Military: Paul Vane Gaar, 1980, Winn Parish, LA Submitted by Greggory E. Davies, 120 Ted Price Lane, Winnfield, LA 71483 ********************************************** Copyright. All rights reserved. http://usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://usgwarchives.net/la/lafiles.htm ********************************************** From: July 7, 1980 Alexandria Daily Town Talk Guarding MacArthur Better Than Combat by Jeff Boren, Town Talk Staff Writer DODSON- Guarding Gen. Douglas MacArthur didn't provide much excitement for a young soldier from Winn Parish, but, says Paul Vane Gaar, it was better than the alternative. Gaar was stationed in the South Pacific during World War II when he received his orders to go to Manila to serve as a bodyguard for MacArthur "We were in the jungle getting out tails shot off and the next thing I knew, I was eating steak and ice cream in Manila," Gaar said. Gaar went on duty at MacArthur's home-Casa Blanca. According to Gaar, the pressure of being a personal bodyguard was heaven compared to combat. There were not attempts on MacArthur's life while the 18 year old soldier served as his guard. There was a "little demonstration when the Japanese people came in for the peace talks, but that was minor," Gaar said. "I was never as scared guarding the general as I was on my first beach landing. There were no shots fired when we landed but none of us knew what to expect." "We moved around the Philippines doing mostly mop up work. Then one day I got the orders to report to the Company perimeter," Gaar said. Two men were selected from each regiment to serve as bodyguards. There were 68-70 guards working shifts at MacArthur's home and at his office in Tokyo. They lived in their own barracks and ate in their own dining hall. "We were treated pretty well. MacArthur's wife was real nice and his 7 year old boy was there, too," Gaar said. There was a recreation room under the house in Manila where the guards were treated to a movie two or three nights a week. "Sometimes we got movies over there that hadn't been released in the United States yet," Gaar said. MacArthur treated his guards well. Gaar said the general was always getting criticized about his personality but "He talked to us (the guards) like he was our daddy or something. I was only a kid and he talked to us like we were just one of his boys." According to Gaar, there was little danger guarding MacArthur because "the war was about over. The Japanese had no air force left, just the suicide planes. He was home most of the time." "The most exciting thing about was getting out of combat," Gaar said. Gaar is humble about guarding one of the most successful and controversial generals from World War II. "I didn't do any more than anyone else. Heck, you ought to write a story about my son, he's won all kinds of trophies with his horse." Gaar said he doesn't remember much about Manila, but he "thinks about it sometimes. I smoke a pipe and I remember wanting to borrow one of the general's pipes. He had a whole collection of corn-cob pipes in his office I guarded, but I was scared I'd get caught." Gaar, who now runs a grocery store here, received his discharge in January 1946 and said jokingly, "I've been broke ever since."