The Veterans Day Bataan Death March Memorial Hash

Run: #863 November 11, 2002
Hare: Slasher Dr. WHO
Scribe: EverReady Special Edition #9
Location: Intervale Rd, Cumberland, RI
Weather: Indian Summer Heat at Start, Light Rain, Temperature Falling 20 degrees to 40’s at the Finish
Present: WIPOS, Oozing SD, Summer’s Eve SYB, Swallows My Pride, Basket Boom Boom, Slasher Dr. WHO, and  Just Seamus
Virtual Visitor: Just Ever Ready’s Pop
Late Cumer: Async

Expectations were soaring, as were the temperatures on this amazing fall day. The weekend saw temperature over the top in the 70’s, and the cold front passing through at tonight’s hash promised more rain. We were sure to have shiggy, something we long for in Rhode Island, but we have been sorely disappointed about lately.

Obviously missing were: Bone Head spinning in Hell, KNO wishing in Boston, Async paddling across Winnipesaukee, Tree House flying in the Army, Bondo slicing and dicing Ben, and your cute scribe doing the naughty, but keeping my spies about just the same.

As the sun started setting behind the clouds moving in from the southwest, the temperature and the dew point were just about the same 69, and with the amount of rain we saw over the weekend, the Hash fully expected shiggy up to our armpits. Seamus decided his young age of less than 4 months was enough to take even the hearty trails normally set by the Slasher. Hey, how bad could it be? 2.5, 3 miles?

No Problem GI? After all, it was Veterans Day, and what better day for a grand march in the woods. Okay, I wasn’t there, so shoot me, call me Hanoi Jane (Pop always did), a girl's gotta do what a girls gotta do to get ahead in this world.

Anyway, I understand the regulars were waiting for me for some time, wishing I’d show, but disappointingly, had to set off without my cheery (not cherry) smile. (Thanks guys!) The WHO pointed the way out, and Oozing, SESYB, Swallows My Pride and WIPOS set a blazing pace, followed by the hare and then Basket and his trusty new friend Seamus pulling up the arse end. Dust might have been flying except the drizzle was just enough to dampen the ground and cause the flour to disappear magically.

The hare gave instructions to be careful when crossing the road towards the ‘beginning’ of the run. The pack was well into mile 2, before getting anywhere near a road. The trails were expertly groomed, however, and aside for the lack of flour, they were perfectly laid out for a marvelous hash. It was that little thing about the flour that caused all that complaining. Now I am sure KNO will have wheelbarrows full at the next hash, or he’s getting nothing. Understand honey?

The pack stayed fairly well together, with those competing for the lead, being Oozing, SESYB, Swallows My Pride, and WIPOS and only holding back for the Slasher Dr. WHO to point the direction from the next unseen check mark. The R.R.B.’s Basket and Seamus had just enough time between checks to catch up with the pack and catch their breaths, before loosing sight of those fast of feet wankers. Seamus even got in front on a number of times to relieve himself in the middle of the trail for all to enjoy his fragrance and add just a little shiggy, otherwise there’d be none on this sorry night.

The pack finally made it to the beer check at the spillway for the Cumberland Reservoir, under the reservoir roadway. The sky was spitting now, and even though the temperature had dropped 15 degrees since the start, the beer was extremely welcomed. WHO had his usual mixtures in plastic, and it was extremely timely for Seamus, who needed a good drink about now. This was followed by a snooze, as the band of merry men and lady sang a number of ribald classics.

Beers finished, the pack started off leaving Seamus cutting wood. Basket went back and had to carry him down the spillway, almost breaking his back in the process, and making their way out to the edge of Sneech Pond. The FRB’s were far away, and could not care less about the hapless Basket trying to carry a 40 pound fluff ball over rocks, up cliffs, across scree fields and boulders that always seemed to catch his tiring legs and fall face down protecting the puppy.

Flashlights across the lake edged him on, as he could hear hearty drinking at beer stop number two. Basket finally made it in, and found the reclining budda Async, enoying a beer. Having driven down from Lake Winnipesaukee, he arrived fashionably late, but just in time for the “shorter to end” beer stop. Never one to turn down a “free” beer. He apologized for arriving late, and again for having to leave early, but “could you pass me one of those free brewskis. Thank you very much.”

The second beer stop was slightly shorter than the first, as temperature was dropping, and the beer was being defuzzed in the milk container. Does anyone notice how beer starts to taste like cow’s teets as the temperature of the contents drops closer to ambient temp, and the fuzz goes away in Milk Containers? This could be another entire narrative in itself, so we’ll save that for another day.

Beers finished, the pack happily staggered down though an unsuspecting neighborhood, back to the start. Oozing found a comfortable chaise lounge to respite himself upon, and shouted obnoxiously to the passing hordes in some Arabic dialectic about heathen satanic pecuniary materialistic pigs, and what a cute dog you’re carrying.

We eventually made our way back through the Cumberland snobby neighborhood to the cars, where ‘Down-downs” were gleefully administered to the hare, at the base of a house precariously perched above us on a steep incline. First was the Slasher, followed by SESYB, Swallows My Pride and Oozing, for cohabiting without forethought of fornication, (let’s see if this gets by the censor), and eventually giving the Hashit to the paddling one for piddling on the parade and pissing off early again. (lsitgbtc). Even Basket was awarded a Down-Down for showing compassion to his fellow hashers by not stripping down and dancing  through the circle wearing just sneakers and briar scars.

The Hash sojourned over to Box Seats for some refreshments. I have no clue what happened there, since no one could remember anything important to fill me in, it is the holiday for veterans, and we are celebrating our own little death march, I’ll share an interview with my pop about his experience.

A survivor’s tale I spent March 1939 until September 1939 in the infantry. We went on maneuvers at Camp McCoy, Wisconsin for two weeks. We walked from Camp McCoy back to Fort Snelling! Two guys in the infantry kept bugging me saying, "You ought to go to the Philippines." "It's wonderful duty over there." When we got back, I applied for and received a transfer to the U.S. Army Air Corps in the Philippines Islands. I later found out those two guys had been there, didn't like it, and "bought out." At that time, you could buy a discharge from the Army for $120.00. I went there on the ship USS Grant. It was a big old tanker the United States had taken from Germany after World War I. On the trip over, we had a storm. Some of the guys got sick and lost their "cookies" all over everything. On the trip over, we had a storm. Some of the guys got sick and lost their "cookies" all over everything.

Did you get sick on the voyage?
No.
He never gets sick. (Hanoi Jane)
When we got to Hawaii, we laid over for a day.

Did you go ashore in Hawaii?
Yes. Something happened over there. I don't know if I told you or not.
No. (Hanoi Jane, laughter).
They had a hula gal's show for us, free of charge. When I got up to leave, the others had already gone. I didn't know where the heck they went. I went through an exit and ended up in the ladies dressing room.
Oh (Hanoi Jane, laughter).

I got out of there without anything happening.
I can just see him! (Hanoi Jane, laughter).

Was that on Oahu?
Yes. We were in the main terminal at Honolulu. Pearl Harbor was off to the side. The next day we sailed to Guam, and stopped there for a day.

You went ashore. What was there?
There were a few natives and a small village. We had to anchor quite a ways out and were "lightered" (ferried) ashore. From Guam, we went to Manila. That first day it was so hot and humid a big typhoon came. It was a fitting welcome! I thought, "This is lower than Lower Slobovia!" "What the heck have I got into here."

How long were you stationed in the Philippines?
I was there from 1939 until 1944. Then, from 1944 until mid-1945, I was in Japan.

You were how old when you arrived in the Philippines?
I was twenty-two and assigned duty at Nichols Field outside Manila. We worked from 8:00 am to 12:00 noon. At noon, everything was closed up and locked and I mean everything! The medics suggested we take a nap in the heat of the day. I got so dog gone lazy I didn't want to get out of bed. I said "to heck with this!" I bought a bicycle and hit the countryside. I peddled all around southern Luzon; anyplace there was a road. One time I biked from Nichols Field to Cavite, which is about twenty-five miles from Manila. I ate with the Marines and came back the same day.

What were your duties?
I was in the 27th Material Squadron. We were in charge of supplies and aircraft. At Nichols Field, I started as an airplane mechanic and worked my way up to crew chief. Eventually, I became a flight engineer. I got my start in a ship called the A09, a Grumman Amphibian. The commandant of the base, Colonel Ryan said, "That's my airplane!" We flew four hours a month, just enough time so he could get his flight pay. He wouldn't let anybody else fly that thing. Probably a year or so before the war Colonel George came and looked at the aircraft. He said, "I want that plane." He got it because he ranked Colonel Ryan. Colonel George flew the pants off us! He wanted to go to all the bases in the Philippines and check the facilities and supplies. One time he asked me, "How do you get per diem?" Per Diem was sustenance pay we received while away from Nichols Field. I said, "Well, I have to sign these chits and prove I was there."

He said, "Okay, I'll take care of it." Within two days, I received orders that said my per diem pay was exactly the same as the officers. Every time we left base, I got $6.00 too. We continued to fly all over the islands. About a month before hostilities began, we flew combat missions to observe and engage enemy aircraft. Our guns were loaded but you couldn't fire on the way out unless you saw enemy aircraft. On the way in, you could expend the ammunition. We would empty the guns by shooting a porpoise or stingray down in the water. For gunnery practice, we had aircraft that would tow targets. We would shoot at them. We got pretty good with the machine guns. When we hit the target latch, the tail would fall to the ground. The ground crew would have to go and pick up a new one. They got mad at us when we hit the targets. Man, they were mad at us!

How did the Filipinos treat Americans?
They were extremely friendly. Especially outside of Manila, they would bend over backwards to please you.

Could they speak English?
Sure because the Philippines had been a possession of America for years. We went to one island, Mindora, which is south of Luzon. We landed and a delegation from town came and met us. They said, "We are having a wedding." "Come on, join us." We didn't know anybody but they treated us like kings! We stayed overnight in tents. A twelve-foot python came crawling through the campsite. We tried to tell this knucklehead to leave it alone but he went and shot him with a 30-caliber rifle! That snake thrashed around and tore our tent and stuff to pieces. He caused a heck of a lot of damage before he died.

When did the war start in the Philippines?
The war started December 7, 1941, which was December 8, 1941 at our end of the world. When we got the word, we didn't believe it. We found out in a hurry that it was true! On December 8, 1941, we were ordered to fly photographic equipment from Nichols Field up to the bombers at Clark Field. They wanted to take off and photograph strategic positions on Formosa. We got on board the A09 Amphibian. For armament I had a 45 caliber sub-machine gun and the other crewmember had a 45-caliber pistol. That was all our armament! We took the doors off so we could see outside. Luckily, we didn't see any Japanese aircraft on that flight. When we landed at Clark Field, the officers left to deliver the photo material. I was sitting by the plane.

Somebody said, "Gee, look at how the navy is flying up there." "Look at that formation." I took one look and shouted, "It's Japs!" Colonel Maitland, the commandant of Clark Field, had made his troops dig slit trenches. I dove into one and, shortly after that, the bombs came whistling down like you wouldn't believe. They plastered us for about one-half an hour. Then their fighters came and strafed. I was shooting at them with my 45-caliber submachine gun. I don't know if I hit anything, but it sure made me feel good to shoot! After the fighters left, this one guy fell into the trench. He said, "Help me!" I said, "Sure, what's wrong?" He held his leg up in the air. He had no knee left. It was all shot up. I had my bandage kit with me. I poured sulfa powder in the wound and bandaged him up. I left and got a medical corpsman to take care of him. I don't know what happened to him.

 Did the Japanese get the AO9 Amphibian?
Yes. They also destroyed almost all the B-17s. A couple of our P-40s got airborne, but they couldn't do any good. Captain Wray, who flew us up there, commandeered a car about two o'clock in the afternoon to get us back to Nichols Field.

How far away were you from Nichols Field?
It was about sixty to eighty miles between the two places. Boy, I was shook up when we got back. Sergeant Suttle, a friend of mine, saw I was upset so he handed me a bottle of liquor. I didn't drink, but took a couple of good swigs. It didn't even phase me.
Under normal conditions, I would have been flat on my back! Then the 1st Sergeant said, "You have had enough for today." "Go down by the hangar, lie down, and relax." "Nothing is going to happen tonight." "Ya!" About midnight that same night, the Japanese bombers came and clobbered Nichols Field.

Were you sleeping when the raid occurred at Nichols Field?
I was sleeping in the hanger when the first bombs came down. But it didn't take me long to get out of there, I'll tell you!
Did they ring the siren? (Hanoi Jane)
No.

Did they have a siren?
They had a siren but we were caught with our drawers down, excuse the expression. That's all there is to it! It shouldn't have happened because we had all the indications that war was coming.

The Japanese had landed north of us at Lingayen. They bombed Aparri, a town near Lingayen. They blasted and obliterated the pursuit base at Iba, about 60 miles west of Clark Field. The bomber commander, Major Gen. Brereton, had gone to MacArthur's headquarters. He tried to get permission to take off and bomb their launching base at Formosa. The answer he got from MacArthur was, "We are not at war." "We are in the state of war." General MacArthur was in charge. The bombers stayed on the ground. Personally, I don't think a bombing mission to Formosa would have succeeded anyway because we weren't really prepared and so many things could have gone wrong. But by now, the Japanese had wrecked everything. The next day, after the midnight bombing raid on Nichols Field on December 9, 1941, they really plastered us. They came about noon on December 10, 1941, and just leveled Nichols Field. And I mean leveled it! The bombers were up about 20,000 but the fighters were right down on the deck.

What were the functions of Nichols Field and Clark Field?
Nichols Field was a pursuit and observation base while Clark Field was a bomber base.

There were no defenses for the United States?
No. Armament consisted of Old World War I Lewis aircraft guns, the ones with the drum on top of them. They would jam up! Everything we had over there was World War I stuff. We were outdated! The Japanese zeros could fly circles around everything we had over there at that time. The first airplane ride I took over there was in a ZB3 where the pilot sat in front, the gunner sat in back and everything was open.

America was not expecting war?
America knew war was coming but we weren't ready. For example, some of the P-40s fighters we had didn't have any cooling fluid. It hadn't been shipped with the dang things! So, there they sat! A lot of them were destroyed on the ground. After the raids, a ship came in with the stuff that should have been there in the first place. They patched up some of them so they would fly.
 

Where did you hide to get away from the bombing?
We didn't stay in the barracks. We were bivouacked away from the base about one-half mile in "the boonies." Our field kitchen was there too.

Were there human casualties from the bombing and strafing?
Clark Field had the most injuries and people killed because the Japanese caught them at lunchtime with their pants down. Just how many, I don't know, but it was quite a few. At Nichols, we had more time to disperse. The Japanese wanted to hit the bases and knock out aircraft. I flew one bombing mission.

The 27th Bombardment Squadron (L) from the United States had come over without airplanes. They came to Nichols Field and borrowed three of our old obsolete B-18's to bomb Lingayen. They didn't have enough qualified crewmembers and asked me to fly with them. Our commander said to me, "You go with them."

What was the date of this bombing mission?
It was December 21, 1941.

Where is Lingayen?
Lingayen is north and west of Manila. The Japanese had invaded the Philippines up there with virtually no opposition. Their transports were still anchored in the harbor.

We wanted to try and sink some of them. It was tough because we didn't have a bombsight in the plane. But, we dropped the bombs at about 18,000 feet anyway. I don't know if we hit anything, but I saw water splashing.

On the way home, instead of going straight back to Nichols Field, we made a big circle. We weren't far from Lingayen and north of Baguio. At dusk, Zeros jumped us! They hit the plane and set an engine on fire. We had to bail out!

You were a long ways from Nichols Field. Were you scared when you had to bail out?
Yes because I had never jumped before! It was dark and I lit in a tree. I stayed there since I couldn't see anything. I wasn't about to jump down. Who knows what was below me or how far away the ground was? In peacetime we had lost a couple of aircraft that had gone down through the jungle canopy. The canopy could be a hundred feet from the ground.

What did you think about all night?
Well, just how fortunate I was to find a crotch in the tree so I could be comfortable.

When daylight came, how far up in the tree were you?
I was about fifty feet up in the tree. I was lucky because the chute had caught in the tree. The constabulary, or Philippine troops, found me the next morning. The rest of the crew was scattered close to Baguio. The Filipino scouts found everybody. Later that day, we all got together. The scouts found a car and sent us back to Manila.

How many crew members were in the plane?
There were six of us.

Were you ever together again?
No.

Hanoi Jane, did you know he was shot down and spent the night in a tree?
Half of this I don't know. (Hanoi Jane)
We stayed at Nichols Field until it was time to leave. We evacuated Manila on December 24, 1941 and boarded some inter-island steamers. They carried us from Manila to Bataan.

You got back to Nichols Field on December 23, 1941 and Manila was evacuated on December 24, 1941. You were still at Nichols Field when the evacuation of Manila began?
Yes. First of all, there was no "front line" like we had in World War I. Bataan was divided up into sectors. In a short period of time, since the Japanese invaded, three different lines of defense for Bataan were organized. The Air Corps, including our outfit, became infantry. There was no need for airmen. The Army Air Corps had the East Side of the line, which had the least amount of fighting. My outfit was stationed as reserves in and around Pilar. The Japanese kept pushing the 31st INF, the 45th INF, and the Filipino soldiers back. Our location soon became the "front line" or the third and final line of defense. When we got to Bataan, there were seven airplanes left in the whole island of Luzon! We went on patrols to gather information and locate Japanese units in the area. Sometimes, we would be out three or four days before we had gathered enough worthwhile information. The town of Pilar had an abandoned sugar refinery. We had an informal arrangement with the Japs. When we passed through on patrol, we would stop and fill our canteens with molasses. When the Japanese passed through on their patrols, they would stop and get their molasses. This continued until one time our molasses tasted like sulfur. We thought the Japanese had put something in the molasses. We spotted their positions and shelled the heck out of them with our artillery! Eventually we found out it was the darn sugar dregs in the bottom of the vats that were responsible for the sulfur taste. It wasn't the Japanese's fault at all.

About a month later, I was visiting a friend of mine who had dengue fever, which is similar to malaria. He was in Hospital Number 2 at Cabcaben, which was about thirty miles south of Pilar in southern Bataan. Colonel George was there visiting an injured airman. We talked and he asked, "Where are you stationed?" I told him "at the front lines" on Bataan. He didn't say anything else to me. About two days later, the first sergeant came by and said, " Pack your bags!" "You are going back to Bataan Air Base."

How far was that from where you were?
It was about thirty miles away. I stayed there until the surrender. A Japanese observation flight would come over every morning. We called him "Washing Machine Charlie." Later, after he had flown over, the bombers and strafers would come. We got bombed and strafed every single day!

How did shooting these weapons and the bombing affect your hearing? (Ben Peterson)
I don't recall the shooting bothering my ears. I guess I didn't pay any attention to it. The bombing was another story. If it were close, your eardrums would burst. During heavy bombing and shelling I would keep my mouth open. This would equalize the pressure in both sides of the ears.

Does the ground shake when bombs hit?
If bombs fall in the distance, you can feel a tremor. If it is close, you will "bounce." In other words, the tremors would lift you up off the ground and drop you again.
You're kidding? (Hanoi Jane)

You arrived at Bataan Air base towards the end of January 1942. The bombing and strafing was continuous. Did you stay there until General King surrendered on April 9, 1942?
Yes.

The Filipino Army General MacArthur developed was supposed to neutralize the Japanese invasion. Was it an effective fighting force?
General MacArthur had an impressive army of two hundred thousand Filipinos. He had a lot of bodies on paper! But there was no unity among the troops. For instance, there were nine or ten different dialects in the various Philippine regions. Soldiers were organized with no consideration as to who came from where. They couldn't even converse! It would be like taking a Chinese soldier and putting him in with an American and neither could speak each other's language. Before the war started, General MacArthur said, "My Philippine army can hold the Japanese at the beaches."

But when the Japanese landed at Lingayen, the Filipino army couldn't hold their positions. They broke through the Filipino lines right after the invasion.

What was War Plan Orange?
War Plan Orange was a plan to stock Bataan with about six month's supply of food, ammunition, medicine, and supplies. It was never implemented because MacArthur was not in favor of defensive maneuvers. He ordered the supplies placed on front line positions around Luzon. The plan was to supply the Filipino troops while they were fighting Japanese. But the Japs went through the Filipino lines like you know what through a tin horn and got the food and supplies! As a result, the Filipino Army was starving. Therefore, we had a ration shortage that wouldn't quit.

By now, all American troops were located on the BataanPeninsula except those on Corregidor?
Right. General Wainwright was originally the US commander in charge of the West Side defense of Bataan and General King had the East Side defense of Bataan. They both reported to General MacArthur. The East Side was mainly service troops, like the air corps. Like I said, I was at Bataan Airfield on the East Side. This base was about five miles from the front lines where the Japanese broke through. The East Side was had more fighting because of the open areas and sugar cane fields. The West Side had less combat because of the heavy jungle. The Filipinos were in the center of the line on the Bataan Peninsula and, therefore, got the brunt of the whole mess. The Japanese found holes in the third line of defense and kept pushing everyone back further and further. The Filipino regiment in the middle of our defensive area just walked back away from the Japanese. They quit because they were starving to death and large stores of food had been abandoned to the enemy! We were starving to death too and the Filipinos were getting less than we were. General MacArthur's inept planning wasted all the food. We received half rations on Bataan from day one because there was nothing to eat!

We were told to "watch the monkeys." "What they eat, you can eat." If we saw a monkey, that's what we ate! We ate the jungle, i.e. anything that moved, crawled, or grew! We ate snake, lizard, pony, mule, iguana, rats, monkeys, you name it, and we tried it! We tried EVERYTHING! We spent more time looking for food than fighting the Japanese!

Could you find any vegetables?
We found wild bananas. They tasted good but have very little meat and a lot of seeds. You could just chew a bit around the edges and that was it.

Did you have water to drink?
There weren't any wells so we drank water from streams. I don't know why we didn't get sick.

Everyone had to forage for food and fight at the same time?
Yes. General King tried to establish a line of resistance but failed. If we would have had food and equipment, we probably could have counter-attacked. We might have been able to push them off Bataan. They were just about as bad off as we were, in fact, maybe a little worse. Some of their units hadn't been re-supplied since they invaded. But they were finally re-supplied and broke through the defenses.

The bulk of MacArthur's defense was the Philippine army.
That's right. I can't fault them because they had it worse then we did and we had it bad. But General King couldn't see any reason to continue. When the Filipinos couldn't form another defensive line, that was it. We had no defense! The Japanese were coming! Believe me, they would have slaughtered us! He would rather surrender than see his men slaughtered. He didn't have authority from Wainwright, his commanding officer on Corregidor, to surrender. I wasn't there but my friend Tony Urban was. General King told them, "Men, I know you feel bad, but you didn't surrender, I surrendered you." "Don't feel bad for yourself." He went on his own to the Japanese and surrendered on April 9, 1942.

How did you personally feel about the surrender?
The night of the surrender, I couldn't figure out why we had to stop fighting. I was scared and I was mad. It was traumatic to know we were through. There were a lot of people who would like to have kept on. But it was no use. We had no defense.

American War correspondent Frank Hewlett penned a poem that went through our units like wildfire: The troops identified with this poem?
Yes. It was a true assessment of our present situation!

Did you fight it out with the Japanese until General King surrendered?
No. There was still sporadic fighting going on when King met with the Japanese. He issued an order for his troops to quit and they did. After the surrender, everything was chaos, I'll tell you! We burned as much as we could, i.e. equipment, materials, our personal gear, or anything the Japanese could use. What didn't burn was thrown into the ocean or wherever we could get rid of it. I had a watch and a class ring. My folks had given me the watch for graduation from high school. My ring was my high school graduation class ring. The night of the surrender, I threw both of them in a creek so nobody could find the damned things. They would have taken them off of me anyway. In fact, later on during the march, I saw Japanese soldiers who had three or four wristwatches on their forearms. I knew darned well where they came from! If anyone had any Japanese stuff, they had to get rid of it, i.e. Japanese swords, money, yen, or anything scrounged from dead Japanese. You didn't dare have any of that on you. If the Japanese found it, you were finished!

Did you just stay put and wait for the Japanese?
No. We started walking toward Mariveles. After a while we stopped to rest because we were exhausted. All of a sudden the whole earth started quivering under us. It was a damned earthquake and were we shocked!

You were walking back toward Mariveles, away from the Japanese.
Yes. About two miles from Mariveles we stopped at a supply camp, which had an ammunition dump. American troops had recently been there. To our surprise, the kitchen still had food in it.

What kind of food did you have to eat in this camp?
We had C-rations, which were items packaged in cans. C-rations you could cook. D-rations were absolutely dry foods. They usually consisted of a chocolate bar with oatmeal and other nutrients. At this point, we had very little of anything! And, even after we had surrendered, this knucklehead lieutenant wanted to ration the food! We found a bunch of World War I hand gernades. We told the lieutenant these had to be destroyed so the Japanese wouldn't get them. He tried to stop us but we wouldn't listen to him. We found a slit trench, pulled the pins, and threw them in. Half of them wouldn't even go off! The stuff we had! We were fighting World War II with World War I equipment and I mean that literally!

That must have been depressing. How many soldiers were in your group?
There was about fifty of us from various outfits, including some stragglers we picked up along the road. But, during this time, I almost made a big mistake.

What was that?
I knew a planter down on the island of Mindora, which is quite a ways south of Manila. We had visited him many times and stayed at his ranch. We found out he had a guerrilla operation going on. Two of us wanted to get a dugout and go. Our chicken-shit lieutenant said, "Absolutely not." "The Japanese know how many dugouts and men we have." He said we had to stay put because the Japanese controlled and patrolled everything all the way down. There was no way in heck we could have made it. I probably would have been killed. His decision saved my life.

How long were you on Bataan and how many Americans were there?
I was there from December 24, 1941, to April 9, 1942, and there were about 12,000 American soldiers there with me.

That's a lot of people to supply!
There were about 62,000 Filipinos troops as well.

How many miles long is that area?
Bataan is about 80 miles long and probably 25-30 miles wide.

What was happening on Corregidor?
When General King surrendered Bataan, the troops on Corregidor were still fighting.

Who was out there?
General Wainright, his entourage, about 5,000 American troops, and the Filipino government.

Did American soldiers go out there with him?
No. All American soldiers went to Bataan except the 4th Marines. They had been evacuated from China to Manila shortly before the war. There were thousands of soldiers on Corregidor. Some were Filipinos, but most were Americans. The problem with the Corregidor defenses was all their coastal artillery guns, except the mortars, were trained seaward. They couldn't swivel them around and fire inland. All they could use to hit the Japanese on Bataan were big 12 to 24-inch mortars.

How far was Corregidor from Bataan?
Probably three miles across the strait.

There were about one hundred thousand troops including Americans and the Filipinos on the Bataan Peninsula?
That's right.

 Who was in charge?
General MacArthur was at first. When he left Corregidor on a PT boat under orders from President Roosevelt, General Jonathan Wainwright took over his job. He was in command of all our forces in the Philippines. General Edward King was in charge of the Northern Luzon Force and surrendered the soldiers there. He became a prisoner of war with the rest of us. I don't know what happened to him. General Wainwright surrendered in May 1942. I don't remember the exact date because, by that time, we were in captivity. When he surrendered, he surrendered everything. Originally, Wainwright tried to say he didn't have control over our troops on Mindanao, but the Japanese had obtained copies of the orders MacArthur issued putting Wainwright in charge of all US forces in the Philippines.

(How did the Japanese finally capture you and your group?
We stayed at our camp near Mariveles. I took my 45-caliber revolver, wrapped it in rags, put in a can, and dumped a bunch of oil on them to protect it. I put in the hollow of a tree. I'll bet it's still there. Anyway, about three days later, a Japanese combat patrol just walked in.

What were you doing?
We were just sitting and waiting. We knew it was inevitable and only a matter of time.
Do you recall what you felt?
Just Ahhhh. Just like, it's all over.

After the surrender and during the subsequent march, did you pray to God and try spiritually to cope with this situation?
Absolutely.

You didn't blame God or feel, "Why did he allow this?"
No. I didn't say, "If you get me out of this, I'll go to church every Sunday." There were people that did. Some hadn't seen the inside of a church since heaven knows when. Before the war I heard people say, "I don't believe in religion." "I don't believe in God." After the war started, I never met an atheist. When the bombs started falling and shells started whistling, it was a different story. They got religion in a hurry.

The old saying from World War I, "There are no atheists in the foxhole" is a good, honest statement and pretty darn true. I carried a little pocket testament with me the whole time and read it regularly. That's one thing the Japanese didn't take away from me!

How did you carry it on the march?
I carried it between my legs in my shorts.

Do you still have it?
Oh yes.

What did the Japanese do after they entered your camp?
They had an interpreter who could speak danged good English. He told us that the next morning we would be heading towards our place of captivity. He didn't say where. He said we would be fed. Before we left a Japanese private got hold of a 45-caliber pistol. I don't know where he found it. Apparently he hadn't seen one before. He sure didn't know how to handle the danged thing because he shot himself. They hauled him off and chattered like a bunch of monkeys. For a while we thought they would reprimand us but nothing happened. We got ready to move out.

The Bataan Death March was about to begin?
Ya, but that was nothing to hashing with the Slasher Dr. WHO. His trails are really really wicked.

OnOn

EREB9