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A poem, written by a war correspondent with the UPI was recited as truth among the soldiers:

We're the battling bastards of Bataan;

No mama, no papa no Uncle Sam;

No aunts, no uncles, no nephews, no nieces;

No pills, no planes, no artillery pieces;

And nobody gives a damn.

MacArthur received orders from Washington to leave the Philippines while he still could, so he went to Australia to run the war from there and received a Medal of Honor for his accomplishments in the Philippines. He left 78,000 American troops behind with no hope of reinforcements.

A song, sung to the tune of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic," turned up at Bataan:

Dugout Doug MacArthur lies ashaking on the Rock

Safe from all the bombers and from any sudden shock

Dugout Doug is eating of the best food on Bataan

And his troops go starving on.

Dugout Doug's not timid, he's just cautious, not afraid

He's protecting carefully the stars that Franklin made

Four-star generals are rare as good food on Bataan

And his troops go starving on.

Dugout Doug is ready in his Kris Craft for the flee

Over bounding billows and the wildly raging sea

For the Japs are pounding on the gates of Old Bataan

And his troops go starving on...

SLANG USED IN THE 5TH AAF IN THE SWPA DURING WW2 http://www.kensmen.com/slang.html

Doug’s Dug Out	An uncomplimentary term for the residences of General Douglass McArthur and his family. First in Australia, then later at a well-appointed plantation owner’s house in Port Moresby
Dug-Out Doug	The uncomplimentary term for General Douglass McArthur

Myths of World War II http://history.sandiego.edu/gen/media/myths.html

MacArthur
- General Douglas MacArthur was "the best general that the United Nations possess" in 1942 and escaped to Australia from the Philippines to lead "a mighty American army assembling in Australia to drive the Japanese back to Tokyo." (Knightley p. 279) BUT MacArthur had failed to prepare for the Japanese attack on Clark Field, "spent so much time underground in the fortress on Corregidor that he became known as 'Dug-out Doug'." (Knightley p. 280). There was no great army in Australia, only 2 of the 11 Australian divisions were ready for combat, he used his public relations staff to promote his brilliance. His announcement on his arrival in Melbourne "I have come through and I will return" was improved by his staff to the famous "I shall return." He imposed strict press censorship in Australia, ordered his personal photographer to always take pictures of him at his best profile and hard at work. He did not originate the leap-frog strategy of skipping strong points, but followed the strategy already developed by the Navy.