--- description: Carl Mydans' photograph of Gen. Douglas MacArthur at Luzon distills something elemental about MacArthur's larger-than-life persona title: MacArthur Lands at Luzon, the Philippines, 1945: Behind the Picture image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt904968cceea5ddf2/6986a6ea55a8598127a82fb4/141001-macarthur-mydans-01.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # LIFE With MacArthur: The Landing at Luzon, the Philippines, 1945 by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2014 1:57 AM CUT  Gen. Douglas MacArthur with Gen. Richard Sutherland (left) and Col. Lloyd Lehrbas (second from left) walks through the surf to the beach at Lingayen, Luzon, the Philippines, Jan. 9, 1945. Gen. Douglas MacArthur with Gen. Richard Sutherland (left) and Col. Lloyd Lehrbas (second from left) walks through the surf to the beach at Lingayen, Luzon, the Philippines, Jan. 9, 1945.Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images by [Ben Cosgrove](/author/ben-cosgrove/) ## Ben Cosgrove Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 10, 2014 1:57 AM CUT With the possible exception of Gen. George S. Patton, no American who rose to prominence during the Second World War could compete with [Gen. Douglas MacArthur](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/peopleevents/pandeAMEX96.html "undefined") when it came to either influence or controversy. A titanic personality who was keenly aware of the power of the image to help craft a narrative about a battle, a campaign or a hugely symbolic moment, MacArthur had a prickly relationship with the press. The story, meanwhile, behind what is arguably the single most famous picture of the general, and certainly one of the most recognizable pictures to emerge from WWII, ably illustrates the Arkansas native’s grasp of a photograph’s ability to lionize—or demonize—a public figure. The picture in question, made by LIFE’s Carl Mydans on Jan. 9, 1945, shows MacArthur striding ashore onto “Blue Beach,” Dagupan, on the island of Luzon, Lingayen Gulf, in the Philippines. That Mydans’ photograph does not capture _the_ return to the Philippines—the return that MacArthur promised in his [single most famous utterance](http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/macarthur/filmmore/reference/primary/macspeech02.html "undefined")—hardly detracts from its significance. In fact, even more so than the pictures of MacArthur at Leyte in October 1944, when the general first returned to the Philippines after escaping from Corregidor two years before, Mydans’ photograph of the general and his comrades in the surf at Luzon seems to capture and perfectly distill something elemental about MacArthur’s magnetism and his larger-than-life persona. Years later, in a 1992 interview with John Loengard, Mydans remembered making that picture, and other photos both onboard the _USS Boise_ and at Luzon after the landing, as if it had all happened just days before. Quoted in Loengard’s book, [_LIFE Photographers: What They Saw_](http://www.amazon.com/Life-Photographers-What-They-Saw/dp/0821225189 "undefined") (Bulfinch, 1998), Mydans recalls how he came to be with MacArthur on the ship before the landing, and on the shore in time to capture the general walking through the waves to the beach: --- > “” --- In 1961, both MacArthur and Mydans returned to Luzon, where each had made history 16 years before. In the July 14, 1961, issue of LIFE, Mydans wrote movingly of that trip, and of MacArthur’s difficulty keeping his emotions in check when he was back in the place and among the people that had shaped so much of his career and his life. --- > “” ---  Gen. Douglas MacArthur with Gen. Richard Sutherland (left) and Col. Lloyd Lehrbas (second from left) walks through the surf to the beach at Lingayen, Luzon, the Philippines, Jan. 9, 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  A contact sheet showing a crop of the famous picture. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection  Carl Mydans' typed and handwritten notes, Jan. 9, 1945. The LIFE Picture Collection  Landing operations, Luzon, January 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Landing operations, Luzon, January 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Text from the back of the print in LIFE's archives: "On way to Luzon Jan. 1945 - Landing Operation- Gen. Douglas MacArthur aboard ship." Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Back of print, previous picture. The LIFE Picture Collection  Contact sheet, Carl Mydans pictures, Philippines, 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection  Contact sheet, Carl Mydans pictures, Philippines, 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection  Notes, captions from the back of a print in LIFE's archives. The LIFE Picture Collection  Text from the back of the print in LIFE's archives: "Gen. Douglas MacArthur smoking corn cob pipe on deck of ship w. aide Col. Lloyd Lehrbas, en route to USAF landing site at Lingayen Gulf in victorious ('I Shall Return') WWII return to Philippine Island site of earlier defeat." Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Back of print, previous picture. The LIFE Picture Collection  Contact sheet, Carl Mydans pictures, Philippines, 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection  Landing operations, Luzon, January 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Landing operations, Luzon, January 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images "His party reaches dry land followed by a crowd of curious beachhead workers." Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Back of print, previous picture. The LIFE Picture Collection  Contact sheet, Carl Mydans pictures, Philippines, 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection  Gen. Douglas MacArthur with his signature corncob pipe, 1945. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  LIFE magazine, Feb. 19, 1945. LIFE Magazine  Carl Mydans, aboard the USS Boise, headed for Luzon. Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3461755/life-with-macarthur-the-landing-at-luzon-the-philippines-1945/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3461755/life-with-macarthur-the-landing-at-luzon-the-philippines-1945/"},"headline":"LIFE With MacArthur: The Landing at Luzon, the Philippines, 1945","datePublished":"2014-11-10T01:57:59.000Z","dateModified":"2026-05-11T05:07:33.728Z","description":"Carl Mydans' photograph of Gen. Douglas MacArthur at Luzon distills something elemental about MacArthur's larger-than-life persona","url":"https://time.com/3461755/life-with-macarthur-the-landing-at-luzon-the-philippines-1945/","keywords":["Philippines","photography","World War II","Behind the Picture","Carl Mydans"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt904968cceea5ddf2/6986a6ea55a8598127a82fb4/141001-macarthur-mydans-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ben Cosgrove","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ben-cosgrove/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt904968cceea5ddf2/6986a6ea55a8598127a82fb4/141001-macarthur-mydans-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"General MacArthur, Philippines","caption":"Gen. Douglas MacArthur with Gen. Richard Sutherland (left) and Col. Lloyd Lehrbas (second from left) walks through the surf to the beach at Lingayen, Luzon, the Philippines, Jan. 9, 1945.","creditText":"Carl Mydans—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3461755/life-with-macarthur-the-landing-at-luzon-the-philippines-1945/","name":"LIFE With MacArthur: The Landing at Luzon, the Philippines, 1945"}}]}] ```