Gaetano Faillace

Gaetano Faillace was born September 17, 1904, in New York City to Marcello and Francesca (Sciacca) Faillace.{{harvnb|Kawabata|2010|p=}}

File:Douglas MacArthur lands Leyte1.jpg

When photographers were assigned to highly ranked individuals like General MacArthur, they had to be officers, as they would be present alongside many other highly ranked men. Faillace was a sergeant before being promoted to captain when assigned to the general. After he left MacArthur's service he went back to the rank of sergeant but his war commission had progressed during the war and when he retired he jumped ranks to major.{{harvnb|Beach|2010|p=}}

On 20 October 1944, troops of Krueger's Sixth Army landed on Leyte while MacArthur watched from the light cruiser {{USS|Nashville|CL-43|6}}. That afternoon he arrived off the beach. The advance had not progressed far; snipers were still active and the area was under sporadic mortar fire. When his craft grounded in knee-deep water, MacArthur requested a landing craft, but the beachmaster was too busy to grant his request and MacArthur was compelled to wade ashore.{{harvnb|James|1975|pp=552–556.}} It has often been claimed that the picture is posed but William J. Dunn who was present during the landing (the only one in the picture not wearing a helmet or hat) says that rumor "is one of the most ludicrous misconceptions to come out of that war."{{harvnb|Dunn|Wallace|2009| p=7}}

After landing on the beach, MacArthur gave his prepared speech, saying:{{quote|People of the Philippines: I have returned. By the grace of Almighty God our forces stand again on Philippine soil—soil consecrated in the blood of our two peoples. We have come dedicated and committed to the task of destroying every vestige of enemy control over your daily lives, and of restoring upon a foundation of indestructible strength, the liberties of your people.{{harvnb|MacArthur|1964|p=216.}}}}

After the surrender of Japan on September 2, 1945, America occupied the home islands of Japan. As MacArthur took residence in Tokyo, he decided on a strategy of continuity for the Japanese people. Even though many Japanese and most of America wanted the Emperor put on trial (70% of Americans wanted him hanged{{harvnb|Dower|1999|p=299}}) MacArthur thought that keeping the Emperor in his position would offer a symbol for the Japanese people to rally around. If the Japanese people could rally around Hirohito and he could be controlled by the Americans, then fewer troops would be required to keep the peace in Japan.

MacArthur and Emperor Hirohito's staff set up a meeting for 10 am on September 27, 1945, to discuss how to save the Emperor's throne. When the Emperor and his entourage arrived, American officers offered to take his hat. This seemed to alarm Hirohito, as he was the God Emperor and his normal Japanese staff never took things from him.{{harvnb|Lucas|2011|p=}} As the Emperor handed over his hat, MacArthur burst into the room, saying "You are very, very welcome, sir!"{{harvnb|Okamoto|2001|p=36}} For the officers present, it was the first time they heard the general call anyone "sir". MacArthur then moved to shake his hand, and Hirohito bowed so deeply that because of the Emperor's small stature the handshake took place above his head. During the meeting Gaetano Faillace took three photos of the two men. One was ruined from MacArthur closing his eyes and another from the Emperor's mouth gaping open, and the final one was approved and published in Japanese and international papers.

When the picture was published in Japanese papers, the Japanese censors were horrified at the image, which showed a towering and informal MacArthur and a small and very formal Emperor Hirohito.{{harvnb|Dower|1999|pp=293–95}} To the Japanese, the God Emperor should always be the most prominent person in a picture, and to have an American standing in his company with an air of power went against all their training. The Americans, however, who had forced the Japanese censors to publish the photo, were very pleased as the picture seemed to encapsulate the change that their occupation of Japan represented.

In 1983 Faillace released a Japanese book with photographs he took from the occupation.{{harvnb|Faillace|1983|p=}} On December 31, 1991 he died from complications of cancer in Fayetteville, North Carolina.North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics. North Carolina Deaths, 1997-2004 (Raleigh, NC: North Carolina State Center for Health Statistics).{{harvnb|Sarasota Herald-Tribune|1992|p=39}}

At the time of his death he had family throughout America including brothers, Joseph Faillace, and Antonio Faillace in Seattle, sisters Grace Mauro of Miami, Florida and Angela Buscemi of Fort Lauderdale, Florida. His children, including his daughters Deon Faillace, Denise Danaher, and Donna Faillace and his son, Douglas Faillace, lived in Detroit. He also had two grandchildren.

Gerardo Moretti, aka Jerry Martin (uncredited) portrayed Gaetano Faillace in the Universal Studios adaptation of MacArthur, with Gregory Peck. In one scene, Peck forgets Martin's character name and accidentally addresses him by his real name "Jerry." Production ultimately left the scene in, as is. Martin passed away in 2010 and is entombed at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles,

California .

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;References

• {{cite web|last=Beach |first=John H. |date=November 21, 2010 |url=http://www.armypictorialcenter.com/john_h_beach.htm |title=Gaetano Faillace |publisher=Army Pictorial Center |access-date=May 2, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110913065027/http://www.armypictorialcenter.com/john_h_beach.htm |archive-date=September 13, 2011 }}
• {{cite book|last=Dower|first=John|title=Embracing Defeat: Japan in the Wake of World War II

|publisher=W. W. Norton & Company|location=New York|year=1999|isbn=978-0-393-32027-5|oclc=39143090}}

• {{cite book |last=Dunn|first=William J.|last2=Wallace|first2=Mike | title = Pacific Microphone|edition=2009|year=2009| publisher = Texas A&M University Press| isbn= 9781603441575 }} - Total pages: 416
• {{cite book|last=James|first=D. Clayton|work=The Years of MacArthur|title=Volume 2, 1941–1945|publisher=Houghton Mifflin|location=Boston|year=1975|isbn=0-395-20446-1|oclc=12591897}}
• {{cite web |last=Kawabata|first=Tai|date=September 3, 2010|url = http://www.japantimes.co.jp/text/fq20100903a2.html|title = Photos, films depict Tokyo in turbulent times|publisher = The Japan Times| access-date = May 2, 2012 }}
• {{cite web |last=Lucas|first=Dean|date=November 20, 2011 |url = http://www.famouspictures.org/macarthur-and-the-emperor/|title = MacArthur and the Emperor|publisher = famouspictures.org| access-date = May 1, 2012 }}
• {{cite book|last=MacArthur|first=Douglas|title=Reminiscences of General of the Army Douglas MacArthur|publisher=Bluejacket Books|location=Annapolis|year=1964|isbn=1-55750-483-0|oclc=220661276 }}
• {{cite book |last=Faillace|first=Gaetano | author-link = Gaetano Faillace | title = マッカーサーの見た焼跡: フェーレイス・カラー写真集 : 東京・横浜 1945 年 - Makkasa no mita yakeato: Fereisu kara shashinshu : Tokyo Yokohama 1945-nen|edition=1983|year=1983| publisher = 文藝春秋 - Bungei Shunju| isbn= 9784163382302|language=ja }} - Total pages: 175
• {{cite news |title= Gaetano Faillace|last=Sarasota Herald-Tribune|url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1755&dat=19920104&id=TCchAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h3sEAAAAIBAJ&pg=3493,3962770|newspaper=Sarasota Herald-Tribune |date=January 4, 1992|access-date= May 2, 2012 }}
• {{cite book |last=Okamoto|first=Shirō | title = The Man Who Saved Kabuki: Faubion Bowers and Theatre Censorship in Occupied Japan|edition=2001|year=2001| publisher = University of Hawaii Press| isbn= 9780824824419 }} - Total pages: 210
• {{cite news |title= Photographer dies|last=The Times-News|author-link=Times-News (Hendersonville, North Carolina) |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1665&dat=19920101&id=dTMaAAAAIBAJ&sjid=ACYEAAAAIBAJ&pg=2839,182516|newspaper=The Times-News |date=January 1, 1992|access-date= May 2, 2012 }}

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Category:1904 births

Category:1991 deaths

Category:American photojournalists

Category:American war photographers

Category:United States Army personnel of World War II

Category:American people of Italian descent

Category:Deaths from cancer in North Carolina

Category:Journalists from New York City

Category:World War II photographers

Category:United States Army officers