Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
At event, 2 recall time with general
Even though Gen. Douglas MacArthur never claimed to be a native of Arkansas, more than 50 people met Saturday at his birthplace in Little Rock to commemorate what would have been his 133rd birthday and hear two Arkansans talk of their time serving in his Honor Guard.
Otha L. “Walt” Walters of Hot Springs and Dr. Paul Fair of Little Rock spoke at the MacArthur Museum of Arkansas Military History in downtown Little Rock.
MacArthur, born Jan. 26, 1880, in the plantationstyle home that now serves as the museum, left Little Rock at 6 months old and only returned once to give a speech 72 years later.
“My stay in his Honor Guard was short but rather eventful because it went to the surrender,” said Fair, 87.
Fair is the only native Arkansan to have served in the Honor Guard and is the last surviving member of the 174 troops that made up the original group.
The Honor Guard was created as Company E in early 1945 when it was determined that MacArthur, his family and staff needed protection after the American capture of Manila, the capital of the Philippines.
Fair, 19 at the time and serving in the 6th Infantry Division, had just recovered from a bullet wound he received near Manila when he was selected to serve in Company E. He stayed six months.
He said he remembered the general’s famous “I shall return” speech and recalled the night the Japanese surrendered. His unit was stationed at MacArthur’s home, known as Casablanca, at the time.
“There was a great celebration and everyone was outside firing bullets. Spent bullets were coming down through the palm trees when Mrs. MacArthur came out on the second
floor balcony to ask what was going on,” he said.
She didn’t know about the surrender, and Fair told her to go back in the house for her safety.
Fair didn’t have any personal contact with the general, he said. His favorite memory is of an event he said he was “advised not to disclose,” which occurred one night while he watched over his squad stationed outside MacArthur’s office building in Tokyo.
He went to look for the guard who was supposed to be on watch outside MacArthur’s office — he found him somewhere else.
“There he was, sitting with his feet on MacArthur’s desk, smoking MacArthur’s cigar. Now if you were there, could you resist taking a puff on that cigar? I couldn’t,” Fair said to hearty round of laughs.
Walters, originally from Kentucky, had more opportunity than Fair to become acquainted with MacArthur. His stay in the Honor Guard lasted from January 1949 to April 1951.
In March 1952, after Walters left the Honor Guard and was stationed in Little Rock, MacArthur made his only visit back to his birthplace to give a speech. Walters was selected as his personal guard.
“When he arrived at the airport, he and his wife looked down and pointed down the line and walked up to me and asked, ‘Did you fly in from Tokyo for this?’” Walters said.
He rode with the MacArthurs in their limousine to their hotel and had a conversation with MacArthur during which he was asked if there was any special place he wanted to be assigned, Walters said.
While he didn’t take the general up on his offer and remained in Little Rock, Walters said it was an honor to be the recipient of such an offer from a five-star general.
MacArthur was one of five men to reach the rank of five- star general in the Army.
He and his father, Arthur MacArthur Jr., were the first father and son to both be awarded the Medal of Honor.
On Saturday, Walters presented the museum with his framed certificate of membership in the Honor Guard, which is signed by MacArthur, along with pictures of himself and the general.
Audience members thanked him and Fair afterward for recounting their memories of being in the Honor Guard.
David Gruene, 73, a member of the MacArthur Military History Museum Commission, expressed the importance of having the men speak.
“It was great to have the young people that are here today,” Gruene said. “Young people nowadays in school don’t get much learning in the history of this country and it is important that we remember the contributions of these people.”
For Walters, his days in the Honor Guard and memories of MacArthur still fascinate him and define who he is, he said.
“It was cut and dry, no ifs, ands or buts,” he said. “There’s a right way, a wrong way and an Army way.
“Where we were at, it was Gen. MacArthur’s way.”