2nd Lt. Ben R. Morin was born in Woonsocket, Rhode Island, on August 15, 1920, to Benjamin and Josephine Morin. With his four sisters and four brothers, he lived at 1301 South 9th Avenue in Maywood, Illinois, and attended local schools. While in high school, on October 15, 1937, Ben enlisted in the Illinois National Guard’s 33rd Tank Company which was headquartered in the armory in Maywood. He graduated from Proviso Township High School in 1938, and after high school worked as a truck driver in the family’s trucking company. When he was discharged from the National Guard on October 14, 1940, as a sergeant, he re-enlisted the next day with the same rank.
After the German tank divisions rolled through Europe in 1939 and 1940, the Army created the U.S. Armored Forces on July 10, 1940. Included in the force were the National Guard GHQ tank battalions. The GHQ battalions were still considered infantry and created a “buffer” between the armor forces and infantry to protect the regular army tank battalions from being used by the infantry when they wanted tanks. If the infantry wanted tanks, the GHQ tank battalions were available. In theory, this would allow the Armor Force to develop into a real fighting force. To do this the Illinois National Guard was informed on September 1, 1940, that the tank company was being called to federal service for one year.
The tank company was inducted into the U. S. Army on November 25, 1940, at 7:00 A.M. and designated B Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. During this time, the soldiers were given physicals, and men who were inducted into the army that morning were released from federal service that afternoon after failing their physicals. The remaining men spent the next several days living in the armory. He was one of 131 men who traveled to Fort Knox, Kentucky, for what was supposed to be a year of training.
One group of 17 soldiers left Maywood on Wednesday, November 27th at 7:00 A.M. in a convoy of one command car (or jeep), two trucks carrying supplies, and three private cars owned by members of the company. The trip was not easy since for 120 miles the road was covered in ice which cleared up near Indianapolis. They had dinner and spent the night at Ft. Benjamin Harris in Indianapolis. After showering and getting cleaned up, they continued the trip. As they got closer to Ft. Knox. the weather got warmer and the snow disappeared. During the trip, one of the main topics was whether they were going to live in tents or barracks at the fort.
Most of the soldiers made the trip to Ft. Knox by train on Thursday, November 28th. They marched west on Madison Street to Fifth Avenue, in Maywood, and then north to the Chicago & North Western train station. In B Company’s case, they rode on the same train as A Company from Janesville, Wisconsin. In Chicago, the soldiers rode buses to the Illinois Central train station and boarded another train. The flatcars with their tanks were transferred onto the tracks of the Illinois Central and added to the train that took the men and tanks to Ft. Knox. Once at the fort, they were met by Army trucks at the station which took them to the fort where they reunited with the men who drove. The soldiers were assigned to smaller temporary barracks because their barracks weren’t finished.
Their first impression of the base was that it was a mud hole because it had rained continuously for days, and it continued to rain after they arrived. Someone at the base told them that at the fort, “You either wade to your ankles in dust or mud to your knees.” When the entire battalion arrived at the base, it had a total of eight tanks. The biggest task at Ft. Knox facing the members of the 192nd, was that each company had to get used to the other. During this process of adjustment, the members of the different companies often were involved in fistfights. As time passed, the fights ended and the members of the battalion became friends.
Joining A and B Companies were C Company from Port Clinton, Ohio, and D Company from Harrodsburg, Kentucky. After all the companies had arrived the 192nd Tank Battalion was activated. Capt. Bacon Moore, D Co. – because of his seniority – became the battalion’s commanding officer. With the command, he was promoted to the rank of Major. Lt. Arch Rue took command of D Company. Capt. Ted Wickord, B Co., became the battalion’s executive officer, and Lt. Fred Bruni, A Co., became the battalion’s maintenance officer. One of the four letter companies was scheduled to become the battalion’s Headquarters Company but none of the companies wanted to give up their tanks. The decision was made to create a separate HQ Company creating a battalion with five companies.
Unpainted temporary barracks were their first housing since their barracks were not finished. Each man had a steel cot to sleep on. The bunks were set up along the walls and alternated so that the head of one bunk was next to the foot of another bunk allowing for more bunks to be placed in the least amount of space allowing for 25 men to sleep on each floor. The first sergeant, staff sergeant, and master sergeant had their own rooms. There was also a supply room, an orderly room – where the cooks could sleep during the day – and a clubroom. Twenty-five men lived on each floor of the barracks. When men were assigned to the company from selective service, they lived in tents next to the company’s two barracks. The tents were on concrete slabs and had screened wooden walls and doors with canvas roofs. Each tent had a stove in the center for heat and electricity for lighting. The officers had their own barracks with private rooms for each officer. In addition, each officer had an orderly to clean his room.
The one problem they had was that the barracks had four, two-way speakers in it. One speaker was in the main room of each floor of the barracks, one was in the first sergeant’s office, and one was in the captain’s office. Since by flipping a switch, the speaker became a microphone, the men watched what they said. The men assigned to HQ Company moved into their own barracks by February. The guardsmen were housed away from the regular army troops in the newly built barracks. Newspapers from the time state that the barracks were air-conditioned.
After arriving, they spent the first six weeks in primary training. During week 1, the soldiers did infantry drilling; week 2, manual arms and marching to music; week 3, machine gun training; week 4, was pistol usage; week 5, M1 rifle firing; week 6, was training with gas masks, gas attacks, pitching tents, and hikes; weeks 7, 8, and 9 were spent learning the weapons, firing each one, learning the parts of the weapons and their functions, field stripping and caring for weapons and the cleaning of weapons.
For Christmas, members of the company received 4½ day furloughs home while other men remained at Ft. Knox. The base was decorated with lighted Christmas trees along its streets and each night Christmas carols were sung by a well-trained choir that went from barracks to barracks. The sight was said to be beautiful as the soldiers entered the camp from the ridge north of their barracks. The workload of the soldiers was also reduced for the holidays. Christmas dinner consisted of roast turkey, baked ham, candied sweet potatoes, snowflake potatoes, giblet gravy, oyster dressing, cranberry sauce, pickle relish, grapes, oranges, rolls, fruit cake, ice cream, bread, butter, and coffee. After dinner, cigars, cigarettes, and candy were provided.
Those men who did go home arrived back at the base just before breakfast, which was at 6:00 A.M. on December 26th. 1st/Sgt. Richard Danca was waiting for them since he had the job of picking men to be transferred to the soon-to-be-formed HQ Company. 35 men were picked because they had special training. The men assigned to the battalion’s tank maintenance section were the first sent to the schools since they had the job of repairing the 16 tanks assigned to the battalion that came from the fort’s junkyard. Many of these men received promotions and because of their rating received higher pay. HQ Company was divided into a staff platoon, a reconnaissance platoon, a maintenance platoon, a motor platoon, and the usual cooks and clerks which every company had. Men were assigned various jobs such as scouts, radio operators, mechanics, truck drivers, and other duties.
Winter finally arrived on January 4th, when the high for the day was 24 degrees, and it snowed for the first time. Those on guard duty at night were happy they had been issued long-Johns but wished they had on two pairs. It was on January 7th that the companies had their first target practice, and each company spent one week at the firing range learning to use their thirty-caliber and fifty-caliber machine guns as well as forty-five-caliber pistols. This took place at the 1st Cavalry Test range where the tanks could be maneuvered and the guns fired at the same time. All those holding the rank of Private First Class were sent to motorcycle class at the Armored Force where they were taught the functions and duties of a motorcyclist in a garrison and in combat. Ten members of the company were sent to radio school from 8:00 to 11:30 A.M. They also received their government-issued toiletries. Each man received two face towels and one bath towel, a razor, tooth and shaving brushes, and another pair of pants which completed their complement of clothing.
The men assigned to the HQ Company still lived with the B Company since their barracks were unfinished. Most of the members of B Company were assigned to Barracks 53. The men assigned to HQ Company moved into their own barracks by February. The area outside the barracks was described as muddy and dusty most of the time. An attempt was made to improve the situation with the building of walkways and roads around the barracks. One hundred and forty-nine men from the Selective Service were assigned to the battalion on January 10th and lived in tents located next to the barracks of each company. The tents were on concrete slabs and had electricity. The walls were wood and screened with canvas starting about halfway up the wall. In the center was a stove for heat. On January 12, 1941, their mess hall opened, and they ate off real plates with forks and knives. They also no longer had to wash their own plates since that job fell on the men assigned to Kitchen Police.
A typical day for the soldiers started at 6:15 with reveille, but most of the soldiers were up by 5:45 since they wanted to wash and dress. After roll call, breakfast was from 7:00 to 8:00 A.M., followed by calisthenics from 8:00 to 8:30. Afterward, the tankers went to various schools within the company. The classes consisted of .30 and .50 caliber machine guns, pistols, map reading, care of personal equipment, military courtesy, and training in tactics. At 11:30 the soldiers stopped what they were doing and cleaned up for mess which was from noon to 1:00 P.M. After lunch, the soldiers went back to work. At 4:30, the soldiers called it a day and returned to their barracks and put on dress uniforms, and at five held retreat followed by dinner at 5:30. After they ate they stood in line to wash their mess kits since they had no mess hall.
On January 12th, their mess hall opened and they ate off real plates with forks and knives. They also no longer had to wash their own plates since that job fell on the men assigned to Kitchen Police. After dinner, they were off duty and lights were out at 9:00 P.M., but they did not have to turn in until 10:00 when Taps was played. The game that many of the men began to play was chess and one group became known as “The Chess Clique.”
Most of the men were attending the various schools they were assigned to on January 13th taking classes lasting three months. The tankers went through intensive training in the various classes at the Armored Force School which taught classes in gunnery, radio communications, tank maintenance, vehicle maintenance, tank driving, as well as other classes.
The entire battalion on January 28th, took part in a one-day “problem” that had to do with the deployment of large units of tanks and to put into practice what they had learned in the classroom. They were up at 5:00 A.M. and reported to the tank parks of the 1st and 13th Armor Regiments. It was a long tough day for all the soldiers, but they all believed they had learned more in that one day than they had learned in an entire week of school. The problems – which took place frequently – could last from one hour to twenty-four hours. They were also taking the tanks out on the trails and obstacle driving which resulted in the companies developing many good tank crews. It was also at this time that each company had a maintenance tent set up so they could make minor repairs to their tanks. It was noted that the men from every company seemed to enjoy working on their own tanks.
During their free time during the week, the men could go to one of the three movie theaters on the outpost. They also sat around and talked. As the weather got warmer, the men tried to play baseball as often as possible in the evenings. At 9:00 P.M., when lights went out, most went to sleep. On weekends, men with passes frequently went to Louisville, which was 35 miles north of the fort, while others went to Elizabethtown sixteen miles south of the fort. Those men still on the base used the dayroom to read since it was open until 11:00 P.M.
The lack of equipment was a major problem for the battalion. Many of the tanks were castoff tanks from the regular army or junks pulled from the junkyard at Ft. Knox that were rebuilt by the tank companies. The tanks were also restricted in where they could be driven and very little training was done with the infantry. It is known that on December 2nd, each company had received four additional tanks, but according to information from the time, each company was scheduled to receive 17 tanks, three half-tracks, four motorcycles, two motorcycles with passenger cars, four two-and-a-half-ton trucks, and a half-ton pickup truck. The men received training under the direction of the 69th Armored Regiment, 1st Armored Division. This was true for the tank crews and reconnaissance units who trained with the regiment’s tanks and reconnaissance units and later trained with their own companies.
Ben was also given the job of training the “draftees” who had been assigned to the battalion to fill out the rosters of each company. At some point, he was promoted to First Sergeant which was the rank he held when he went to the Philippines. In May, he received a temporary commission as a Second Lieutenant.
During February, four composite tank detachments made of men from all the companies of the battalion left Ft. Knox – on different dates – on problematic moves at 9:00 A.M. The detachments consisted of three motorcycles, two scout cars, sixteen tanks, one ambulance, and supply, fuel, and kitchen trucks. The route was difficult and chosen so that the men could become acquainted with their equipment. They also had to watch out for simulated enemy planes. Bridges were avoided whenever it was possible to ford the water. They received their rations from a food truck.
On March 20th, the entire battalion was moved to new larger barracks at Wilson Road and Seventh Avenue at Ft. Knox. The barracks were painted white, had bathing and washing facilities in them, and a day room and kitchen. The barracks kitchens had a stove and two large iceboxes. The new kitchens had larger gas ranges, automatic gas heaters, large pantries, and mess halls. One reason for this move was the men from selective service were permanently joining each company of the battalion on March 21st after completing six weeks of basic training. Their basic training had been under S/Sgt. Henry Crowe, Sgts. Norman Goodman, Ben Morin, Roger Heilig, Stanley Laskowski, Hugh Mackle, and Pvt. Clyde Ehrhardt from B Company, and Sgts Harry K. Johnson and Cpl. Fred Jannisch of HQ Company. Both had been members of B Company. Men who were released from service when their National Guard enlistments ended were replaced by other Illinois men from Selective Service.
Each company was made up of three platoons of thirty men and each company had six tanks assigned to it. Four of each company’s tanks had been pulled out of the junkyard. The one exception was Headquarters Company which had three assigned tanks. The tankers also painted their tanks a dull green-gray with blue numbers on the running boards. Around the turrets near the bottom, they painted red and blue stripes. According to the soldiers, this made it easier to camouflage the tanks. The company also received additional tanks, trucks, light trucks, and what they called “peeps.” These would later be known as jeeps. They also took part in a 15-mile hike during the month.
The men played on volleyball teams and as the weather improved they had a chance the members of all the companies played baseball as often as they could and organized teams to play each other and the companies of other units. Many men went into Louisville on weekends. While those who remained on base used their free time to play baseball. It was said that on Sunday the most baseball games were played. Although it was stated the local hotels did not like allowing soldiers to book rooms. To get around this, one man in civilian clothes went into the hotel and paid for the room. When this was done, the rest of the soldiers came into the hotel.
Many members of the battalion went home for Easter in April. The only men left on the base were those attending schools; in particular, those assigned to radio school. The men who remained behind also had performed all the duties expected of them, such as guard duty. While doing these things, they still started their day at 4:00 A.M. They also washed the tanks in Salt River which was 14 miles from their barracks.
At the beginning of June, a detachment of men went to Detroit, Michigan, to pick up 39 trucks for the battalion. The exact date they left is not known, but they spent the night at Patterson Field, Ohio, from there they went north through Springfield, Urbana, Bellefontaine, and Bowling Green, Ohio, before entering Michigan. It took the tankers two days to get to Detroit. While they were there, a large number of them crossed the Detroit River, visited Windsor, Canada, and mailed postcards home. It is known they were back at Ft. Knox before June 6th.
On June 14th and 16th, the battalion was divided into four detachments composed of men from different companies. Available information shows that C and D Companies, part of HQ Company and part of the Medical Detachment left on June 14th, while A and B Companies, and the other halves of HQ Company and the Medical Detachment left the fort on June 16th. These were tactical maneuvers – under the command of the commanders of each of the letter companies. The three-day tactical road marches were to Harrodsburg, Kentucky, and back. Each tank company traveled with 20 tanks, 20 motorcycles, 7 armored scout cars, 5 jeeps, 12 peeps (later called jeeps), 20 large 2½-ton trucks (these carried the battalion’s garages for vehicle repair), 5, 1½-ton trucks (which included the companies’ kitchens), and 1 ambulance.
The detachments traveled through Bardstown and Springfield before arriving at Harrodsburg at 2:30 P.M. where they set up their bivouac at the fairgrounds. The next morning, they moved to Herrington Lake east of Danville, where the men swam, boated, and fished. The battalion returned to Ft. Knox through Lebanon, New Haven, and Hodgenville, Kentucky. At Hodgenville, the men were allowed to visit the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln. The purpose of the maneuvers was to give the men practice at loading, unloading, and setting up administrative camps to prepare them for the Louisiana maneuvers.
At the end of the month, the battalion found itself at the firing range and appeared to have spent the last week there. According to available information, they were there from 4:00 a.m. until 8:30 a,m. when they left the range. They then had to clean the guns which took them until 10:30 a.m. One of the complaints they had was that it was so hot and humid that when they got back from the range, their clothes were so wet that they felt like they had stood out in the rain. Right after July 4th, the battalion went on a nine-day maneuver. Twelve of the battalion’s tanks were sent to Rock Island, Illinois, in July to be rebuilt and returned to the battalion before it went on maneuvers. The battalion finally received all its tanks and the soldiers were told to, “beat the hell out of them.”
Another detachment of men was sent to Detroit in July. It is not known why they were sent there, but it is known they were there for 7 days. It was during this time the men began hearing the rumor that part of the battalion was being sent to South Carolina while part of the battalion would be going to Texas. They also heard that the battalion would be taking part in maneuvers in Arkansas and that after the maneuvers, the battalion was heading to Ft. Benning, Georgia, for six weeks before they were sent to the Philippines.
On August 13, 1941, Congress voted to extend federalized National Guard units’ time in the regular Army by 18 months. From a letter written by a member of the 192nd in August 1941, the battalion was scheduled to go overseas. The 192nd heard that the battalion’s orders to the Philippines had been canceled and that the 194th Tank Battalion stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington, was being sent to the Philippines. Many of the soldiers had attended classes with members of the 194th, but they still expressed relief that they were not being sent overseas.
Major Ernest Miller, CO, 194th, on August 14th, was ordered to Ft. Knox to receive his battalion’s orders. The next day, August 15th, he received the orders to go overseas and was told it was a secret move. A detachment of 192nd men had the job of requisitioning tanks from other tank units at Ft. Knox. In some cases, the tanks had just arrived at the fort and were still on railroad cars when the detachment, under 2nd Lt. William Gentry, walked up to the soldiers who were about to unload the tanks and handed the officer in charge the War Department orders that the detachment was taking the tanks from them. The tanks the detachment requisitioned were sent to San Francisco, California, for the 194th.
The 192nd was also involved in the making of the short movie, “The Tanks are Coming” for Metro Golden Meyer starring George Tobias at this time. It was stated that they were filmed loading and unloading their tanks, but it was not indicated if it was on and off trains or trucks. Some men stated they also took part in other scenes during the movie. The members of the company also learned they were being sent to Camp Robinson, Arkansas, to take part in maneuvers.
Two members of each letter company and HQ Company remained behind at Ft. Knox to watch over the possessions of the members of their respective companies. Who these men were is not known. In addition, men who had not completed the schools they were attending remained on base. The final men from the Selective Service also permanently joined the battalion just before it left the base. Before the battalion left for the maneuvers, rumors were already flying that it would not be returning to Ft. Knox. One rumor printed in the companies’ hometown newspapers said the battalion was going to be sent to Ft. Benning, Georgia, after taking part in the three-month maneuvers.
About half of the battalion left Ft. Knox on September 1st in trucks and other wheeled vehicles and spent the night in Clarksville, Tennessee with the battalion’s reconnaissance men on their motorcycles serving as traffic directors. By 7:00 A.M. the next morning, the detachment was on the move. On the second day, the soldiers saw their first cotton fields which they found fascinating. They spent the night in Brownsville, Tennessee, and were again on the move the following morning at 7:00 A.M. At noon, the convoy crossed the Mississippi River which they found amazing, and spent the night in Clarksdale, Mississippi. At noon the next day, the convoy crossed the lower part of Arkansas and arrived at Tallulah, Louisiana, where, they washed, relaxed, and played baseball against the locals. It also gave them a break from sitting on wooden benches in the trucks. During the trip, the convoy was involved in several accidents that appeared to involve the battalion’s motorcycles but no details are known.
The other half of the battalion left Ft. Knox for the maneuvers by train on September 4th. It is known that the tanks had been loaded onto train cars and that the train had a kitchen for them to have meals. The time of departure for the train was 6:30 PM. and the arrival time in Tremont, Louisiana, was scheduled for around midnight the night of September 5th, but the train did not arrive until 3:00 AM on the 6th. When they arrived at Tremont, the men who had driven to Louisiana were waiting for them at the train station. The tanks were unloaded in the dark while the men were eaten alive by mosquitos. That night they were allowed to go to Monroe, Louisiana, and it was said there were more soldiers in the town than civilians.
When they arrived, the battalion was assigned to the Red Army, attached to the Fourth Cavalry, and stationed at Camp Robinson, Arkansas. The battalion’s bivouac was in the Kisatchi Forest. What made the bivouac worse was that the rainy season started and the men found themselves living in it. On one occasion the battalion was bivouac near a canal and the next morning the men found themselves in water over their shoes trying to dig ditches for drainage. The members of B Company captured a medium-sized alligator in their bivouac and pulled it around at the end of a leash made from a rope. Two days later the battalion made a two-day move, as a neutral unit, to Ragley, Louisiana, and was assigned to the Blue Army and fought with the 191st Tank Battalion as the First Tank Group.
The mobile kitchens moved right along with the rest of the battalion. In the opinion of the men, the food was not very good because the damp air made it hard to start a fire. Many of their meals were C ration meals of beans or chili – which they called Iron Rations – that they carried in their backpacks and choked down. Drinking water was scarce; men went days without shaving, and many shaved their heads to keep cool. Washing clothes was done when the men had a chance since fresh water was at a premium. They did this by finding a creek, looking for alligators, and if there were none, taking a bar of soap and scrubbing whatever they were washing. Clothes were usually washed once a week or once every two weeks. Men also had stumble from beards since shaving was difficult because of the lack of water. Men also shaved their heads because of the heat. Many men wonder who thought it was a good idea to purchase Louisiana from the French.
The tankers stated that they had never seen so many mosquitoes, ticks, and snakes before. Water moccasins were the most common snake, but there were also rattlesnakes. Snake bites were also a problem and at some point, it seemed that every other man was bitten by a snake. The platoon commanders carried a snake bite kit that was used to create a vacuum to suck the poison out of the bite. The bites were the result of the night cooling down and snakes crawling under the soldiers’ bedrolls for warmth while the soldiers were sleeping on them. When the soldiers woke up in the morning they would carefully pick up their bedrolls to see if there were any snakes under them.
To avoid being bitten, men slept on the two-and-a-half-ton trucks or on or in the tanks. Another trick the soldiers learned was to dig a small trench around their tents and lay rope in the trench. The burs on the rope kept the snakes from entering the tents. The snakes were not a problem if the night was warm. There was one multicolored snake – about eight inches long – that was beautiful to look at, but if it bit a man he was dead. The good thing was that these snakes would not just strike at the man but only strike if the man forced himself on the snake. It is known one member of A Company, John Spencer, was bitten by a snake but had no serious effects.
They also had a problem with the wild hogs in the area. In the middle of the night while the men were sleeping in their tents they would suddenly hear hogs squealing. The hogs would run into the tents pushing on them until they took them down and dragged them away.
During the maneuvers, tanks held defensive positions and usually were held in reserve by the higher headquarters. For the first time, the tanks were used to counter-attack, in support of infantry, and held defensive positions. Some men felt that the tanks were finally being used like they should be used and not as “mobile pillboxes.” The maneuvers were described by other men as being awakened at 4:30 A.M. and sent to an area to engage an imaginary enemy. After engaging the enemy, the tanks withdrew to another area. The crews had no idea what they were doing most of the time because they were never told anything by the higher-ups. A number of men felt that they just rode around in their tanks a lot.
While training at Ft. Knox, the tankers were taught that they should never attack an anti-tank gun head-on. One day during the maneuvers, their commanding general threw away the entire battalion doing just that. After sitting out for a period of time, the battalion resumed the maneuvers. The major problem for the tanks was the sandy soil. On several occasions, tanks were parked and the crews walked away from them. When they returned, the tanks had sunk into the sandy soil up to their hauls. It was said that the clay at Ft. Knox was not as bad as the sandy soil in Louisiana. To get them out, other tanks were brought in and attempted to pull them out. If that didn’t work, the tankers brought a tank wrecker to pull the tank out from Camp Polk.
It was not uncommon for the tankers to receive orders to move at night. On October 1st at 2:30 A.M., they were awakened by the sound of a whistle which meant they had to get the tanks ready to move. Those assigned to other duties loaded trucks with equipment. Once they had assembled into formations, they received the order to move, without headlights, to make a surprise attack on the Red Army. By 5:30 that morning – after traveling 40 miles in 2½ hours from their original bivouac in the dark – they had established a new bivouac and set up their equipment. They camouflaged their tanks and trucks and set up sentries to look for paratroopers or enemy troops. At 11:30, they received orders, and 80 tanks and armored vehicles moved out into enemy territory. They engaged the enemy at 2:38 in the afternoon and an umpire with a white flag determined who was awarded points or penalized. At 7:30 P.M., the battle was over and the tanks limped back to the bivouac where they were fueled and oiled for the next day.
The one good thing that came out of the maneuvers was that the tank crews learned how to move at night which at Ft. Knox was never done. Without knowing it, the night movements were preparing them for what they would do in the Philippines since most of the battalion’s movements there were made at night. The drivers learned how to drive at night and to take instructions from their tank commanders who had a better view from the turret. Several motorcycle riders from other tank units were killed because they were riding their bikes without headlights on which meant they could not see obstacles in front of their bikes. When they hit something they fell to the ground and the tanks following them went over them. This happened several times before the motorcycle riders were ordered to turn on their headlights.
Water was rationed, so the soldiers washed in streams after making sure there were no alligators or snakes nearby. If they took a bath, they did it in cold water. Men went days without washing their faces. The popular conversation during the maneuvers was where the battalion being was being sent next. Rumors flew that after the maneuvers they were going to Ft. Ord, California, Ft. Lewis, Washington, Ft. Benning, Georgia, or Ft. Mead, Maryland.
After the maneuvers, the battalion members expected to return to Ft. Knox, or another base, instead, the battalion received orders to report to Camp Polk, Louisiana, where they found themselves living in ten-man tents. While they were there, it seemed to rain nearly every day. Some men stated that they always seemed to be wet, so they did not shower for two weeks. On October 3rd, Major Bacon Moore, CO., 192nd, received the orders to send the battalion overseas. It was on the side of a hill the battalion learned it was going overseas. Phil Parish, A Co., stated that Moore said, “‘You will all be going overseas somewhere and can be expected to be gone from a year, maybe two years, and maybe five or six years.’ We knew then that he knew a whole lot that he wasn’t telling.” The rumor was that they would go to the Philippines and train the Filipino Army on tanks. When they were finished in the Philippines, they would be sent to China to do the same with Chinese troops and new tanks that would be waiting there.
Those men who were married with dependents, who had other dependents, who were 29 years old or older, or whose National Guard enlistments would end while the battalion was overseas were allowed to resign from federal service. They were replaced with men from the 753rd Tank Battalion who volunteered or had their names drawn out of a hat. Other men came from the 3rd Armor Division, also at Camp Polk, or the 32nd Armor Regiment at Camp Beauregard, Louisiana. Flyers were posted around Camp Polk stating volunteers were needed to join the 192nd which was being sent to the Philippines.
One of the battalion’s officers who could not go overseas – because he was too old for his rank – was Maj. Moore. Moore was ordered to Ft. Knox where he was placed in charge of the Armored Force Replacement Training Center. The battalion command was offered to Capt. Walter Write, A Co., since he had the most seniority but he declined the command to stay with the company. Capt. Theodore Wickord became the battalion’s command officer and was promoted to major. Officers from other units who replaced officers released from duty joined the battalion at this time.
The battalion was scheduled to receive brand-new M3A1 tanks, but there was a delivery problem, and this did not happen. Instead, they were given M3A1 tanks – from the 753rd Tank Battalion and the 3rd Armor Division – to replace their M2A2 tanks. While some tanks had five miles on them, many of these “new” M3 tanks were only new to the 192nd and were within 5 hours of their 100-hour required maintenance. It was also stated that the battalion had to fight other battalions to get the 54 tanks they were assigned. The selection of the tank was criticized since the M3s were known for throwing their tracks. The battalion also received half-tracks to replace its scout cars, but it is believed the half-tracks were waiting for the battalion in the Philippines.
It was with the release of enlisted men and officers that Ben became the company’s First Sergeant. His predecessor, 1st. Sgt. Richard Danca was promoted to Second Lieutenant to fill the vacancies among the officers.
There are at least two stories on the decision to send the battalion overseas, but the decision appeared to have been made well before the maneuvers. According to one story, the decision was the result of an event that took place in the summer of 1941. A squadron of American planes was flying over Lingayen Gulf, in the Philippines, when one of the pilots, who was flying at a lower altitude, noticed something odd. He took his plane down identified a flagged buoy in the water and saw another in the distance. He came upon more buoys that lined up, in a straight line for 30 miles to the northwest, in the direction of Formosa which had a large radio transmitter. The squadron continued its flight plan south to Mariveles and returned to Clark Field. When the planes landed, it was too late to do anything that day.
The next day, another squadron was sent to the area and found that the buoys had been picked up by a fishing boat – with a tarp on its deck covering the buoys – which was seen making its way to shore. Since communication between the Air Corps and the Navy was difficult, the boat escaped. According to this story, it was at that time the decision was made to build up the American military presence in the Philippines.
Many of the original members of the 192nd believed that the reason they were selected to be sent overseas was that they had performed well on the maneuvers. The story was that they were personally selected by General George S. Patton – who had commanded the tanks of the Blue Army – to go overseas. The 192nd and the 191st Tank Battalion took part in the maneuvers as the First Tank Group and Patton praised the battalions for their performance during the maneuvers, but there is no evidence that he selected them for duty in the Philippines.
The fact was that the 192nd was part of the First Tank Group which was headquartered at Ft. Knox and operational by June 1941. During the maneuvers, as mentioned, it even fought as part of the First Tank Group. Available information suggests that the tank group had been selected to be sent to the Philippines early in 1941. Besides the 192nd, the group was made up of the 70th and 191st Tank Battalions – the 191st had been a National Guard medium tank battalion while the 70th was a Regular Army medium tank battalion – at Ft. Meade, Maryland. The 193rd was at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and the 194th was at Ft. Lewis, Washington. The 192nd, 193rd, and 194th had been National Guard light tank battalions. The buoys being spotted by the pilot may have sped up the transfer of the tank battalions to the Philippines, but it was not the reason for the battalions going to the Philippines. The 192nd and 194th had already arrived in the Philippines and the 193rd Tank Battalion was on its way to the Philippines when Pearl Harbor was attacked. When the 193rd arrived in Hawaii it was held there. It is also known that one of the two medium tank battalions – most likely the 191st, had received standby orders to move to San Francisco for transport to the Philippines, but the orders were canceled on December 10th because the war with Japan had started. Some documents from the time show the name of the Provisional Tank Group in the Philippines as the First Provisional Tank Group.
HQ Company left for the West Coast a few days earlier than the rest of the 192nd to make preparations for the battalion. At 8:30 A.M. on October 20th, over at least three train routes, the companies were sent to San Francisco, California. Most of the soldiers of each company rode on one train that was followed by a second train that carried the company’s tanks. At the end of the second train was a boxcar, with equipment and spare parts, followed by a passenger car that carried soldiers. HQ Company and A Company took the southern route, B and C Companies went west through the middle of the country on different train routes, and D Company went north then west along the Canadian border. When they arrived in San Francisco, they were ferried, by the U.S.A.T. General Frank M. Coxe, to Ft. McDowell on Angel Island where they spent five days. As the ferry passed Alcatraz, a soldier on the boat said to them, “I’d rather be here than going where you all are going.”
On the island, they were given physicals by the battalion’s medical detachment. Men found to have minor health issues were held back and scheduled to rejoin the battalion at a later date. Other men were simply replaced with men – who appeared to have come from the 757th Tank Battalion at Ft. Ord, California – sent to the island for that purpose. The soldiers spent their time making preparations since they were not allowed off the island for security reasons. Some soldiers believed that the “quarantine” was done to prevent soldiers from going AWOL (Absent Without Leave). It was said that at night the San Francisco skyline and Bay Bridge were beautiful. It was at this time that Col. James R. N. Weaver joined the 192nd as its commanding officer.
When they arrived at Guam on Sunday, November 16th, the ships took on water, bananas, coconuts, and vegetables. Although they were not allowed off the ship, the soldiers were able to mail letters home before sailing for Manila the next day. At one point, the ships passed an island at night and did so in total blackout. This for many of the soldiers was a sign that they were being sent into harm’s way. The blackout was strictly enforced and men caught smoking on deck after dark spent time in the ship’s brig. Three days after leaving Guam the men spotted the first islands of the Philippines. The ships sailed around the south end of Luzon and then north up the west coast of Luzon toward Manila Bay.
The ships entered Manila Bay, at 8:00 A.M., on Thursday, November 20th, and docked at Pier 7 later that morning. One thing that was different about their arrival was that instead of a band and a welcoming committee waiting at the pier to tell them to enjoy their stay in the Philippines and see as much of the island as they could, a party came aboard the ship – carrying guns – and told the soldiers, “Draw your firearms immediately; we’re under alert. We expect a war with Japan at any moment. Your destination is Fort Stotsenburg, Clark Field.” At 3:00 P.M., as the enlisted men left the ship, a Marine was checking off their names. When an enlisted man said his name, the Marine responded with, “Hello sucker.” Those who drove trucks drove them to the fort, while the maintenance section remained behind at the pier to unload the tanks. Some men stated they rode a train to Ft. Stotsenberg while other men stated they rode busses to the base.
At the fort, the tankers were met by Gen. Edward P. King Jr. who welcomed them and made sure that they had what they needed. He also was apologetic that there were no barracks for the tankers and that they had to live in tents. The fact was he had not learned of their arrival until days before they arrived. He made sure that they had dinner – which was a stew thrown into their mess kits – before he left to have his own dinner. D Company was scheduled to be transferred to the 194th Tank Battalion so when they arrived at the fort, they most likely moved into their finished barracks instead of tents that the rest of the 192nd. The 194th had arrived in the Philippines in September and its barracks were finished about a week earlier. The company also received a new commanding officer, Capt. Jack Altman.
The other members of the 192nd pitched their tents in an open field halfway between the Clark Field Administration Building and Fort Stotsenburg. The tents from WW I and pretty ragged. They were set up in two rows and five men were assigned to each tent. There were two supply tents and meals were provided by food trucks stationed at the end of the rows of tents. Their tanks were in a field not far from the tanks. The worst part of being in the tents was that they were near the end of a runway. The B-17s when they took off flew right over the bivouac about 100 feet off the ground. At night, the men heard planes flying over the airfield. Many men believed they were Japanese, but it is known that American pilots flew night missions.
The 192nd arrived in the Philippines with a great deal of radio equipment to set up a radio school to train radiomen for the Philippine Army. The battalion also had many ham radio operators after arriving at Ft. Stotsenburg, the battalion set up a communications tent that was in contact with ham radio operators in the United States within hours. The communications monitoring station in Manila went crazy attempting to figure out where all these new radio messages were coming from. When they were informed it was the 192nd, they gave the 192nd frequencies to use. Men sent messages home to their families that they had arrived safely.
With the arrival of the 192nd, the Provisional Tank Group was activated on November 27th. Besides the 192nd, the tank group contained the 194th Tank Battalion with the 17th Ordnance Company joining the tank group on the 29th. Both units had arrived in the Philippines in September 1941. Military documents written after the war show the tank group was scheduled to be composed of three light tank battalions and two medium tank battalions. Col. Weaver left the 192nd, was appointed head of the tank group, and was promoted to brigadier general. Major Theodore Wickord permanently became the commanding officer of the 192nd.
It was at this time that the process to transfer D Company to the 194th Tank Battalion began. As part of the transfer, all the company’s medical records were organized so that they could be given to the medical detachment of the 194th. D Co. officers were transferred to other companies of the 194th.
The day started at 5:15 with reveille and anyone who washed near a faucet with running water was considered lucky. At 6:00 A.M. they ate breakfast followed by work – on their tanks and other equipment – from 7:00 A.M. to 11:30 A.M. Lunch was from 11:30 A.M. to 1:30 P.M. when the soldiers returned to work until 2:30 P.M. The shorter afternoon work period was based on the belief that it was too hot to work in the climate. The term “recreation in the motor pool,” meant they worked until 4:30 in the afternoon.
During this time, the battalion members spent much of their time getting the cosmoline out of the barrels of the tanks’ guns. Since they only had one reamer to clean the tank barrels, many of the main guns were cleaned with a burlap rag attached to a pole and soaked in aviation fuel. It was stated that they probably only got one reamer because Army ordnance didn’t believe they would ever use their main guns in combat. The tank crews never fired their tanks’ main guns until after the war had started, and not one man knew how to adjust the sights on the tanks. The battalion also lost four of its peeps, later called jeeps, used for reconnaissance to the command of the United States Armed Forces Far East also known as USAFFE.
Before they went into the nearest barrio which was two or three miles away, all the newly arrived troops were assembled for a lecture by the post’s senior chaplain. It was said that he put the fear of God and gonorrhea into them.
It is known that during this time the battalion went on at least two practice reconnaissance missions under the guidance of the 194th. It traveled to Baguio on one maneuver and to the Lingayen Gulf on the other maneuver. Gen. Weaver, the tank group commander, was able to get ammunition from the post’s ordnance department on the 30th, but the tank group could not get time at one of the firing ranges.
At Ft. Stotsenburg, the soldiers were expected to wear their dress uniforms. Since working on the tanks was a dirty job, the battalion members wore coveralls to work on the tanks. The 192nd followed the example of the 194th Tank Battalion and wore coveralls in their barracks area to do work on their tanks, but if the soldiers left the battalion’s area, they wore dress uniforms – which were a heavy material and uncomfortable to wear in the heat – everywhere; including going to the PX.
For recreation, the soldiers spent their free time bowling or going to the movies on the base. They also played horseshoes, softball, and badminton, or threw footballs around during their free time. On Wednesday afternoons, they went swimming. Passes were given out and men were allowed to go to Manila in small groups.
When the general warning of a possible Japanese attack was sent to overseas commands on November 27th, the Philippine command did not receive it. The reason why this happened is not known and several reasons for this can be given. It is known that the tanks took part in an alert that was scheduled for November 30th. What was learned during this alert was that moving the tanks to their assigned positions at night would be a disaster. In particular, the 194th’s position was among drums of 100-octane gas, and the entire bomb reserve for the airfield and the bombs were haphazardly placed. On December 1st, the tankers were ordered to the perimeter of Clark Field to guard against Japanese paratroopers. From this time on, two tank crew members remained with each tank at all times and were fed from food trucks.
Gen. Weaver on December 2nd ordered the tank group to full alert. According to Capt. Alvin Poweleit, Weaver appeared to be the only officer on the base interested in protecting his unit. When Poweleit suggested they dig air raid shelters – since their bivouac was so near the airfield – the other officers laughed. He ordered his medics to dig shelters near the tents of the companies they were with and at the medical detachment’s headquarters. On December 3rd the tank group officers had a meeting with Gen Weaver on German tank tactics. Many believed that they should be learning how the Japanese used tanks. That evening when they met Gen. Jonathan Wainwright, they concluded that he had no idea how to use tanks. It was said they were glad Weaver was their commanding officer. That night the airfield was in complete black-out and searchlights scanned the sky for enemy planes. All leaves were canceled on December 6th.
It was the men manning the radios in the 192nd communications tent who were the first to learn – at 2 a.m. – of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on the morning of December 8th. Major Ted Wickord, Gen. James Weaver, and Major Ernest Miller, 194th, and Capt. Richard Kadel, 17th Ordnance read the messages of the attack. At one point, even Gen. King came to the tent to read the messages. The officers of the 192nd were called to the tent and informed of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. The 192nd’s company commanders were called to the tent and told of the Japanese attack.
Most of the tankers heard about the attack on Pearl Harbor at roll call that morning. Some men believed that it was the start of the maneuvers they were expecting to take part in. They were also informed that their barracks were almost ready and that they would be moving into them shortly. News reached the tankers that Camp John Hay had been bombed at 9:00 a.m.
Captain Donald Haines told B Company about the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and ordered all the members of the tank crews to their tanks. Some sources state the half-tracks took up positions alongside the tanks while other sources state they remained in the battalion’s bivouac.
It was just after noon and the men were listening to Tokyo Rose who announced that Clark Field had been bombed. They got a good laugh out of it since they hadn’t seen an enemy plane all morning, but before the broadcast ended that had changed. At 12:45 p.m., 54 planes approached the airfield from the northwest. Men commented that the planes must be American Navy planes until someone saw Red Dots on the wings. They then saw what looked like “raindrops” falling from the planes and when bombs began exploding on the runways the tankers knew the planes were Japanese. It was stated that no sooner had one wave of planes finished bombing and were returning to Formosa than another wave came in and bombed. The second wave was followed by a third wave of bombers. One member of the 192nd, Robert Brooks, D Co., was killed during the attack.
The bombers were quickly followed by Japanese fighters that sounded like angry bees to the tankers as they strafed the airfield. The tankers watched as American pilots attempted to get their planes off the ground. As they roared down the runway, Japanese fighters strafed the planes causing them to swerve, crash, and burn. Those that did get airborne were barely off the ground when they were hit. The planes exploded and crashed to the ground tumbling down the runways. The Japanese planes were as low as 50 feet above the ground and the pilots would lean out of the cockpits so they could more accurately pick out targets to strafe. The tankers said they saw the pilots’ scarfs flapping in the wind. One tanker stated that a man with a shotgun could have shot a plane down.
The Coast Artillery had trained with the latest anti-aircraft guns while in the States, but the decision was made to send them to the Philippines with older guns. They also had proximity fuses for the shells and had to use an obsolete method to cut the fuses. This meant that most of their shells exploded harmlessly in the air.
The Zeros doing a figure eight strafed the airfield and headed toward and turned around behind Mount Arayat. One tanker stated that the planes were so low that a man with a shotgun could have shot a plane down. It was also stated that the tankers could see the scarfs of the pilots flapping in the wind as they looked for targets to strafe. Having seen what the Japanese were doing, the half-tracks were ordered to the base’s golf course which was at the opposite end of the runways. There they waited for the Zeros to complete their flight pattern. The first six planes that came down the length of the runways were hit by fire from the half-tracks. As they flew over the golf course, flames and smoke were seen trailing behind them. When the other Japanese pilots saw what happened, they pulled up to about 3,000 feet before dropping their small incendiary bombs and leaving. The planes never strafed the airfield again.
While the attack was going on, the Filipinos who were building the 192nd’s barracks took cover. After the attack, they went right back to work on building the barracks. This happened several times during the following air raids until the barracks were destroyed by bombs during an air raid. According to the members of the battalion, it appeared the Filipino contractor wanted to be paid; war or no war.
When the Japanese were finished, there was not much left of the airfield. The soldiers watched as the dead, dying, and wounded were hauled to the hospital on bomb racks, and trucks, and anything else that could carry the wounded was in use. Within an hour the hospital had reached its capacity. As the tankers watched the medics placed the wounded under the building. Many of these men had their arms and legs missing. When the hospital ran out of room, the battalion members set up cots under mango trees for the wounded and even the dentist gave medical aid to the wounded.
Sgt. Robert Bronge, B Co., had his crew take their half-track to the non-com club. During the 17 days that the 192nd had been in the Philippines, Bronge had spent three months of pay, on credit, at the non-com club. When they got to the club they found one side was collapsed from an explosion of a bomb nearby. Bronge entered the club and found the Aircorpsmen – assigned to the club – were putting out fires or trying to get the few planes that were left into the air. He found the book with the names of those who owed the club money and destroyed it. His crew loaded the half-track with cases of beer and hard liquor. When they returned to their assigned area at the airfield, they radioed the tanks they had salvaged needed supplies from the club.
After the attack, the tank crews spent much of the time loading bullets by hand from rifle cartridges into machine gun belts since they had gone through most of their ordnance during the attack. That night, since they did not have any foxholes, the men used an old latrine pit for cover since it was safer in the pit than in their tents. The entire night they were bitten by mosquitoes. Without knowing it, they had slept their last night on a cot or bed, and from this point on, the men slept in blankets on the ground. One result of the attack was that D Company was never transferred to the 194th.
The tankers recovered the 50 caliber machine guns from the planes that had been destroyed on the ground and got most of them to work. They propped up the wings of the damaged planes so they looked like the planes were operational hoping this would fool the Japanese to come over to destroy them. The next day when the Japanese fighters returned, the tankers shot two planes down. After this, the planes never returned. It was at this time every man was issued Springfield and Infield rifles. Some worked some didn’t, so they cannibalized the rifles to get one good rifle from two bad ones.
The next morning the decision was made to move the battalion into a tree-covered area. Those men not assigned to a tank or half-track walked around Clark Field to view the damage. As they walked, they saw there were hundreds of dead. Some of the dead were pilots who had been caught asleep, because they had flown night missions, in their tents during the first attack. Others were pilots who had been killed attempting to get to their planes. The tanks were still at the southern end of the airfield when a second air raid took place on the 10th. This time the bombs fell among the tanks of the battalion at the southern end of the airfield wounding some men.
C Company was ordered to the area of Mount Arayat on December 9th. Reports had been received that the Japanese had landed paratroopers in the area. No paratroopers were found, but it was possible that the pilots of damaged Japanese planes may have jumped from them. That night, they heard bombers fly at 3:00 a.m. on their way to bomb Nichols Field. The battalion’s tanks were still bivouacked among the trees when a second air raid took place on the 10th. This time the bombs fell among the tanks of the battalion at the southern end of the airfield wounding some men.
On the 10th, the half-tracks were in the battalion’s area watching the airfield. A formation of Japanese bombers bombed the area. As the crews sat in the half-tracks a 500 bomb exploded about 500 feet from them. The bombs fell in a straight line toward the half-tracks. One bomb fell 25 feet from the half-tracks and then eighteen feet in front of the half-tracks. The final bomb fell about 250 feet behind the half-tracks. The shriek of the bombs falling scared the hell out of the men. T/4 Frank Goldstein radioed HQ and told them about the unexploded bombs. A bomb disposal squad was sent to the area. Later, a jeep pulled up and an officer and enlisted man marked where the sixteen unexploded bombs were located. The crew could see the smoke rising from the fuses of the unexploded bombs. Another jeep and a bulldozer arrived and dirt was pushed over the bombs. The half-track’s crew radioed HQ and told them they were moving to the old tank park away from the bombs.
On December 12th, B Company was sent to the Barrio of Dau to guard a highway and railroad against sabotage. The other companies of the 192nd remained at Clark Field until December 14th, when they moved to a dry stream bed. Around December 15th, after the Provisional Tank Group Headquarters was moved to Manila, Major Maynard Snell, a 192nd staff officer, stopped at Ft. Stotsenburg where anything that could be used by the Japanese was being destroyed. He stopped the destruction long enough to get five-gallon cans loaded with high-octane gasoline and small arms ammunition put onto trucks to be used by the tanks and infantry.
In a letter to his parents that they received toward the end of December 1941, he described the Philippines and Ft. Stotsenburg:
“Boy what a book I could write (if I could only write) after all the color I am absorbing. I hope you received my radio-gram OK. Now and then you perhaps wonder where I am. Well, get out the copy of the Officers Guide and turn to Foreign Service, then read about Fort Stotsenburg. Yes, sir. Thursday morning the ship reached Manila, what a city, where we entrained for Stotsenburg, about 60 miles north of Manila.
Adjoining Stotsenburg is Clark Field, the largest military airfield in the whole Philippine Archipelago. P-40’s and B25’s are like flies around here. I intend to ride frequently in a B-25, one of the so-called flying fortresses.
The battalion in quartered in tents for the next two or three weeks until permanent barracks are finished. The 194th is down here adjoining are area and we will operate as a group under a Colonel Weaver who came with us on the transport. The quarters are of mahogany frames with woven slit-bamboo walls. Of course, there are no windows — everything is constructed as open as possible. In the Islands, Philippine mahogany is used like pine is in the States. Everything is mahogany around here.
Now as to the people in the Islands. In the adjoining hills around us are Negritos and the Balucas, the original inhabitants. The Baluchis are pygmies, although both races are black with kinky black hair that stands out like a brush. The Baluchis come down from the hills to sell bow, arrows, and the ever-present bolo. The males only leave the villages or “barrios.” The usual dress for a male is a shirt with or without a gee-string, nothing more.
The next races are the Igorots and Bantuks who migrated here from Asia about 2000 B.C. They are located in northern Luzon quite far from Stotsenburg. Both races are head hunters.
The last group of people to migrate here are the Malays including Filipinos and Moros. The Filipinos are still afraid of the Moros who live in Zamboanga, a province of the southern island of Mindanao. The Moros also live on the island of Jolo in the Moro gulf near Zamboanga. There are only a few in Luzon. The Moros, of course, are Mohammedans, Moslem fanatics; they never touch pork, neither will they go to the paradise unless they kill a person and become a juramentado. The Moros wear high hats and turbans, chew betel nuts to blacken their teeth and some of the Moro sharpen their teeth to a fine point. These weird people give the Constabulary and Philippine Army no end of trouble.
On the post are some Chinese tailors and bootmakers. I am having a few more khaki uniforms made and a pair of boots and shoes. Everything is hand-made-to-measure for half the price in the United States.
I’ll pick up a few souvenirs here, a kris, a Moro bolo with a wavy two-edged blade, and perhaps a short dagger such as the professional killers use. The ‘gorillas’ or professional murders never use a gun, always a dagger or bolo. I hope to do some hunting in the neighboring hills with a .45 pistol. The game is wild boar, wild water buffalo (carabao) a few Panthers, and a small python that grows to 18 or 22 feet. There are large areas in Luzon never seen by white men, mountain regions alive with Igorots. All officers and men who go on an exploring trip in the hills are fully armed. I mean they carry sidearms and bolos.
It’s really a fascinating country and I like it a lot. White officers are really brothers down here and chew the fat a good deal. There are practically no White women in the islands (only 12 nurses at Stotsenburg) so foreign service is strictly masculine, no frills but plenty of excitement. However, although this area is a powder keg in the Islands (as I said Clark Field is the site of the home of all the heavy bombers in the Philippine department) still it’s a safe place to be in time of war. Any large attack on the Island of Luzon will have to be by parachute troops and airborne infantry, hence our location next to Clark Field; we’re to defend the airbase. There are few roads here and moving large masses of men and equipment over the mountains and through the jungle is out of the question.
Well folks, I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I’ll send the radio-grams from time to time so don’t be alarmed when you receive one. My address to January 1 will be Plum, so have all my good relatives and friends drop me a line.
I’ll write again soon, but don’t expect rapid mail service — it just ain’t. I’d suggest you get a large scale relief map of the Islands and you can point out the places I go to describe them while you sit back and travel with me in spirit.
Love to all.
Ben
It was just after noon and the men were listening to Tokyo Rose who announced that Clark Field had been bombed. They got a good laugh out of it since they hadn’t seen an enemy plane all morning, but before the broadcast ended that had changed. At 12:45 p.m., 54 planes approached the airfield from the northwest. Men commented that the planes must be American Navy planes until someone saw Red Dots on the wings. They then saw what looked like “raindrops” falling from the planes and when bombs began exploding on the runways the tankers knew the planes were Japanese. It was stated that no sooner had one wave of planes finished bombing and were returning to Formosa than another wave came in and bombed. The second wave was followed by a third wave of bombers. One member of the 192nd, Robert Brooks, D Co., was killed during the attack.
The bombers were quickly followed by Japanese fighters that sounded like angry bees to the tankers as they strafed the airfield. The tankers watched as American pilots attempted to get their planes off the ground. As they roared down the runway, Japanese fighters strafed the planes causing them to swerve, crash, and burn. Those that did get airborne were barely off the ground when they were hit. The planes exploded and crashed to the ground tumbling down the runways. The Japanese planes were as low as 50 feet above the ground and the pilots would lean out of the cockpits so they could more accurately pick out targets to strafe. The tankers said they saw the pilots’ scarfs flapping in the wind. One tanker stated that a man with a shotgun could have shot a plane down.
The Coast Artillery had trained with the latest anti-aircraft guns while in the States, but the decision was made to send them to the Philippines with older guns. They also had proximity fuses for the shells and had to use an obsolete method to cut the fuses. This meant that most of their shells exploded harmlessly in the air.
The Zeros doing a figure eight strafed the airfield and headed toward and turned around behind Mount Arayat. One tanker stated that the planes were so low that a man with a shotgun could have shot a plane down. It was also stated that the tankers could see the scarfs of the pilots flapping in the wind as they looked for targets to strafe. Having seen what the Japanese were doing, the half-tracks were ordered to the base’s golf course which was at the opposite end of the runways. There they waited for the Zeros to complete their flight pattern. The first six planes that came down the length of the runways were hit by fire from the half-tracks. As they flew over the golf course, flames and smoke were seen trailing behind them. When the other Japanese pilots saw what happened, they pulled up to about 3,000 feet before dropping their small incendiary bombs and leaving. The planes never strafed the airfield again.
While the attack was going on, the Filipinos who were building the 192nd’s barracks took cover. After the attack, they went right back to work on building the barracks. This happened several times during the following air raids until the barracks were destroyed by bombs during an air raid. According to the members of the battalion, it appeared the Filipino contractor wanted to be paid; war or no war.
When the Japanese were finished, there was not much left of the airfield. The soldiers watched as the dead, dying, and wounded were hauled to the hospital on bomb racks, and trucks, and anything else that could carry the wounded was in use. Within an hour the hospital had reached its capacity. As the tankers watched the medics placed the wounded under the building. Many of these men had their arms and legs missing. When the hospital ran out of room, the battalion members set up cots under mango trees for the wounded and even the dentist gave medical aid to the wounded.
Sgt. Robert Bronge, B Co., had his crew take their half-track to the non-com club. During the 17 days that the 192nd had been in the Philippines, Bronge had spent three months of pay, on credit, at the non-com club. When they got to the club they found one side was collapsed from an explosion of a bomb nearby. Bronge entered the club and found the Aircorpsmen – assigned to the club – were putting out fires or trying to get the few planes that were left into the air. He found the book with the names of those who owed the club money and destroyed it. His crew loaded the half-track with cases of beer and hard liquor. When they returned to their assigned area at the airfield, they radioed the tanks they had salvaged needed supplies from the club.
After the attack, the tank crews spent much of the time loading bullets by hand from rifle cartridges into machine gun belts since they had gone through most of their ordnance during the attack. That night, since they did not have any foxholes, the men used an old latrine pit for cover since it was safer in the pit than in their tents. The entire night they were bitten by mosquitoes. Without knowing it, they had slept their last night on a cot or bed, and from this point on, the men slept in blankets on the ground. One result of the attack was that D Company was never transferred to the 194th.
The tankers recovered the 50 caliber machine guns from the planes that had been destroyed on the ground and got most of them to work. They propped up the wings of the damaged planes so they looked like the planes were operational hoping this would fool the Japanese to come over to destroy them. The next day when the Japanese fighters returned, the tankers shot two planes down. After this, the planes never returned. It was at this time every man was issued Springfield and Infield rifles. Some worked some didn’t, so they cannibalized the rifles to get one good rifle from two bad ones.
It was reported in the Maywood Herald on the 12th that Ben’s parents had received a telegram from him. In it, he said, “Everybody fine. Don’t believe enemy communique. Pray. Keep up hope.”
The next morning the decision was made to move the battalion into a tree-covered area. Those men not assigned to a tank or half-track walked around Clark Field to view the damage. As they walked, they saw there were hundreds of dead. Some of the dead were pilots who had been caught asleep, because they had flown night missions, in their tents during the first attack. Others were pilots who had been killed attempting to get to their planes. The tanks were still at the southern end of the airfield when a second air raid took place on the 10th. This time the bombs fell among the tanks of the battalion at the southern end of the airfield wounding some men.
C Company was ordered to the area of Mount Arayat on December 9th. Reports had been received that the Japanese had landed paratroopers in the area. No paratroopers were found, but it was possible that the pilots of damaged Japanese planes may have jumped from them. That night, they heard bombers fly at 3:00 a.m. on their way to bomb Nichols Field. The battalion’s tanks were still bivouacked among the trees when a second air raid took place on the 10th. This time the bombs fell among the tanks of the battalion at the southern end of the airfield wounding some men.
On the 10th, the half-tracks were in the battalion’s area watching the airfield. A formation of Japanese bombers bombed the area. As the crews sat in the half-tracks a 500 bomb exploded about 500 feet from them. The bombs fell in a straight line toward the half-tracks. One bomb fell 25 feet from the half-tracks and then eighteen feet in front of the half-tracks. The final bomb fell about 250 feet behind the half-tracks. The shriek of the bombs falling scared the hell out of the men. T/4 Frank Goldstein radioed HQ and told them about the unexploded bombs. A bomb disposal squad was sent to the area. Later, a jeep pulled up and an officer and enlisted man marked where the sixteen unexploded bombs were located. The crew could see the smoke rising from the fuses of the unexploded bombs. Another jeep and a bulldozer arrived and dirt was pushed over the bombs. The half-track’s crew radioed HQ and told them they were moving to the old tank park away from the bombs.
On December 12th, B Company was sent to the Barrio of Dau to guard a highway and railroad against sabotage. The other companies of the 192nd remained at Clark Field until December 14th, when they moved to a dry stream bed. Around December 15th, after the Provisional Tank Group Headquarters was moved to Manila, Major Maynard Snell, a 192nd staff officer, stopped at Ft. Stotsenburg where anything that could be used by the Japanese was being destroyed. He stopped the destruction long enough to get five-gallon cans loaded with high-octane gasoline and small arms ammunition put onto trucks to be used by the tanks and infantry.
The 192nd remained at Clark Field until December 14th, when they then moved to a dry stream bed. On December 21st, the tanks of the 2nd Platoon of Company B were bivouacked near Dau, Pampanga. At noon, Capt. Donald Hanes ordered the tanks to prepare to move north. Both B and C Company made their way north. When they arrived at Damortis, it was realized there was only enough fuel for one tank platoon to continue to move north. 2nd. Lt. Ben Morin’s platoon was selected to continue the trip north. Ben explained that he had commissioned a second lieutenant days earlier and that a second lieutenant was expendable. Morin’s detachment of tanks left Dau at 1:00 p.m. heading toward Rosario. With him were the tanks of S/Sgt. Al Edwards, Sgt. Willard Von Bergen, Sgt. Larry Jordan, and Sgt. Ray Vandenbroucke. The tanks were refueled at Tarlac, Genora, and continued on their journey north.
Well after dark, the tanks stopped at Binalonan for an hour before continuing their movement north in total darkness. At Manaoag, the tanks were met by a truck full of gasoline driven by Cpl. Russell Vertuno. After refueling, the tank crews retired for the night. At six in the morning, the tanks continued their journey through Pozurubio and on into Rosario. North of Pozurubio, the tanks came under the observation of Japanese reconnaissance planes, which observed them until they entered the town at about nine in the morning.
At Rosario, Ben’s detachment was informed that the 26th Cavalry Philippine Scouts was engaged with advanced Japanese patrols. At ten or ten-thirty in the morning, Ben was given warning orders from Captain Hanes to attack the Japanese. Ben met with General Weaver, who wanted him to attack the Japanese at Agoo, 12 kilometers to the north and west of Damaris on the coastal road. They were to proceed ten kilometers further north to the barrio of Aringay and destroy the enemy forces there. It was believed that the Japanese had not been able to bring in their artillery and tanks.
At about eleven in the morning, Ben’s tanks left Rosario and were attacked by Japanese planes. Bombs dropped by the planes exploded alongside Ben’s tank. Since they were fragmentation bombs, they did no damage. At Damortis, his tanks turned to the north and proceeded toward Agoo. Just north of Damortis, a scout car of the 26th Cavalry was parked. An American officer informed Ben that the Japanese were a half-mile ahead. The tanks proceeded north at a speed of fifteen miles an hour. At this time, Ben tried a trial shot with the 37mm cannon. This resulted in the cannon locking in recoil evidently locked out of battery. The gun would stay jammed throughout the coming engagement.
The Japanese infantry had deployed off the road and hit the dirt very fast. Pvt. Louis Zelis, Ben’s tank driver, began to weave the tank so that the stationary machine guns could fire upon the ditches more effectively. Cpl. John Cahill‘s bow gun kept jamming, but he still went through several 100-round belts of ammunition. Pvt. Steve Gados did a good job of keeping Pvt. Zelis’s guns loaded resulting in him going through 1000 rounds of ammunition. Ben was manning the coaxially mounted machine gun in the turret. After a while, because of problems, Ben had to pull the bolt back by hand before each shot.
About two miles south of Agoo, Ben’s tank was hit by a shell on the left side of the hull. The hit knocked the door loose in front of his driver’s, Pvt. Louis Zelis, position. Within seconds, a second direct hit tore the door away and left it dangling over the front slope plate of the hull. Ben signaled Pvt. Zelis to pull off the road to the right to take them out of the line of fire. Ben did this to give his crew the chance to put the door back in place before continuing the attack.
Louis Zelis told what happened. “We were told they had only small arms and baby tanks. Our light tank – I was the driver – and two others charged them. The first we knew, an anti-tank shell knocked off the window shield. I turned to get off the road. Another shell knocked out one track, and we plowed into the field in a wide arc. Then another went through the engine and a fourth jammed the gun turret. Fire broke out in the engine and we smothered it.“
Ben story differs from Zelis’ story. He stated that while the tank was stopped, a Japanese medium tank charged down on Ben’s crew from concealment. The Japanese tank struck Ben’s tank full in the left front at the driving sprocket. Pvt. Zelis backed onto the road again and tried to go forward. Since the left driving sprocket was sprung out of line, it was jammed in the track. The motive power of the right track pulled Ben’s tank off the road to the left. More shells struck the tank on the right side of the hull and in the right rear. One shell pierced the armor and entered the battery case causing the engines to stop. The radio and forward guns went dead, and the engine caught fire resulting in smoke entering the fighting compartment. Ben yelled “Gas!” to his men who put on their gas masks. Pvt. Zelis climbed out of his seat and turned on the fire extinguishers. Within a few minutes, the heat had become unbearable but the fire was out.
Through the smoke, Ben could see the remaining four tanks of his platoon withdrawing to the south. He had hoped that Sgt. Al Edwards could have broken through the Japanese guns on the road and the second platoon would overrun the Japanese landing area at Agoo. After about fifteen minutes, the Japanese ceased firing and four Japanese light tanks approached Ben’s tank. His tank was 50 to 75 yards off the road in a dry, hard rice field. Ben asked his crew what they wanted to do and had them vote. They decided to surrender instead of trying to shoot their way out of the tank. To prevent the Japanese from firing into the damaged right front of his tank, Ben climbed out of his tank and surrendered his crew.
Of the same event, Zelis said, “Five or six tankettes (the Japs baby tank) rolled up to the road. They stopped, and a couple of Japs climbed out and started toward us very cautiously. They peered through the shattered shall and saw that we were still alive. They ran back to their tanks. Our lieutenant asked us if we should surrender or try to shoot it out with our pistols and escape. We decided to surrender, hoping we would soon find a way to freedom.” He also added, “We waved a towel and an English speaking Jap said for us to come out. We did. They tied our hands and put us on the back of the tankettes.”
Ben and the members of his crew spent the first three months as Prisoners of War in Agoo. When they first arrived they were questioned about troop strength and the men said they did not know it. Their first night as Prisoners of War, they slept in the bandstand of a barrio. Of their treatment, it was stated the Japanese treated them well. They remained there several days before they were moved to Tarlac. The POWs were told that if one man tried to escape all of them would be killed.
The Japanese would not acknowledge the Americans as POWs but as “captives.” They were joined by four other captured Americans. A ninth prisoner, an officer, was not allowed to associate with them. Ben believed he was later executed. As prisoners, Ben and the other men refused to bow to the Japanese, but they would salute officers. The Japanese were not happy about this, but they did not press the point.
During his time as a POW at Bonuan, Ben and another American officer, Lt. W. Robert Parks, of the 57th Infantry Regiment Philippine Scouts witnessed the execution of two Filipino POWs by the Japanese. The two Americans watched as a Japanese officer beat the men to death with a baseball bat.
In late March 1942, Ben and the other prisoners were sent to Tarlac. It was there that they came under the control of the Japanese military governor Capt. Tsuneyoshi. He later became the commandant of Camp O’Donnell. On the first night at Tarlac, Capt. Tsuneyoshi sent two NCOs into the jail to persuade the POWs to bow. Ben recalled being slugged and beaten. In response to this, the POWs met and decided that it would be best to bow if they hoped to survive. The next morning the POWs bowed to the Japanese. To them, they had achieved a small victory because the Japanese had to use force to make them bow. During this time, the POWs worked on a hacienda preparing it for the American generals and colonels whom the Japanese soon expected to prisoners.
After the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor, his family received a message from the War Department. No evidence has been found that they knew he had been captured in December 1941.
Dear Mrs. J. Morin:
According to War Department records, you have been designated as the emergency addressee of Second Lieutenant Benjamin R. Morin, O,413,499, who, according to the latest information available, was serving in the Philippine Islands at the time of the final surrender.
I deeply regret that it is impossible for me to give you more information than is contained in this letter. In the last days before the surrender of Bataan, there were casualties which were not reported to the War Department. Conceivably the same is true of the surrender of Corregidor and possibly other islands of the Philippines. The Japanese Government has indicated its intention of conforming to the terms of the Geneva Convention with respect to the interchange of information regarding prisoners of war. At some future date, this Government will receive through Geneva a list of persons who have been taken prisoners of war. Until that time the War Department cannot give you positive information.
The War Department will consider the persons serving in the Philippine Islands as “missing in action” from the date of surrender of Corregidor, May 7, 1942, until definite information to the contrary is received. It is to be hoped that the Japanese Government will communicate a list of prisoners of war at an early date. At that time you will be notified by this office in the event that his name is contained in the list of prisoners of war. In the case of persons known to have been present in the Philippines and who are not reported to be prisoners of war by the Japanese Government, the War Department will continue to carry them as “missing in action” in the absence of information to the contrary, until twelve months have expired. At the expiration of twelve months and in the absence of other information the War Department is authorized to make a final determination.
Recent legislation makes provision to continue the pay and allowances of persons carried in a “missing” status for a period not to exceed twelve months; to continue, for the duration of the war, the pay and allowances of persons known to have been captured by the enemy; to continue allotments made by missing personnel for a period of twelve months and allotments or increase allotments made by persons by the enemy during the time they are so held; to make new allotments or increase allotments to certain dependents defined in Public Law 490, 77th Congress. The latter dependents generally include the legal wife, dependent children under twenty-one years of age, and dependent mother, or such dependents as having been designated in official records. Eligible dependents who can establish a need for financial assistance and are eligible to receive this assistance the amount allotted will be deducted from pay which would otherwise accrue to the credit of the missing individual.
Very Truly yours
J. A. Ulio (signed)
Major General
The Adjutant General
In June 1942, Ben was taken from Tarlac to Camp #1 at Cabanatuan which had just opened. It was there that Ben was reunited with the survivors of the Provisional Tank Group. Disease in the camp was rampant; Ben suffered like everyone else from dengue fever, scurvy, pellagra, beriberi, and dysentery. The thing that really shocked Ben about the camp was the “dog-eat-dog” mentality of the American soldiers and some of the officers. In the camp, there was a partial breakdown of authority. He found mistrust, selfishness, whining, and complaining.
It was at Cabanatuan that Ben also received a blanket. Up to this time, all Ben had were the clothes on his back, his cavalry boots, a rag for a towel, which he used to cover his face at night against the mosquitoes, and a burlap sack which he used for bedding.
On June 1, 1942, the POWs formed detachments of 100 men each and were marched to Capas. There, they were put in steel boxcars with two Japanese guards. At Calumpit, the train was switched onto another line which took it to Cabanatuan. The POWs disembarked and were taken to a schoolyard where they were fed cooked rice and onion soup. From there, they were marched to Cabanatuan Camp #1 which had been the headquarters of the 91st Philippine Army Division and was known as Camp Pangatian. The transfer of the healthier POWs to the camp was completed on June 4th.
The camp was three camps. Cabanatuan #1 housed most of the POWs who had been captured on Bataan and held at Camp O’Donnell. Cabanatuan #2 was two miles from Camp 1 and was closed because it lacked an adequate water supply. It was later reopened and held Naval POWs. Cabanatuan #3 was eight miles from Camp 1 and six miles from Camp 2. It housed most of the POWs from Corregidor and was closed on October 30th and the POWs were sent to Camp 1.
Once in the camp, the POWs were allowed to run the camp. The Japanese only entered if they had an issue they wanted to deal with. To prevent escapes, the POWs set up a detail that patrolled the fence of the camp. The reason this was done was that those who did escape and were caught were tortured before they were executed while the other POWs were made to watch. It is believed that no POW successfully escaped from the camp.
The barracks in the camp were built to house 50 POWs, but most had between 60 to 120 POWs in them. The POWs slept on double-deck bamboo shelves nine feet wide and eight feet long, without mattresses, bedding, or mosquito netting. Many developed sores and became ill. The POWs were assigned to barracks which meant that the members of their group lived together and went out on work details together since the Japanese had instituted the “Blood Brothers” rule. If one man escaped the other nine men in his group would be executed. POWs caught trying to escape were beaten. Those who did escape and were caught were tortured before being executed. It is not known if any POW successfully escaped from the camp. It was said that the Japanese guards would attempt to get the POWs assigned to guard the inside of the fence to come outside the perimeter of the fence. If the man did, he was shot and the guards told their commanding officer that the POW was “trying to escape.”
Rice was the main food given to the POWs fed to them as “lugow” which meant “wet rice.” The rice smelled and appeared to have been swept up off the floor. The other problem was that the men assigned to be cooks had no idea of how to prepare the rice since they had no experience in cooking it. During their time in the camp, they received few vegetables and almost no fruit. Once in a while, the POWs received corn to serve to the prisoners. From the corn, the cooks would make hominy. The prisoners were so hungry that some men would eat the corn cobs. This resulted in many men being taken to the hospital to have the cobs removed because they would not pass through the men’s bowels. Sometimes they received bread, and if they received fish it was rotten and covered with maggots.
To supplement their diets, the men would search for grasshoppers, rats, and dogs to eat. The POWs assigned to handing out the food used a sardine can to ensure that each man received the same amount. They were closely watched by their fellow prisoners who wanted to make sure that everyone received the same portion and that no one received extra rice.
The POWs were sent out on work details to cut wood for the POW kitchens. Other POWs worked in rice paddies. Each morning, as the POWs stood at attention and roll call was taken, the Japanese guards hit them across their heads. While working in the fields, the favorite punishment given to the men in the rice paddies was to have their faces pushed into the mud and stepped on by a guard to drive their faces deeper into the mud. A typical day on any detail lasted from 7:00 A.M. until 5:00 P.M. Returning from a detail the POWs bought or were given, medicine, food, and tobacco, which they somehow managed to get into the camp even though they were searched when they returned.
The burial detail was one the hardest details to work. The cemetery was in a swamp area less than a half-mile from the camp. The prisoners were divided into work crews. The first crew would dig the graves. The second crew would carry the dead in shoulder litters to the graves. A chaplain would conduct a service at the grave. Phil and the other prisoners would salute the man as he was lowered into the grave. Since the water table was high, the body would be held down while the POWs covered it with dirt. The next, just like Camp O’Donnell, the dead were often sitting up in the graves or dug up by wild dogs.
Six POWs were executed on June 26th by the Japanese after they had left the camp to buy food and were caught returning to camp. The POWs were tied to posts in a manner that they could not stand up or sit down. No one was allowed to give them food or water and they were not permitted to give them hats to protect them from the sun. The men were left tied to the posts for 48 hours when their ropes were cut. Four of the POWs were executed on the duty side of the camp and the other two were executed on the hospital side of the camp.
In the camp, the prisoners continued to die, but at a slower rate. The camp hospital consisted of 30 wards that could hold 40 men each, but it was more common for them to have 100 men in them. Each man had approximately an area of 2 feet by 6 feet to lie in. The sickest POWs were put in “Zero Ward,” which was called this because it was missed by the Japanese when they counted barracks. There were two rolls of wooden platforms around the perimeter of the building. The sickest POWs were put on the lower platform which had holes cut into it so they could relieve themselves. The platform was covered in feces which was made worse by the excrement from the higher platform dripping down onto it. Most of those who entered the ward died. When a POW died, the POWs stripped him of his clothing, and the man was buried naked. The dead man’s clothing was washed in boiling water and given to a prisoner in need of clothing. The Japanese put a fence up around the building to protect themselves and would not go into the area.
During June, the first cases of diphtheria appeared in the camp, and by July, it had spread throughout the camp. The Japanese finally gave the American medical staff antibiotics to treat the POWs, but before it took effect, 130 POWs had died from the disease by August. For those POWs with tuberculosis who were in the hospital, their rations were reduced to 240 grams of rice, camote (made from camote peelings), and powdered dried fish. In addition, the POW doctors were given four twelve-ounce cans of milk for every 39 patients with malaria.
The medicine given to the POWs had to be divided between Cabanatuan and Bilibid. Cabanatuan received 50 percent of the medicine and Bilibid 50 percent. But when the large POW detachment was sent to Davao, Bilibid received only 30 percent and Davao 20 percent. By doing this division, medicine that would do the POWs good was divided into small quantities resulting in them having no real medical value.
The POWs had the job of burying the dead. To do this, they worked in teams of four men that carried a litter of four to six dead men to the cemetery where they were buried in graves containing 15 to 20 bodies. The water table was high so when the bodies were put into the graves, POWs held them down with poles until they were covered with dirt. The next day when the burials continued, the dead were often found sitting up in their graves or dug up by wild dogs.
From September to December, the Japanese issued numbers to the POWs. The first men to receive them left the Philippines on October 8th, on the Tottori Maru. It was at this time Ben became POW 1-04032.
The Japanese announced to the POWs in the camp that on October 14th the daily food ration for each POW would be 550 grams of rice, 100 grams of meat, 330 grams of vegetables, 20 grams of fat, 20 grams of sugar, 15 grams of salt, and 1 gram of tea. In reality, the POWs noted that the meals were wet rice and rice coffee for breakfast, Pechi green soup and rice for lunch, and Mongo bean soup, Carabao meat, and rice for dinner.
The work day started an hour before dawn when the POWs were awakened. They then lined up and bongo (roll call) was taken. The POWs quickly learned to count off in Japanese because the POWs who were slow to respond were hit with a heavy rod. A half-hour before dawn was breakfast, and at dawn, they went to work. Those working on details near the camp returned to the camp for lunch, a tin of rice, at 11:30 AM and then returned to work. The typical workday lasted 10 hours.
On November 1, 1942, the Japanese drew 1,500 POW names of men who were being sent to Japan. When the names were drawn, the POWs had no idea what was happening. Many came to the conclusion on their own that they were being sent to Japan. At 3:00 A.M. on November 5th, the POWs left the camp and marched to the Barrio of Cabanatuan. Before they left the camp, each man was given his breakfast, to take with him, which was a small issue of rice and what the Japanese termed “a large piece of meat.” The large piece of meat was two inches square and large next to a piece of meat they usually received at a meal.
After they arrived at the barrio, a Japanese officer lectured the POWs before they boarded train cars around 9:00 AM. The exact number of POWs in each car appears to have been 98 men. The POWs in the crowded cars had enough room to position themselves so they could move around. The train left Cabanatuan remained on the train all day and arrived at Manila at 5:00 P.M. After they disembarked, they were marched to Pier 7 where they spent the night sleeping on a concrete floor in a building. Most of the POWs were sick and had dysentery, diarrhea, and beriberi.
The next day the POWs boarded the Nagato Maru at 5:00 P.M. The POWs were pushed into the forward hold. The hold was 40 feet wide and 50 feet long and the Japanese believed it could hold 1,000 men without a problem. In an attempt to get the POWs into the hold, the Japanese beat them. When the Japanese realized that beating them was not working, they concluded that the hold could not hold 1,000 men so 200 to 300 POWs were moved to another hold. It was at that time they lowered the number of men that would be put into the hold to somewhere between 750 and 800. This meant that nine men had to share an area that was 4 feet, nine inches, by 6 feet, 2 inches. All three holds on the ship were packed with men in the same manner. The POWs had barely enough room to sit down if their knees were drawn up under their chins. The heat was also unbelievable, so the Japanese allowed small groups of POWs up on the deck at night in shifts, but even this was not organized.
Meals on the ship consisted of rice and a watery soup but the sickest POWs did not eat. The amount of water given to the POWs was almost non-existent. The ship sailed on November 7, 1942. The bodies of those who died were left in the holds for days before the Japanese allowed them to be removed. The POWs apparently called the ship the “Maggot Maru.”
In the hold, with Ben were Lt. Col. Ted Wickord, Capt. Ruben Schwass, Lts. Tom Savage, Richard Danca, and Sgt. Jack Griswold. Capt. Schwass, Lt. Danca and Sgt. Griswold. Both were said to be in bad shape. Lt. Richard Danca died while the ship was docked at Takao, Formosa, on November 11, 1942. His body was taken ashore and cremated. Ben believed his ashes were given to Col. Wickord for safekeeping.
During the trip, the two boards that were left off the hatch opening for ventilation were put in place at night and a tarp was put over the boards. This made the holds hotter. The Japanese had set up two latrines for the POWs. One was on each side of the ship’s deck and since so many of the POWs had dysentery and diarrhea, it soon became obvious this was not going to work. It was said by men on the ship that there were no toilet facilities and that they were infrequently allowed on deck to go to the washroom. The sick who tried to use the latrines were beaten and kicked by the Japanese for making too much noise passing through the Japanese quarters. When they reached the deck, they ended up waiting in line. For the extremely ill POWs, the Japanese sent down, into the hold, tubs for the extremely ill to use. The sick crawled, rolled, and stumbled to reach the tubs. Because the POWs were dehydrated, the POWs urinated frequently. In addition, those with dysentery and diarrhea could not make it to the tubs which resulted in the POWs standing into several inches of human waste. If they did try to reach the tubs, the men had stepped on the bodies of other POWs. If a POW died, his body was pulled from the hold with ropes and thrown into the sea.
POWs stated that during the trip, the convoy came under attack by a wolf pack of American submarines. It was claimed that seven of the ships in the convoy were sunk.The ship reached Takao, Formosa, on November 11th. While it was docked there, the POWs could not leave the holds. The ship sailed on November 15th and arrived at Mako, Pescadores Islands the same day. They remained in the holds with the fleas, lice, and roaches. The ship sailed again on November 18th and arrived at Keelung, Formosa the same day. The ship sailed again on the 20th and during this part of the trip, the POWs heard and felt the explosions from depth charges. They also heard a torpedo hit the haul of the ship, but it did not detonate. The trip to Japan ended on November 24th, when the ship reached Moji late in the day. At 5:00 P.M. the next day, they disembarked the ship. It is believed that 27 POWs died during the trip to Japan. As they disembarked the ship, each POW received a chip of red or black colored wood. The color of the wood determined what camp the POW was sent to. Once onshore, they were deloused, showered, issued new uniforms, and inoculated.
By ferry, the POWs were taken to Shimonoseki, Honshu, where they were loaded onto a train and took a long ride along the northern side of the Inland Sea to the Osaka-Kobe area. There, the prisoners were divided into two groups according to the color of the wood they had. Ben, along with 500 other POWs, was sent to Tanagawa outside of Osaka which also was known as Osaka #4.
“We marched into Tanagawa at nightfall. There were five new barracks very flimsily constructed with dirt floors and paper-thin walls coming to six inches off the floor. The barracks were very cold. There were two decks of bunks with a ladder going up every twenty feet to the second deck which was 8 to 10 feet off the ground. Shoes had to be taken off at the foot of the ladder. At the foot of each bunk were five synthetic blankets made out of peanut shell fiber and a rigid pillow in the shape of a small cylinder packed with rice husks. The barracks had no heat and with temperatures falling below freezing, the conditions were pretty tough. After coming from the tropics, this was quite a shock to your system.”
The camp was a “hell hole” and proved to be a death camp. It was there that Ben had his first experience with lice. He also suffered from diarrhea and intestinal cramps. The officers in the camp were not required to build the breakwater with the enlisted men, but they were assigned duties. The officers were required to clean the camp. One of the things they were expected to clean was the latrines. They also had the job of taking the dead to be cremated.
One day, he was assigned to the burial detail working with 2nd Lt. Henry M. Knox of A Company, 192nd Tank Battalion. The two soldiers went to the designated area to pick up the body of a POW who had died. To share the work, one man would pull the cart while the other man pushed. The two men lifted a body onto the burial cart. After the body was on the cart, Ben looked down and recognized the dead POW as Sgt. Jack Griswold, his high school classmate from Proviso. According to Ben, Griswold had wasted away to nothing. Morin and Knox collected the necessary wood and took Sgt. Griswold’s remains to a crematorium. They then returned his ashes to the camp commandant.
The POWs, regardless of rank, were required to work at removing the side of a mountain for a Japanese Navy dry dock in violation of the Geneva Convention. The POWs were subjected to daily beatings during morning and evening muster. At many of them, they were forced to stand at attention for 2 to 6 hours sometimes resulting in them not receiving their next meal. Shoes, rifle butts, belts, sticks, shovels, clubs, fists, and even furniture were used in the beatings.
Corporal punishment was common in the camp and done for the slightest reason or for no reason. One guard in the camp, Tsunesuke Tsuda, beat the POWs the most because he wanted to break their spirit and humble them. Most of the beatings took place during the morning muster or evening muster while the POWs were at attention. The POWs were punched, slapped, clubbed, kicked, and hit with shoes and belts. Even furniture was used on the POWs as they stood at attention. Some POWs were hit in the throat which resulted in their not being able to speak for a week. He beat the POWs so severely and often, that he was required to sign a statement not to beat the POWs under penalty of death.
No real reason was needed for the beatings, but a violation of some camp rule usually was the given reason. If a workgroup of POWs did not remove their quota of material from the work site, they received a beating. Usually, the reason they failed to meet the quota as they were too hungry and weak to do the work. While being beaten, the POWs were forced to hold a heavy log or rock above their heads. On one occasion 30 officers were made to stand at attention so that the Japanese could find out who had misplaced a Japanese book.
During this time, on January 9, 1943, that his parents received word from the War Department that Ben was a Prisoner of War.
REPORT JUST RECEIVED THROUGH INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS STATES THAT YOUR SON SECOND LIEUTENANT BENJAMIN R MORIN IS A PRISONER OF WAR OF THE JAPANESE GOVERNMENT IN PHILIPPINE ISLANDS LETTER OF INFORMATION FOLLOWS FROM THE PROVOST MARSHALL GENERAL=
ULIO THE ADJUTANT GENERAL=
Not long after this, they received a letter from the War Department.
“Benjamin Morin
1301 South 9th Avenue
Maywood
“The Provost Marshal General directs me to inform you that you may communicate with your son, postage free, by following the inclosed instructions:
“It is suggested that you address him as follows:
“2nd Lt. Ben R. Morin, U.S. Army
Interned in the Philippine Islands
C/O Japanese Red Cross, Tokyo, Japan
Via New York, New York
“Packages cannot be sent to the Orient at this time. When transportation facilities are available a package permit will be issued you.
“Further information will be forwarded you as soon as it is received.
“Sincerely
“Howard F. Bresee
“Colonel, CMP
“Chief Information Bureau”
In mid-January 1943, he was one of 150 officers who left Tanagawa by rail to the Island of Shikoku to Hiroshima #1 which was also known as Zentsuji, near the City of Shikoku. The POWs arrived on January 15, 1943, at what was to be his home for the next two and one-half years. The camp was used in Japanese propaganda to show how well the POWs were being treated. The camp’s population was mostly officers. In all, there were 700 officers and enlisted men in the camp, and he met American officers who were not captured in the Philippines, as well as, British and Australian officers.
In the camp, two guards were known for their mistreatment of the POWs. One was called “Leatherwrist” and the other was called “Clubfist,” since both their right hands had been injured. The two hit the POWs, but since their right hands were of little use, they usually knocked them to the ground and kicked them with their hobnail boots. In addition, POWs were often beaten for no apparent reason with kendo sticks, bayonets, and rifle butts.
No real reason was needed for the beatings, but a violation of some camp rule usually was the given reason. If a workgroup of POWs did not remove their quota of material from the work site, they received a beating. Usually, the reason they failed to meet the quota as they were too hungry and weak to do the work. While being beaten, the POWs were forced to hold a heavy log or rock above their heads. On one occasion 30 officers were made to stand at attention so that the Japanese could find out who had misplaced a Japanese book.
At night the POWs read books by the light of a 15-watt light bulb that hung high above their heads. After reading for hours, the POWs no longer felt hungry. This allowed them to fall asleep even though fleas and rats were crawling over them.
The POWs worked as stevedores at rail yards and a port. When the areas around a train station and the train yards were bombed, the Japanese locked the POWs in the baggage and boxcars and took shelter in air raid shelters. The POWs had a good idea of what was going on in the war from Japanese newspapers they were able to get a hold of. Among the prisoners were British officers who could read Japanese and tell the other men what was in the news. On June 6, 1944, all newspapers were banned from the camp, but the POWs smuggled them into the camp and continued to read them.
At this time, Capt. Ruben Schwass was in the infirmary because he too was on the verge of death. Ben would visit Capt. Schwass and removed his lice-covered shorts to clean them since Schwass was suffering from dysentery. Ben would wash the undershorts and allow the cold water and temperature to shock the lice which made them easy to remove. Ben would hang the shorts on the barbed wire fence surrounding the camp. The next day Capt. Schwass would have “clean” shorts to wear. Without adequate food, Capt. Ruben Schwass died from the disease. When Ben was asked why he had done this for Schwass, he said, “Everyone should die with dignity.”
What is known about life in the camp was the POWs took classes in foreign languages, military tactics, cooking, science, drawing, and in sewing and knitting. Medical operations were performed and it is known that POWs had their tonsils, appendixes, and gallstones removed without anesthetic.
In each barracks, 30 men lived in each room. Each man had a space that was 2 feet wide and 7 feet long for his living quarters. A guard came through the barracks every 30 minutes. They often rewarded to punished the POWs by taking away their mattresses and blankets or giving them blankets. The POWs believed that the Japanese code of discipline was based on their belief of saving face.
The POWs stated that the Japanese doctors had figured out how much food each POW had to receive each day to keep the man alive. To the POWs the Japanese “saving face” controlled everything they did in the camp. When they gave out food like jam, bread, and fruit, it was distributed in minuscule amounts that had no traditional value. If the POWs asked for more at a later date, they were given an answer similar to “We just gave you that six weeks ago.” Unlike other camps, it appears the POWs received more Red Cross packages while in the camp. When the POWs received them, the Japanese would have to save face and give the POWs things they believed were just as good as what was in the boxes. Depending on when the POWs arrived in the camp, he may have received as many as 11 Red Cross boxes.
The POWs worked as stevedores at rail yards and a port. When the areas around a train station and the train yards were bombed, the Japanese locked the POWs in the baggage and boxcars and took shelter in air raid shelters.
Sometime in July, his parents received a letter he wrote. In it, he said:
“To the people of Maywood.
“The tankers are still unbowed under the bludgeonings of Fate. The following are only a few of the many local men who had their chins up when last I saw them in November ’42: Capt. Hanes, Lts. Holland and Merrifield, Sgts. Heilig, Hildebrandt, Al Edwards, Jordan and Griffin, Cpls. Jack Cahill and Dravo, and Pvts. Martin, Zelis, Gados, Jim Edwards, Kwiatkowski, Boni, and Bird.
“Col. Wickord and Lt. Tom Savage of Oak Park are here with me. We are making a perpetual 54 day-day Novena to Our Blessed Mother under whose protection we have placed ourselves. Please correspond with Mrs. Wickord, and Mrs. Savage. I have made many friends among our brother officers. My closest includes an officer who has been there and back with me, Norman WIdes of Lexington, Kentucky, and also Father Vic Turner, an Australian Jesuit, who is a true spiritual father and friend to me.
“I received your package today, and I appreciate not only the choice contents, but also the personal touch which flavored it. It brought me back into your kitchen, Mom, Please send me one of my old sweaters, some woolen socks, and photographs, and a pipe and tobacco.”
On June 25, 1945, the POWs were boarded boxcars and baggage cars. By this point in the war, American planes roamed the skies over Japan at will. During the trip, on several occasions, the Japanese uncoupled the engine from the cars and left the cars sitting on the rails as a target, when they believed the train was going to be strafed. The POWs made it safely to their new camp.
During the trip, the POWs witnessed the Japanese command system in action. When they pulled into one station the bento boxes containing the food for the POWs were not at the station. The Japanese prison officer bawled out the Japanese lieutenant – who was the station officer – and slapped him across the face a couple of times. After he left, the lieutenant called over the first sergeant, yelled at him, and slapped him. The sergeant did the same to a corporal, who did the same to a private first class who called his detail to the station with the bento boxes. The POWs enjoyed their meal.
According to the POWs when they arrived at the camp, they were told that they would have to earn their room and board by working. Their job was to clear semi-fertile mountainsides and plant sweet potatoes and soybeans.
On June 11, 1945, Ben was caught by the Japanese crawling under the wire outside the compound because he was on his way to the bakery to steal hardtack. He was taken to the camp office and beaten around the face with a web belt for 10 minutes. When the beating was over, his face was badly swollen and cut. The Japanese refused to allow him to have medical treatment and took him to the guardhouse. There, he had to strip down to his shorts and spend 9 days on half rations. Ben was repeatedly beaten by the Japanese because he challenged their treatment of the POWs. He would repeatedly tell them that their actions were in violation of the Geneva Convention.
On August 1st and 2nd, two large formations of American planes flew over the camp. Two POWs escaped from the camp on the 4th but were captured on the 6th and returned to the camp. Neither man looked as if he had been mistreated. It was on the 17th that the POWs were informed they did not have to work. Since this included the enlisted POWs and this was seen as being unprecedented. The POWs hoped the war would soon be over.
There are two stories of how the POWs learned the war was over. According to one story, the POWs were planting sweet potatoes when the phone in the camp office rang. In a sharp clear voice in English, the person on the other end requested that he be allowed to speak to the ranking American officer. The ranking American officer was sent to the office. As it turned out, it was the American command in Tokyo notifying the POWs that the war was over.
The second story is quite simple. According to this story, which was written in a diary, it was on Aug. 22, 1945, at about 3:30 pm the camp commandant told the senior POW officer the war was over. The senior POW then announced to the other POWs the war was over.
The POWs were liberated from the camp on September 7, 1945. The next day the former POWs rode a train to Yokohama, where, they were greeted by an American band playing the song, “California, Here I Come.” Many of the POWs became overwhelmed by their emotions. They were taken down to the docks and stripped off the clothing they had received during the airdrops from B-29s. The clothing was thrown into 55-gallon drums and burnt. They were sprayed with DDT and then showered. Next, they were issued new clothing and shoes. After this was done, they had a meal of hotcakes, jam, butter, and coffee waiting for them. They boarded a hospital ship and were given physicals. It was at this time that it was determined if a man was sent back to the Philippines or immediately to the United States. It was at this time that he was promoted to First Lieutenant.
He returned to the United States on the U.S.S. Rescue, at San Francisco, on October 10, 1945. When he returned to Maywood, he found that his parents had purchased a new home, and he didn’t know where they lived. He was discharged on June 30, 1946, but was awarded the Legion of Merit in October 1946. The citation read:
“He performed heroic service on December 22, 1941, north of Damortis, Luzon, Philippine Islands. Aggressively led his unit to meet an approaching enemy force, and in the vicinity of Agoo engaged in the first American tank vs. tank engagement of WWII.”
Ben joined the Society of Jesus which is better known as “The Jesuits” on September 1, 1946, and was ordained a Roman Catholic priest. He worked as a missionary in Peru for 38 years before retiring to the Jesuit retirement home in Clarkston, Michigan, where he resided until his death on April 23, 2015. Ben Morin was the last surviving officer of the 192nd Tank Battalion and was buried in the cemetery at Columbiere Center in Clarkston, Michigan, on April 28, 2015.
On a final note, Ben Morin’s brother, Arthur, served in the 15th Air Force with Harry Martin the brother of Bob Martin. Bob Martin was a high school classmate of Ben’s and also a member of the 192nd Tank Battalion.
