Hunter’s ROTC

Hunters-ROTC Guerrillas, “The Unsurrendered”

The Hunters ROTC was a Filipino guerrilla unit active during the Japanese occupation of the Philippines, and was the main anti-Japanese guerrilla group active in the area near the Philippine capital of Manila It was created upon the dissolution of the Philippine Military Academy.

Cadet Terry Adevoso and others, refused to simply go home as cadets were ordered to do, and began recruiting fighters willing to undertake guerrilla action against the Japanese.

When war broke out in the Philippines, some 300 Philippine Military Academy(the Philippine West Point) and ROTC cadets, unable to join the USAFFE units because of their youth, banded together in a common desire to contribute to the war effort throughout the Bataan campaign. They worked to protect civilians and to assist the USAFFE forces by way of intelligence and propaganda.

Philippine cadets

After the surrender of American and Filipino forces on Bataan The Hunters ROTC relocated to the Antipolo mountains.
The Hunters originally conducted operations with another guerrilla group called Marking’s Guerrillas, with whom they went about liquidating Japanese spies. Led by Miguel Ver, a PMA cadet, the Hunters raided the enemy-occupied Union College in Manila and seized 130 Enfield rifles.

They were among the most aggressive guerrillas in the war and made the only guerrilla raid on a Japanese prison, Muntinglupa (New Bilibid), to free their captured members and to obtain arms.

Philippine guerrillas

During the Battle of Manila (1945), the Hunters ROTC, under the command of Lt. Col. Emmanuel V. de Ocampo, fought with the U.S. Army from Nasugbu, Batangas to the Manila General Post Office. The Hunters also jointly operated with the Philippine Commonwealth Army and Philippine Constabulary and the American soldiers and military officers of the United States Army in many operations in Manila, Rizal, Cavite, Laguna, Batangas and Tayabas (now. Quezon), including the area of Tagatay Ridge for the 11th Airborne troopers to jump on.

Jay Vanderpool

This force provided intelligence to the liberating forces and took an active role in numerous battles, such as the raid at Los Banos where Jay Vanderpool coordinated with the guerrillas to get the ground forces to the camp.

According to Major Henry Burgess, Comdr. of the 1st Battalion/511th Reg./11th Airborne, “… the guerrillas’ greatest contribution was furnishing the intelligence information about the camp, locating guard posts and guiding Lt. Skau’s reconnaissance platoon into position…”

Children of the original Hunters ROTC

On the other hand, Col. Francisco “Kit” Quesada, a member of Hunters-ROTC, said, “this daring rescue was staged by the well-known Hunters-ROTC Guerrillas, in coordination with the 11th Airborne Division.”

The operation was performed byway of land, sea and air, so therefore, in my personal opinion, it depended on where you were during this mission as to the extent of each unit’s contribution. They ALL deserve to be proud of their accomplishment.

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Military Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

James Barden Sr. – Citrus Heights, CA; US Navy, WWII, PTO USS Alabama

William Carlton – Foam Lake, SK, CAN; RC Army, CWO (Ret.), 1st Can. Para Batt.,Queen’s Own Rifles & PPCLI

Rueben Dockter – CO; US Army Air Corps, WWII, aircraft mechanic

Vincent Foley – Sydney, AUS; RA Army, WWII

Henry Gutkoski – Worchester, MA; US Navy, WWII, PTO, gunner’s mate, USS Roamer

Walter Harrell – Lake Wales, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, (Ret. 24 y.)

George LePore – Rochester, NY; US Army, 11th Airborne Division

Jack Moore – Dayton, OH; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, B-24 pilot / Korea

Wilbert Ranta – Virginia, MN; US Army, WWII

Eugene ‘Mike’ Vecchi – Des Moines, IA; US Navy, WWII, Korea, USS Radford

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Los Banos – conclusion

Los Banos in art

 

Inside the Los Baños compound, all was suddenly noise and confusion. “That morning, as I walked out of the barracks with my family to line up for 7:00 am roll call, I looked up into the sky and over a field near our camp saw several C-47 transport planes,” the paratroopers took approximately 15 minutes to assemble and move the 900 yards or so to the barrier around the compound.

Los Banos line of amtraks

“After a rapid assembly,” remembered Lieutenant Ringler, “there was only minor enemy resistance, which was eliminated.” Some of the men used a dry riverbed on the edge of the drop zone that angled toward the camp to provide cover as they rushed forward.”

467th Reg. support

“Within 20 minutes of the first shots, the firing seemed to die down. Most of the Japanese guards were either killed or fled to the south and west, away from the incoming paratroopers. All the guards doing their morning calisthenics in an open area to the south of the compound were either killed or scared off.

Los Banos liberation, pic taken by Jerry Sam

“Although most of the sentries and pillboxes had already been silenced, some had to be eliminated by the Company B paratroopers”, remembered Robert A. Wheeler, a 12-year-old internee.

Los Banos evac internee on stretcher

Young internee Bill Rivers remembered, “A whole herd of the damnedest vehicles I’d ever seen, roared into the camp. When I saw the white star with the two bars on each side, I feared that the Russians had somehow rescued us, as I’d never seen that insignia before. But when I heard one soldier profanely order [another soldier nicknamed] ‘Red’ to give him the field phone, I believe I heaved a sigh of relief.”

Dr, Dana Nance & wife, Anna in TN 1939. Only medical doctor in camp

Two of the first men to jump out of the amtracs were General Whitney and his mysterious civilian companion. As Major Burgess recalled, the two men went into the camp and after a short time General Whitney came out carrying “several boxes well tied together containing documents which he deemed to be of considerable military significance. I didn’t believe it at first, but he was really sincere about keeping those boxes together and was with them all of the time.”

USN nurse Dorothy Sill (US Navy pic)

Although the contents of those boxes were never made public, it is believed that the information on the captured papers was used against the Japanese during subsequent war crimes trials.

 

About 9:30 am, 21/2 hours after the Los Baños Raid had begun, Colonel Gibbs and his fully loaded amtracs finally began the slow crawl back to San Antonio and Laguna de Bay. Those people that could not fit in the amtracs began walking back to the beach.

Maryknoll sister before becoming prisoners

Father William R. McCarthy, an internee Catholic priest, remembered those that walked. “Men, women and children followed,” he wrote, “bundles under their arms or dangling from sticks, carrying their scant possessions with them…. With many others we walked over the highway of freedom against a background of flames, as one straw barracks quickly followed another in an all-consuming fire fanned by the morning breeze.”

Registration and temporary housing back at Old Bilibid

Unfortunately, when the Japanese discovered that the Los Baños prisoners had been spirited away from under their very noses, they retaliated against the Filipino residents in the barrio of Los Baños. Shortly after finding the internment camp empty and destroyed by fire, the Japanese rounded up an estimated 1,400 Filipinos, tied them to the stilts holding up their houses, and set the structures on fire.

For these crimes and for others committed against the Filipino people and the internees at Los Baños, Lt. Gen. Fujishige and Warrant Officer Sadaaki Konishi, a brutally sadistic supply officer at the camp, were summarily found guilty by the subsequent war crimes commission and executed.

Sadaaki Konishi – as a POW himself

This was an extraordinary operation , expertly carried out in one day of dramatic courage and cooperation in battle.  Not one person was lost saving 2,122 people.

 

Resources: The Los Baños Raid and History of the 11th Airborne Division, by Gen. E.M. Flanagan Jr.; Rescue at Los Baños, by Bruce Henderson.

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Military Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Masao Akiyama – Portland, OR; US Army, WWII, ETO, 100th Battalion

Billy Bates – Dallas, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, LT., P-51 pilot

Max Desfor (104) – Rockville, MD; Korea, War photographer, Pulitzer Prize

Ralph Finch – Santa Rosa, CA; US Army, WWII, medic

John Gazo – Windsor, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII, 408 “Goose” Squadron, POW

Carlos Hathcock – North Little Rock, AR; USMC, Vietnam, Gunnery Sgt., Silver Star

Gustave Jacobsen – Tacoma, WA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, B-17 gunner 32 missions (Ret. 33y.)

Maureen Lancaster – Norwich, ENG; WRAF, WWII, radio operator

Bernard Madnick – CT & Delray, FL; US Navy, WWII, USS Ellyson

Verrill ‘Sonny’ Worcester – Jonesport, ME; US Army, Vietnam, Iran, Sgt. Maj. (Ret. 22 y.)

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Los Banos (2)

New Bilibid Prison

Heading out from New Bilibid Prison, the group also turned south down Highway 1 and eventually turned off at Mamatid, along the western shore of Laguna de Bay and about five miles above the San Juan River. Here, the entire convoy went into bivouac under a canopy of trees. Major Burgess finally informed the men about the upcoming mission, specifying the role of each company, the engineers, and the two gun crews.

Dry riverbed route to Los Banos

That afternoon the convoy of 54 amphibious tractors of the 672nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion, commanded by Lt. Col. Joseph W. Gibbs, moved out. The amtracs had been sitting at the Manila racetrack for a couple of weeks before making the trek southward through the streets.  After traveling along Highway 1 to Muntinlupa, the convoy turned east and crawled into the waters of Laguna de Bay. Traveling southward until just after dusk, Colonel Gibbs led his amtracs ashore near Mamatid to join Major Burgess’s waiting paratroopers, engineers, and artillerymen.

Finally, in the late afternoon, the reinforced Company B paratroopers moved out of New Bilibid Prison. Before the men left, the plan was revealed to them.  Word had come in from Filipino guerrillas that the Japanese were going to execute all the prisoners on the morning of February 23rd.”

Skau and his recon platoon and about 80 Philippine guerrillas moved over to San Antonio, a small shoreline barrio located about one mile east of the village of Los Baños. Leaving a few recon men behind to mark the beach with white phosphorous grenades, the rest of the band headed inland.  “Traveling overland through rice paddies, taking circuitous routes in order to skirt by the various enemy listening posts and outposts, it took us 10 hours to arrive at our objective [i.e. the internment camp],” wrote Terry Santos, the lead scout of the recon platoon.

Filipino guerrillas depicted in art

“Just as we crested the bank of Boot Creek [on the south side of the prison pen],” wrote Terry Santos, “enemy fire erupted at 3 minutes before 0700. This alerted the Japanese gunners in the pillboxes.”

Terry Santos, lead scout, 11th Recon

Charging the positions, two of the four recon men in Santos’s squad were wounded, and one of the 12 Philippine guerrillas with them was hit before two pillboxes were silenced. “Then suddenly a third, unreported machine gun opened fire on us,” Santos remembered. “We spotted this machine gun on a knoll near a large tree overlooking our exposed position. We kept it under fire until B Company troopers reinforced us.”

Nipa-style barracks for the internees.

Up above, the pilots spotted the intended drop zone, a small field to the west of the compound. “As we crossed the edge of the drop zone,” co-pilot Parker stated, “Major Don Anderson ordered the jump.

Picture by Jerry Sam w/ his secret camera.

The Japanese at Mayondon Point, an outcropping just west of San Antonio, fired upon the noisy, incoming horde of amtracs but scored no hits. As soon as the first wave of LVT-4s hit shore, one of Major Burgess’s paratrooper platoons scrambled out of the vehicles and set up a defensive perimeter around the beach. At the same time, the two 75mm pack howitzers were offloaded and went into action, firing at a Japanese position on a hill to the west. The empty amtracs and those in the succeeding waves then started down the road to Los Baños, 21/2 miles away.

To be continued…

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Military Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Merrill Bibens – Springfield, VT; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Ward Choate – Timber Pines, FL; US Coast Guard, WWII

courtesy of Cora Metz poster designs.wordpress.cm/, US Army

Marvin Edwards – Jacksonville, FL; OSS, ETO

Louis ‘Honey’ Guidroz – Westwego, LA; US Army, WWII

Malcolm Hayles – Monroeville, AL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, 79th Fighter Squadron, pilot

Allen Koster – Rocky River, OH; US Navy, WWII, PTO, Korea, Annapolis grad., destroyer escorts & Intrepid

Frank Mann – Juneau, AK; US Army, WWII, Lt.Colonel

Charles Pappas – Worthington, MN; US Army, WWII, PTO

Marvin Reynolds – Shell Rock, IA; US Army, WWII

Elsie Thomson – Perth, AUS; AW Army Service, WWII

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Los Banos (1)

Generals Eichelberger and Swing discussing plans of operation on Luzon

“I doubt that any airborne unit in the world will ever be able to rival the Los Baños prison raid.  It is the textbook airborne operation for all ages and all armies.”

____ General Colin Powell, US Army, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, 25 February 1993

By this time, Everett “Smitty” Smith was an NCO and when I’d asked him many years ago if he was part of the Los Baños Raid, he said, “No, I was occupied somewhere else.” As best as I can find in my research, he was busy with the rest of the 187th near the 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion that was commanded by Captain Flanagan. (The captain would later become Lt. General E.M. Flanagan, author of many WWII historical books.) Although Smitty wasn’t at this dramatic feat of the 11th Airborne Division, it deserves any and all the attention it gets.  It is an operation that anyone associated with the division remains proud of to this day.

Lt.General E.M. Flanagan

G-2 Henry Muller was required to collect any and all intelligence that he could, from anywhere he could find it – that was his job.  A grower from Mindanao who had recently traveled south from Manila told him how awful the prisoners of Los Baños were doing.  This was the first Muller had heard of the camp.  It turned out Gen. Swing, commander of the 11th Airborne Division also had not been told about it.  They presumed that being it was outside the area of their orders from MacArthur to be the reason of this lack of info.  But Muller could not forget what the grower had said, “They are in pitiful shape.  They’re dying.”  He had to find out all he could about that camp.

BGen. Henry Muller, Jr., G-2, 11th A/B Div.

During the attack toward Manila, Swing’s staff had been gathering intelligence and drawing up plans for the raid on Los Baños, located 40 miles (other resources say 26 miles), behind Japanese lines. As envisioned, Swing wanted his planners to use both an airborne and amphibious attack. Swing wanted his paratroopers to land near the prison compound and destroy the Japanese garrison while his amphibious force swept across Laguna de Bay equipped with vehicles for transporting the internees to safety. Additionally, Swing felt that a diversionary attack was crucial to draw the Japanese troops away from the camp.

The raid would entail of a four-pronged attack. The 511th PIR Provisional Reconnaissance Platoon under Lieutenant George E. Skau, aided by local guerrillas, would move into an area opposite the camp prior to the strike. Then, simultaneous with a parachute drop of Lieutenant John M. Ringler’s Company B of the 511th PIR and an amphibious landing by Major Henry A. Burgess’s 1st Battalion, minus the airdropped company but reinforced with a platoon from C Company, 127th Airborne Engineer Battalion and two howitzers from Battery D, 457th Parachute Field Artillery Battalion, the recon platoon and guerrillas would eliminate the sentries along the wire.

Jerry Sams at Los Banos. pic taken w/ his hidden camera

While the amphibious force amtracs of the 672nd Amphibious Tractor Battalion rolled up onto the beach from Laguna de Bay and continued toward the camp, the company of paratroopers would link up with the recon platoon and guerrillas and wipe out the rest of the garrison. When the amphibious force reached the camp, it would deploy to the south and west to block any reaction by the Japanese.

Margaret Whitaker helping her mother wash her hair at Los Banos

The fourth force would form a flying column composed of the 1st Battalion, 188th Glider Infantry Regiment, commanded by Lt. Col. Ernie LaFlamme, the 675th Glider Field Artillery Battalion, the 472nd Glider Field Artillery Battalion, and Company B of the 637th Tank Destroyer Battalion and move by road around the southwest end of Laguna de Bay up to the gates of the camp. This force, under the command of Lt. Col. Robert H. Soule and designated “Los Baños Force,” would bring enough trucks with it to carry out all the internees and paratroopers. If the fourth group could not reach the camp, the internees could be ferried out in the amtracs across Laguna de Bay while the paratroopers fought their way out. The raid was scheduled for dawn on February 23, 1945, a moonless night.

TO BE CONTINUED…

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Military Humor – 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Samuel Baney – Houma, LA; US Navy, WWII & Korea

Robert Conway – Lubbock, TX; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, 43rd Infantry

Edward Duncan – Clyde, MI; US Army, WWII

Jill Farquharson(102) – NOR; Air Transport Aux. “ATA Girl”, WWII, ETO, pilot

Charles Jonason – Howard Beach, NY; US Navy, WWII

Albert Kirlin – Lincoln, NE; US Air Force, PTO Occupation

Elenor Peat – Dargaville, NZ; RNZ Air Force # W4377, WWII

Wallace Stack – Levittown, PA; US Army, SSgt., 82nd Airborne Division

Paul Tomas SR. Ambry, PA; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Steven Zozaya – Kingman, AZ; US Army, WWII, PTO, Purple Heart

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February 1945 (4)

US Army soldiers on Luzon

The battles for Manila, Bataan, and Corregidor were only the beginning of the Luzon Campaign. Both Shobu Group, securing northern Luzon, and the bulk of Shimbu Group, defending the south, remained intact. With about 50,000 men at his disposal, the Shimbu Group commander, General Yokoyama, had deployed some 30,000 of them immediately east and south of Manila, with the remainder arrayed along the narrow Bicol Peninsula to the southwest.

Japanese groups on Luzon

The main Japanese defenses near the capital were built around the 8th and 105th divisions, with the rest of the manpower drawn from a jumble of other units and provisional organizations. East of Manila, their positions were organized in considerable depth but lacked good lines of supply and reinforcement. Shimbu Group’s eastern defenses obviously presented the most immediate threat to American control of the Manila area and would have to be dealt with first.

As soon as Manila was secured, he wanted the 11th Airborne Division to clear the area south of the capital, assisted by the independent 158th Infantry.

A reminder of what these soldiers were up against …
The stretch of blockhouses and pillboxes and tunnels, known as the Genko Line were filled with every imaginable weapon available from the Japanese arsenal. Along mountains, under fields and connecting the rolling hills lay the traps of heinous sorts silently in wait for any or all of the troopers.

The 1,200 two and three-story blockhouses entrenched with at least 6,000 enemy soldiers that lined the southern edge of Manila. A massive feat of ingenuity.

The size of some of these tunnels is amazing.  They could be large enough for a boat or plane and then some appear too small for a human to hide in.

18 February 1945, an unusual situation was discovered in Manila when three soldiers were returning to their headquarters in a mansion set on Dewey Boulevard South. A few blocks away, the troopers entered a house only to discover three Japanese men in robes and talking while they drank their tea. Somehow, they had been operating out of that house without realizing that the American HQ and General Swing were so close. It seemed incredible they were not discovered before. The three men were killed trying to escape the building.

Going door-to-door on Luzon

The commander of the 188th regiment turned his unit over to Gen. Pearson, now commander of the 187th, and they were incorporated into the Task Force and set out to attack Mabato Point. This zone sat two thousand yards south of Fort McKinley and held the Japanese Southern Forces Abe Battalion on the northwest shore of Laguna de Bay. This position gave the enemy an excellent vantage point of observation and fields that could be set on fire. As with the rest of the Genko Line, this area had been prepared by Japanese and Filipino workers since 1942 and had fortified tunnels. G-2 estimated about 800 of the enemy were hold up on Mabato.

Pearson put the 187th traveling along the railroad tracks and other regiments and battalions to other areas. When each unit was set, mid-morning on this date, Company B of the 187th launched the attack. The 457 Parachute Field Artillery was there to support with their pack 75s. Later that afternoon, air strikes were called in because the enemy was so well defended. When napalm was used, the fires used up so much oxygen that the enemy soldiers in the tunnels began to suffocate.

 

19 February, the Task Force struck again, but were having difficulty due to Japanese mortar fire. Finally, the mortar observers were located where they hid in the trees and sharp shooters took them out. A Japanese medical officer surrendered and through a Nisei interpreter informed Pearson that there were about 400 more Japanese in the area. A Filipino volunteer went to the enemy with a message of truce, giving one half hour of cease fire time for anyone to surrender. The end result has conflicting stories, but the fighting did continue. The surviving 15 officers of Abe Battalion were marched by their commander to the Point and committed hara-kiri. By 21 February, all resistance on Mabato Point had ended, but the Japanese were far from defeated in the Philippines.

Photos and data with the assistance of Rakkasans by Gen. Flanagan; The U.S. Army; ibiblio.org; Wikipedia,  Manila Hub & “Luzon” by the U.S. Army Center of Military History by Dale Andrade

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Military Humor – 

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Myriam Alley – Tacoma, WA; US Army WAC, WWII

Lancer Carlson – McKinley, WI; US Navy, WWII, ATO

George Dane – Iowa City, IA; US Army, WWII

James Elia – Gilbert, AZ; US Army, 11th Airborne Division

Ed Ficarra – Williamson, IL; US Army, WWII, ETO, 119th Armored Engineer Battalion

Annna Guzlas (102) – Connellsville, PA; US Army WAC, WWII

James Hansen – Duluth, MN; US Navy, WWII, PTO

Otis ‘Nudge’ Norris – St. Petersburg, FL; USMC, WWII, PTO

F.Stewart Stover – North Haven, CT; US Army, WWII, Pfc., Purple Heart

Dan Wescott – Los Angeles, CA; US Army, WWII, 17th Airborne Division

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Corregidor

“On The Rock” by James Dietz

On 16 February 1945, 51 C-47s of the 317th TCG, nicknames “The Jungle Skippers”, dropped 2000 men of the 503rd PIR/11th Airborne Division on the fortress island of Corregidor.  Due to the modest size of the drop zones, only one battalion could be dropped at at a time, with a 5-hours turn around between drops. Each C-47 had to make repeated passes over the DZs and only a handful of paratroopers could jump each time.

The commanding officers, Lt.Col. John Lackey and Co. George Jones circled the island directing the choreography of the mission.  At 08:33 hours, barely 3 minutes late, against 16-18 knot winds, the troopers began to descend on the remnants of MGen. Tsukada’s Kembu Group.

503rd/11th Airborne Division

Paratroopers and infantrymen waged a tenacious battle ‘Topside’ while the 3rd Battalion of the 24th Infantry Division waded ashore on the eastern end of the island known as ‘Black Beach’ encountering the enemy and land mines.  Yet they did manage to secure the road and both the north and south entrances to Malinta Hill.  They intended to keep the Japanese troops inside the tunnel as other units arrived with tanks and flamethrowers.

layout of Corregidor

18 February – The most ferocious battle on Corregidor developed at Wheeler Point.  Companies D & F/2nd batt./503rd while in defense positions near Battery Hearn and Cheney Trail on that moonless night had 500 Japanese Special landing Force Marines come charging out of Battery Smith armory.  This was the night when Pvt. Lloyd G. McCarter won his Medal of Honor.

Aside from flares fired throughout the night by offshore warships, this 3-hour battle was decided by 50 men and their weapons.  Official historians of the 503rd refer to Wheeler Point as “Banzai Point.”

a Malinta Tunnel exit

21 February – Malinta Hill reacted like a volcano when several detonations tore it apart.  The Japanese that had been trapped inside caused the explosions and ensuing rock falls.  Two nights later, a similar event occurred and the American engineers sealed the tunnel’s entrances.  The suicides caused many such instances for days afterward.

Up until 26 February, there were isolated small cases of resistance from the remaining enemy soldiers, but they were silenced and Corregidor was declared secure.

Corregidor

By 1 March, Manila Harbor, the finest in the East, was open to Allied shipping.  7 March, MacArthur returned to the fortress he had been forced to leave and immediately noticed the old flagpole was still standing. He said, “Have your troops hoist the colors to its peak and let no enemy ever again haul it down.”

Flag raising on Corregidor

References: “C-47/R4D Skytrain Units of the Pacific and CBI” by David Isby; “Voice of the Angel” newspaper of the 11th Airborne Division, edited by Matt Underwood.

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Military Humor – 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Clifford Abram – UK; Royal Navy, WWII / RAF

Clarence Beavers – NYC, NY; US Army, WWII, Sgt., 55th Battalion “Triple Nickels”

John Canty – Winsted, CT; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, Sgt., 555/386/9th Bomber Command, KIA

Marlene Errico – Sunrise, FL; Women’s USMC

Carl Fisherkeller – Springfield, IL; US Navy, WWII, pilot

John Gavin – Los Angeles, CA; US Navy, Ambassador to Mexico, (beloved actor)

Hoyt Hamor – Bar Harbor, ME; US Army Air Corps, WWII

Ralph Hartgraves – Clarksdale, MS; US Army, WWII, ETO, KIA

Earl Peterson – Bristol, NH; US Navy, WWII, USS Noble

Robert Watz – Westerly, RI; US Army, Korea, 187th RCT

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Current News – Bataan Mile Markers

Bataan mile marker, before and after.

CLARK AIR BASE, Philippines – Jungle moss and roadwork are threatening historical markers along the Bataan Death March trail in the Philippines, says an American who’s waging a lonely battle to preserve them.

Bob Hudson’s father, Tech. Sgt. Richard Hudson, was among tens of thousands of troops forced to march nearly 70 miles from the Bataan Peninsula to Japanese prisoner-of-war camps after the surrender of U.S. and Filipino forces on April 9, 1942. Thousands perished during the trek, which included intense heat and harsh treatment from the guards.

Bataan Death March

The government of former Philippines president Ferdinand Marcos installed the first markers — made of metal — along the path in the 1960s, Hudson told a group of veterans last month in Angeles City, Philippines. In 2000, the Filipino-American Memorial Endowment, or FAME — an organization seeking to preserve the nation’s war memorials — replaced them with 139 white concrete markers.

Bob & Rosalie Hudson

Those markers are sturdier than the old ones, some of which were stolen as souvenirs or sold for scrap metal. But the inexorable growth of the surrounding jungle and the tropical heat and humidity are taking a toll on them.

“These markers require a lot of maintenance,” Hudson said.  Since 2012, he and his wife, Rosalie, have spent many weekends along the Death March trail pulling weeds and cleaning and repainting the markers, which quickly get covered in mold and moss.

Rosalie Hudson working.

Hudson said he started the work to honor his late father, who on his death bed asked his son to track down a daughter he left behind in the Philippines during the war.

The elder Hudson — who survived the death march, a voyage to Japan in a “hell ship,” forced labor in a mine and the atomic bombing of Nagasaki — returned to the Philippines to look for his fiancé after the war. He found out that she had been raped and murdered by Japanese troops, and that their daughter had been adopted.

The younger Hudson moved to the Philippines in 2012 and tracked down the children of his half-sister, Leonida Hudson Cortes. Though he learned that she died in 1999, his work on the Death March markers continues.

A local power company is helping maintain 11 markers at the start of the trail, and the Veterans of Foreign Wars post in Angeles City is looking after the final seven. Hudson said that leaves 1

“I’m almost 70 years old,” he said. “It is getting to be a difficult project for me.”

Recent damage to some of the markers by road workers hasn’t made it easier, he said.

FAME provides the couple with paint and the VFW recently donated some money to help fund the project. Those who want to help can find more information at: http://filipino-americanmemorials.org/donate/

Article is from Stars and Stripes magazine.

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More Current News – you up for the challenge?

A Special Request (2018 Navy SEAL Swim/Ruck Challenge)

This summer, 6 June 2018 to be specific and during part of the annual D-Day remembrance festivities a very unique and special event will take place:  The 2018 Navy SEAL Swim/Ruck Challenge.  A friend of the Sons of Liberty Museum and the Army Air Corps Library and Museum and an active duty SEAL, will take part in this event and along with 24 other participants will swim in the English Channel, climb cliffs on Omaha Beach and Ruck to St. Lo. this event supports our friends of the Navy SEAL Museum and Trident House in Fort Pierce, FL.  Read More & Support This Event. 

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Military Humor –

 

 

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Farewell Salutes – 

Bryce Blakely Jr. – Orleans, MA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, ETO, gunner, 828/485/15th AF

John Cunningham – San Francisco, CA; US Navy, WWII & Korea

Thomas Evans – Buffalo, NY; US Navy, WWII, APO, radioman

Gunnar Frey Jr. – Des Moines, IA; US Army Air Corps, WWII, 12th Air Force

Cop Howard – Whangamata, NZ; NZ Army # 230124, WWII

Marion Jenkins – Portland, ME; US Coast Guard, WWII

Alex Littlefield – Daytona Beach, FL; US Army Air Corps, WWII, PTO, pilot

James ‘Bill’ Majors – Fort Payne, AL; US Navy, WWII, ETO

Guillermo Green-Sanchez – Coamo, PR; US Army, WWII, Korea, Sgt.FC

Stanley Stegnerski – Gastomia, NC; US Army Air Corps, WWII. ETO, 2nd Lt., P-51 pilot, KIA

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The Final Cavalry Charge Commander freed

“Never Surrender: The Ed Ramsey Story” is a new documentary about the WWII hero who led the last cavalry charge in US military history.  This 4 minute video is well worth watching.

Born in Illinois, Edwin Ramsey died at the age of 95 in 2013. He had been placed in command of the elite 26^thCavalry Regiment in the Philippines. Most of his time was spent playing polo with other officers until the Japanese troops invaded Manila.

While in the Philippines, Ramsey found himself in facing down a large body of Japanese infantry, supported by tanks, while he and his men were mounted on horseback. With no other options available, Ramsey ordered his cavalry to charge – the last cavalry charge in American Military History. It was effective, too. The Japanese Infantry, surprised and terrified, broke and fled, and Ramsey and his small group held their position under heavy fire for five hours until reinforcements arrived.

The last Charge, 26th Cavalry (Philippine Scouts),

After this incident, he led the famous offensive in the jungle of the Philippines. He took command of the Filipino resistance in 1942, after their commander was captured, and the forces under him eventually grew to more than 40,000 guerrilla fighters. He survived extreme malnutrition and tropical diseases, the LA Times reported.

Enduring malaria, malnutrition, dysentery and an appendectomy without anesthesia during his service with the Philippine resistance, he received honors from several Philippine presidents and was revered in the Filipino American community.

It makes for an interesting tale but the film, directed by Steven C. Barber and Matt Hausle with some narration by Josh Brolin, spends a lot of time on polo and Ramsey’s career with Hughes Aircraft Co. after the war.

The movie includes the usual line-up of historians, retired military personnel and family members. It even includes scenes with Ramsey, filmed from 2003 and 2012.

Strangely, though, no Filipino veterans are represented in the film despite Ramsey’s time spent lobbying in Congress to restore the benefits that were promised them.

Click on images to enlarge.

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Military Humor – 

What age Cavalry?

New Age Cavalry

 

 

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Please wish your New Zealand neighbors a great Waitangi Day for 6 February!!

https://pacificparatrooper.wordpress.com/2016/02/05/waitangi-day-2016/

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Farewell Salutes – 

Reginald Brazier – Winnipeg, CAN; RC Air Force, WWII

Edward DeVries – Uxbridge, MA; US Navy, WWII, SeaBee, 64th Naval Construction

Edward Fredricksen – Bayport, MN; US Army, WWII, Purple Heart

William Jerome – Roanoke, VA; US Army, WWII

Harry Lamas – Mobile, AL; US Army, WWII, ETO

Cliford Naleski – Colorado Springs, CO; US Army, Chief Warrant Officer (Ret. 27 y.)

Robert Olson – St. Paul, MN; War Dept., WWII, intelligence

Robert Plant – RI; USMC, WWII, PTO, machine-gunner

Donal Sipe Sr. – Bakersfield, CA; US Navy, WWII, USS Jeremiah & Nevada

Harold Warren – Steep Falls, ME; US Army, 503rd/11th Airborne Division

Battle of Manila: Softening Corregidor

The Manila and Manila Bay areas saw much of the war…

IHRA

In the weeks before the Battle of Manila began on February 3, 1945, ground troop commanders requested the help of heavy bombers to knock out some of the Japanese defenses built on Corregidor and Grande Islands. The two islands would be of strategic import in the coming battle, particularly Corregidor, which sits at the mouth of Manila Bay. General MacArthur approved of this on January 22nd, causing the 22nd Bomb Group to spare the Japanese airfields and give some attention to Luzon.

Liberators from the Group took off on the 24th, each loaded with five 1000-pound bombs. Many targets were marked out, including two large coastal defense guns and ammo installations scattered about Grande Island. Results were excellent, with several bombs hitting a powder magazine and and ammunition storage area. They flew back to base without incident.

On the 26th, the 22nd was scheduled to hit Corregidor Island. Approximately 6000…

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A Fish for Papa – WWII Account in the Philippines

A Philippine home front story.

Running After 60

I was told the following story one night while sitting with the elders at a birthday party.   Marc Mausisia was the son of the person who this story is with regards to. Lolo Tenyada the cousin of Marc’s father. The accounts are from the time Japan occupied the Philippine’s. Both Marc Mausisa and Lolo Tenyada have passed on and I have no way of placing the timeframe in which this story occurred or where in the Philippines it took place. The words in this story Lolo and Lola mean Grandfather and Grandmother. I present it here to you, in their words. “A Fish For Papa”.

Marc Mausisa;

I was a just young boy when the Japanese came to our province, my papa was in the Army not far from where we lived when the Japanese came. They capture the army and took them to a place over a day’s walk…

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