# I pit DrDeth

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [February 28, 2021, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971 "2021-02-28T19:52:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 879

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### Author: ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)
#### Post date: [May 11, 2021, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-pit-drdeth/933971/879 "2021-05-11T11:27:33Z")

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As far as his father goes, I think what these people say sums it up.

> [@Little\_Nemo](#):
>
> I don’t feel that questioning the accuracy of the posts that you have made about your father is an insult to him or his memory.

> [@mordecaiB](#):
>
> While someone may have insulted your dad somewhere in this thread, the vast majority are making fun of _ **you** _ . People aren’t calling your father a REMF or saying he wasn’t a real soldier because he wasn’t in combat.

For the record, my intention was to poke fun of DD and _his portrayal_ of his father’s service, _as was recounted in many threads until the inconsistencies were pointed out._

Good god, I hope this is my final post and he’ll indeed let it go.

**Warning! The following is all TLDR territory. If history isn’t your thing, you can scroll right past it. . . Nothing here for you**

> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> He claimed that other than MacArthur in a PT boat no one could possibly get out. I showed that the _entire US Far East Air Force was transferred to Australia._
> 
> But yes, bullshit is often more believable than the truth. Witness trump.

DD is claiming that I am claiming that (did I get that right?) no one other than MacArthur, et al, escaped. He then found a cite online which shows that US FEAF personnel were transferred from Mindanao, some 600 miles away, so this proves I’m lying! Great catch! Great cite!!! And he’s going on and on about it, repeating this many times.

Except I never said that. So that cite proves nothing.

His claim now is that his father was attached to the US Far East Air Force (FEAF) after he joined the Army on or after December 8th rather than GHQ. He then was sent to Mindanao (or arrived there in the first place) while it was still safe and then evacuated along with everyone else there.

This is new information which seems to a way to allow his father to leave the Philippines. It’s problematic in that it was never mentioned before and seemingly contradicts earlier accounts.

On several occasions, DD claimed that his father was _recalled_ to GHQ. I quoted one earlier.

> [@WWII: Battle of Midway...why couldn't the Japanese have pressed on and captured the island?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wwii-battle-of-midway-why-couldnt-the-japanese-have-pressed-on-and-captured-the-island/917029/89):
>
> And for some strange reason, even tho my dad was _ **“lucky” enuf to get Malaria and be flown out before the islands collapsed** _, **he was pulled back to Macs command unit** “by personal request”- _name withheld._
> 
> (shortened)
> 
> **otherwise Bataan death march** , so i guess **malaria is better than that**.

(bolding mine)

Here is another from the most recent GD thread.

> [@Pacific War: McArthur vs Nimitz: Who Was Right?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pacific-war-mcarthur-vs-nimitz-who-was-right/296959/40):
>
> **But in a way Malaria saved his life** - he arrived as a civilian aircrew for Boeing on Dec 8th, volunteered, **caught malaria and was invalided to Australia** then home before the Philippines fell. **Otherwise Bataan death march**.
> 
> **Then someone in the Bataan gang requested my Dad back into HQ**. Almost certainly not Mac himself.

My bolding

I’m sure there will be some sort of explanation why “back into HQ” doesn’t mean “back into” and why I’m an asshole for quoting him.

If the father was in Mindanao then transferred to Australia along with the other members of FEAF, he would never have been in danger of being part of the Bataan Death March. Why would he? He would have already been in Australia. Catching malaria or not would have made any difference. The Bataan Death March was for prisoners from Corregidor and Bataan and not for FEAF personnel in Australia. They were already gone when the US surrendered. Malaria didn’t save him, his assignment to FEAF did.

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