troops on Bataan surrendered under the command of Major General Edward P. King. On May 5, the Japanese attacked Corregidor and on May 6, in the interest of minimising casualties, Wainwright surrendered. By June 9, Allied forces had completely surrendered.

Wainwright (right) and MacArthur greet, August 1945.

Wainwright was then held in prison camps in northern Luzon, Formosa, and Manchuria until his liberation by the Red Army in August 1945.^[1] He was the highest-ranking American POW, and despite his rank, his treatment at the hands of the Japanese was not pleasant. After witnessing the Japanese surrender aboard the USS Missouri (BB-63) on September 2, together with Lieutenant-General Arthur Percival he returned to the Philippines to receive the surrender of the local Japanese commander, Lieutenant-General Tomoyuki Yamashita.

Dubbed by his men a "fighting" general who was willing to get down in the foxholes, Wainwright won the respect of all who were imprisoned with him. He agonized over his decision to surrender Bataan throughout his captivity, feeling that he had let his country down. Upon release, the first question he asked was how people back in the U.S. thought of him, and was amazed when told he was considered a hero. He was later awarded the Medal of Honor, an honor which General MacArthur opposed.^[2]

Medal of Honor citation

Wainright's Medal of Honor citation reads:^[3]

Distinguished himself by intrepid and determined leadership against greatly superior enemy forces. At the repeated risk of life above and beyond the call of duty in his position, he frequented the firing line of his troops where his presence provided the example and incentive that helped make the gallant efforts of these men possible. The final stand on beleaguered Corregidor, for which he was in an important measure personally responsible, commanded the admiration of the Nation's allies. It reflected the high morale of American arms in the face of overwhelming odds. His courage and resolution were a vitally needed inspiration to the then sorely pressed freedom-loving peoples of the world.

Post-War years and retirement

On September 5, 1945, shortly after the Japanese surrender, Wainwright received his fourth star. On September 13, a ticker-tape parade in New York City was held in his honor. Upon returning to the United States, he was assigned a corps command as commander of Second Service Corps and Fort Jay, Governors Island, New York. In January 1946, he became the commander of the Fifth United States Army at Fort Sam Houston, Texas where he retired in August 1947.

Wainwright served on the board of directors for several corporations after his retirement. He made himself available to speak before veterans' groups and filled almost every request to do so. He never felt any bitterness toward MacArthur for his actions in the Philippines or MacArthur's attempt to deny him the Medal of Honor. In fact, when it appeared that MacArthur might be nominated for president at the 1948 Republican National Convention, Wainwright stood ready to make the nominating speech.^[2]

He died of a stroke at San Antonio, Texas on September 2, 1953. Wainwright was buried in Section 1 of Arlington National Cemetery and is one of the few people to have had their funeral held in the lower level of the Memorial Amphitheater. He is buried next to his wife and near his parents.

Tributes

• Fort Wainwright in Alaska is named for him.
• U.S. Army Wainwright Station, Fort Sam Houston, San Antonio, Texas^[4]
• A street, Wainwright Drive, was named after him in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
• There is a street, Wainwright Drive, in El Paso, Texas named after Jonathan Wainwright, and also an elementary school in the El Paso Independent School District; Wainwright Elementary School opened in 1949 and was closed and placed on reserve status in 2005 in light of the expansion of Fort Bliss through BRAC. It currently serves as a science education resource center; until November 2009, it also served as a student health center.
• The Veterans Hospital in Walla Walla, Washington is the Jonathan M. Wainwright IV Medical Center.
• There is a memorial to General Wainwright on Corregidor Island.

See also

World War I portal

World War II portal

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jonathan M. Wainwright IV

United States Army portal

• List of Medal of Honor recipients
• List of Medal of Honor recipients for World War II

Books by Jonathan Wainwright

• General Wainwright's Story. Bantam. 1945. ISBN 0553240617. 

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the United States Army Center of Military History.

Notes

1. ^ Litovkin, Viktor (2005-05-09). "Saving General Wainwright". RIA Novosti. http://en.rian.ru/analysis/20050905/41306298.html. Retrieved 2009-04-11. 
2. ^ ^{a b} Murphy, E. Heroes of WW II. 1990. pp 32-34.
3. ^ "Medal of Honor Recipients World War II (T-Z)". Army Center of Military History. http://www.history.army.mil/html/moh/wwII-t-z.html. Retrieved 2009-04-06. 
4. ^ "U.S. Army Recruiting Command Brigade and Battalion Public Affairs Offices". Recruiting Command. U.S. Army. 16 March 2009. http://www.usarec.army.mil/hq/apa/download/apadir.pdf. Retrieved 9 September 2009. 

Books

• Murphy, Edward (1990). Heroes of WW II: True Stories of the Men Who Earned our Nation's Highest Award. New York: Ballantine Books. ISBN 0-345-37545-9. 

• Schultz, Duane (1981). Hero of Bataan: The Story of General Jonathan M. Wainwright. St Martin's Press. ISBN B000UXDJJG (ASIN). 

Web

• Arlington National Cemetery page for Gen. Wainwright

Persondata
NAME	Wainwright, Jonathan Mayhew, IV
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	United States Army Medal of Honor recipient
DATE OF BIRTH	August 23, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH	Fort Walla Walla, Washington
DATE OF DEATH	September 2, 1953
PLACE OF DEATH	San Antonio, Texas

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