So here he was, getting the job done. Unfortunately he hadn't been given whatever he needed. But he did manage to get a lot more than otherwise would have been sent to MacArthur, as well as George Patton and Jim Doolittle.
He had completed making himself presentable although he knew his appearance would fall well below what MacArthur considered appropriate for a commanding officer. However, he couldn't spare the time for even a shave. He grabbed the sentry and ordered the confused soldier to drive to headquarters.
When the jeep pulled up there were already some officers present, hurriedly trying to straighten their uniforms. How could everyone know so fast? he thought. A cup of hot coffee was placed in his hands as he entered the building. "Call a general meeting for all available senior officers in one hour," he commanded to the nearest of his staff.
"Should we order an alert, General?"
"No! No alerts. Not yet," he replied too angrily and went into his office. Before he reached his desk, the phone was ringing. He grabbed the receiver and sat down. "Yes?" he said.
"Is that you, Ike?"
Eisenhower recognized Patton's voice. "Yes, George. Where are you?"
"Where the hell do you think I am? I'm in bed. What the hell's going on? I got a call from my chief of staff who says the whole place is buzzing. Is there some kind of fire or something?"
"The Japs just hit Pearl. That's the word. Could be a hoax but I'm not taking any chances. Get down here as soon as you can."
"Jesus Christ! I'll be right over. Don't start the war without me!"
Five minutes later Eisenhower was on the line with Colonel James Doolittle. "Jimmy, have you heard?"
"Sure have, Ike. Is it real?"
"Don't know yet but I don't want us to get caught with our pants down. I want you to send up some reconnaissance."
"Already ahead of you. I've got my boys on rotating patrol covering the ocean in a hundred-mile radius doubling up from here to Formosa. Of course we're spread pretty thin. We're using every available plane, even those damn Buffaloes. I'd have another fifteen fighters ready if we had the goddamn spare parts!"
"I know, I know. They've been promising us the moon…"
"… And don't even send us moonshine. We have to make our own."
"Well, whatever we have now is all there is. We have to make due. What about the bombers?"
"Most of them can be ready to fly in a few hours," Doolittle replied.
"I mean what about their safety? What if the Jap fighters slip through?"
"Not likely. Just in case, do you want to move them to Del Monte field?"
"What do you think?"
"I'll move them. I'll be at Clark if you need me."
By the time Patton arrived, Eisenhower had finished briefing his senior officers. "Good to see you, George."
"What's the scuttlebutt? Did they hit or not?"
"I just had a screaming match with Admiral Hart. The louse got word from his buddy Kimmel in Honolulu. Then he just sat on the information."
"Those swabbos can be real assholes. So it's for real?" Patton was leaning forward in his seat.
"I think this is it. There was definitely an attack of some sort but we don't know too many details. Hart thinks we got creamed but MacArthur called me and said he heard that the Japanese had suffered a setback. He said he heard it from the War Plans Division."
"Well, whatever the outcome, the bastards attacked us. I'll mobilize right away. Any news from the flyboys?"
"Hold off on mobilizing, George. The Old Soldier doesn't want us to do anything the Japs might consider 'overtly hostile. It seems that he's getting a lot of pressure from the local governor to keep the Philippines neutral and MacArthur doesn't think the Japs will attack us, but if we become too aggressive he thinks we might force them to."
"Christ Almighty! They just bombed the shit out of an American city. Sounds pretty damn 'overt' to me. What the hell's he waiting for; some Nip to blow up his garden? Let that little shit of a governor squawk. Who do you think he'll come whining to if there is an invasion?" Patton was now pacing furiously.
"Settle down, old friend, I agree. But there's a lot we can still do without directly violating orders. We can call it a drill or maneuvers. Get everyone ready to move and start sending detachments north. If they hit us, that's the direction they'll come from. Just try to keep it low-key."
Patton stopped and thought, then smiled to his commander. "Low-key it is," he said and without another word was out the door.
About an hour later Doolittle was back on the line. "I just got a call from Hap Arnold. We did get hit at Pearl pretty bad."
"Any more details? What about orders?" Eisenhower was hoping for a green light from Washington.
"No details. He just said, 'Step up patrols and move the bombers south, and I said, 'Yes, sir. Good idea. Thank you, sir. »
"You know, Jimmy, you can be a real-"
"I know. All my friends tell me that. So what now?"
"Anything in from your men in the air?"
"Still too dark. But the sun will be up in about an hour. By then I'll have a squad over Takao Harbor."
It was only forty minutes later when Doolittle reported back. "Reports are coming in, Ike! Seems Formosa's fogged in but there's a shitload of Jap troop transports heading our way. There's also been a few skirmishes with enemy fighters that are probably from carriers. We lost some planes, General."
"Damn! Get all the B-17s that are already fitted out in the air as soon as possible. I don't care what MacArthur says now. We're moving. Got it?"
"Yes, sir. It should take about an hour and a half."
Eisenhower called MacArthur but was told that the general was in a meeting with the Filipino governor.
Patton was next on his list and, fortunately, was easier to reach.
"To heck with low-key, George. There's an invasion force on the way, most likely headed for Lingayen Gulf."
"I'm glad you said to drop the 'low-key, Ike, because the whole island is buzzing like a hornet's nest. The locals are all heading south in droves and there have even been some reports of looting. So far the Filipino soldiers are sticking around but we'll see what happens when the shit starts to fly."
"What's the armor status?"
"Crappy. As you know, the five Grants they sent keep bogging down in the soft ground so they're pretty useless anywhere but the roads. Of the twenty-six Stuarts, we've had to cannibalize three for parts and another five are off-line until the goddamn parts come in. I wouldn't hold my breath. One platoon is too far south to do us any good. That leaves us with fourteen to try to repel a fullscale invasion."
"How about infantry?"
"We should be able to bring up about thirty-five hundred of our boys and two thousand locals."
"Why so few Filipinos?"
"Listen, Ike. I had to go through about twenty for every one that I kept. For one thing, they speak about a hundred different languages. And most of them just don't get it. I'd rather have a thousand soldiers than a hundred thousand pack bearers."
"What are your thoughts?"
"I think the Old Soldier is right. Looks like the bastards will hit the beaches at Lingayen. He's also right about stopping the Japs there. Once they get a beachhead they'll go through the rest of the island like crap through a goose. I'm moving out right away along with my men. Wanna come?"
"Actually I do plan on moving my headquarters north. What are our chances of stopping them?"
"I can't make any promises, Ike. But I will tell you that our boys won't run until they get the order. They're damn good men, every one of them, and the Japs are gonna have to pay a lot of blood for beachfront property."