FDR

Now, Therefore, by virtue of the authority so vested in me as President, the following regulations are hereby prescribed:

There never was a doubt that the people of the Philippines were worthy of their independence.

Your fine cooperation with General MacArthur furnishes another example of teamwork and the effective and intelligent use of all weapons.

We promised to return; we have returned.

You have the Nation's gratitude and the Nation's prayers for success as you and your men fight your way back to Bataan.

The suffering, humiliation, and mental torture that you have endured since the barbarous, unprovoked, and treacherous attack upon the Philippines nearly three long years ago have aroused in the hearts of the American people a righteous…

The United States promised to help build a new Nation in the Pacific, a Nation whose ideals, like our own, were liberty and equality and the democratic way of life.

We are glad to be back in the Philippines but we do not intend to stop there.

By virtue of the authority vested in me by Title I of the First War Powers Act, 1941 (55 Stat. 838), and as President of the United States, and in order to enable the Chairman of the War Production Board more effectively to carry out his…

Nowhere has the desire to avenge their comrades been stronger than among the forces of the Southwest Pacific.

Until we were attacked at Pearl Harbor we had done our utmost to live as friendly self-respecting neighbors of the Japanese in the Pacific.

Our decency was mistaken for weakness.

We and our Philippine brothers in arms- with the help of Almighty God- will drive out the invader; we will destroy his power to wage war again, and we will restore a world of dignity and freedom.

When the Japanese invaders have been driven out, the Philippines will take their place as a free and independent member of the family of Nations.

I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War to designate the Commanding General, United States Army Forces, Pacific Ocean Areas, as the military commander within the meaning of the act of March 21, 1942.

Wherever our boys in the services go, they are welcomed not only as liberators but as good friends.

This year, more than ever, we need the friendly aid and assistance of all these great humanitarian agencies for our fighting forces.

This gift of friendship—this participation in our community war appeal- is one war job we are not compelled to do, but it is one that we all willingly wish to do.

I know that we will keep faith with them, as they are keeping it with us, until their job is done.

When that military objective is accomplished—and much of it has not yet been accomplished—the Italian people will be free to work out their own destiny, under a government of their own choosing.

This means that if we do not now take effective measures to prevent another world war...

I am deeply grateful, therefore, for this award.

The survival of that spirit is more important than ever.

We have not labored long and faithfully to build in this New World a system of international security and cooperation—merely to let it be dissipated...

Today—every day—many times that number of men and many tons of cargo are carried across the ocean by air—they go across in a few hours.