Meanwhile, a thousand U.S. and Allied POWs were liberated from Bilibid Prison, including many troops captured on Bataan and Corregidor in 1942. MacArthur was there to meet the prisoners as they exited the compound. “As I passed slowly down the scrawny, suffering column, a murmur accompanied me as each man barely speaking above a whisper, said, ‘You’re back,’ or ‘You made it,’ or ‘God bless you.’ I could only reply, ‘I’m a little late, but we finally came.’
