Sgt. Philip R. Parish was born on May 2, 1909, in Ontario, Wisconsin, and was the son of Dora and Hollis Parish. He attended Billings Creek Elementary School in Ontario, which was very close to the farm he grew up on as a child. He also attended Ontario High School and after high school went to barber school in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1934, he traveled to Janesville to start working as a barber and resided at 1318 South Jackson Street with relatives. Being a barber, Phil needed to supplement his income, which led to him joining the 32nd Tank Company of the Wisconsin National Guard in 1938. In the tank company, he was joined by his cousins, Fay and Ray Baldon days before it was federalized.
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. This would allow the Armor Force to develop into a real fighting force. To do this the National Guard tank battalions were called to federal service and available to the infantry.
The members of the company, on November 25th at 7:00 AM, were inducted into the U.S. Army and given physicals, and by noon the same day, two men had failed their physicals and been released from federal service. Later that day, another two men were released from service. The next day, the 26th, the officers went to Chicago where they were given physicals. Two officers failed. One was released and the other, 1st Lt. Russell Thorman, who recently had major surgery was allowed time to recover and later rejoined the company. A 24-hour guard was posted outside the armory and the men lived in the armory and spent their time drilling. One day they had a snowball fight.
During this time, four men were sent to Camp Williams, Wisconsin, to pick up additional equipment while two other men traveled to Camp Douglas, Wisconsin, to pick up additional clothing. At the same time, a three-man detail was sent to Danville, Illinois, where another detachment of soldiers would spend the night at an armory there. A detachment under Lt. Fred Bruni and 23 soldiers left the armory at 7:00 A.M. on November 27th in nine trucks carrying the company’s baggage. It is known that the roads were ice-covered so the trip was slow and the conditions resulted in one truck hitting a civilian’s car causing $100.00 in damages. No other information is available about the incident. The roads improved the further south the convoy traveled. The soldiers spent the night at the armory in Danville, before heading south to Ft. Knox arriving there sometime later in the afternoon.
Between 4:00 and 5:00 P.M. on November 28th, the main detachment of soldiers marched from the armory to the Milwaukee Road train station in Janesville where they boarded special cars that had been added to the Marquette to Chicago train. One was a flatcar with the company’s two tanks on it. At some point, the train cars were uncoupled from the train and switched onto the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad line that went to Maywood, Illinois. There, the members of B Company boarded the train, and their equipment – including their two tanks – was loaded onto the train. In Chicago, the soldiers disembarked the train and rode busses to the Illinois Central Station. The train cars were switched onto the Illinois Central Railroad. They headed south sometime during the night, the train crossed the Ohio River on a bridge that was described as a mile long and 20 feet above the river. They also noticed there was no snow on the ground.
The train followed the river and passed through Louisville. It was noted by men that they passed by bourbon distilleries and tobacco warehouses. When they arrived at Fort Knox, the post band was waiting and playing for them. They disembarked the train and boarded trucks that took them to temporary barracks. The ground was described as clay with grass that was greener than at home. The base was described as eight square miles of barracks with more being built.
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. The surrounding ground was described as clay and the streets were made of shale. 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 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.
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. 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.
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.
It is known that he was one of the soldiers who went home for Christmas. Most of those soldiers paid $12.00 each and left Ft. Knox at about 1:00 P.M. on Saturday, December 21st – by chartered bus – and arrived in Janesville at about 3:00 A.M. on Sunday, December 22nd. In Phil’s case, he got a ride home in a car. For those who 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 who went home remained in Janesville until the afternoon of Christmas Day when they boarded the chartered bus for the return trip to Ft. Knox.
After they arrived at Ft. Knox at 5:55 A.M. on December 26th, 1st Sgt. Dale Lawton was waiting having been given the job of picking men to be transferred to the soon-to-be-formed HQ Company. Men were picked for the company because they had special training. The men assigned to the battalion’s maintenance section were the first trained since they had to rebuild 16 tanks that came out of the Ft. Knox junkyard. Many of these men received promotions and because of their rating received higher pay.
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 also in January that the companies had their first target practice. Each company spent one week at the firing range learning to use their thirty-caliber and fifty-caliber machine guns and forty-five-caliber pistols. This took place at the 1st Cavalry Test range where the tanks could be maneuvered and the guns fired simultaneously. 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 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 A Company since their barracks were unfinished, but they moved into their 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 Jan. 10th. The tents were on concrete slabs and had wooden walls that were screened with canvas starting about halfway up the wall, and each tent had a door. In the center of each tent was a stove for heat and each tent had electricity to light it. New men joined the company at various times as men's enlistments in the National Guard ended and men were sent home.
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. They also went to the gas chamber where they could not leave until they removed their masks.
The draftees were trained by 5 officers from the battalion and 18 enlisted men under the direction of the 69th Armored Force (medium). 1st Armor Division, for administration and supply. The 192nd’s tank crews and reconnaissance units trained with the regiment’s tanks and reconnaissance units; later they trained with their own companies. Each company was made up of three platoons of thirty men and each company was supposed to have 17 tanks assigned to it. The one exception was Headquarters Company which was supposed to receive three tanks.
Each company now had a maintenance tent so they could make minor repairs to their tanks. It was noted that the men from every company seemed to enjoy working on their tanks. They were also taking the tanks out on the trails and obstacle driving which resulted in the companies developing many good tank crews. Flu became an issue at this time and as many as 15 battalion members were in the hospital with it at any time.
Most of the men were attending the various schools they were assigned to on January 13th taking classes lasting until May 31st. 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.
While the men were in school, the company found it hard to carry on the necessary duties that needed to be done. 1st Sgt Dale Lawton and his staff sergeants found themselves assuming the duties of kitchen police and pulled guard duty so that those enlisted men not attending armored school and who were being overworked doing these jobs had a break from them.
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 men assigned to the HQ Company moved into their three 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 March 20, 1941, the entire battalion was moved to new larger barracks at Wilson Road and Seventh Avenue at Ft. Knox. The barracks had bathing and washing facilities, a day room, and a kitchen with a gas range and two ice boxes. The new mess halls 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 the battalion on March 21st after completing six weeks of basic training. Men whose National Guard enlistments ended were replaced by other men from Wisconsin as needed.
The four letter companies were made up of three platoons of thirty men and each company had the same number of tanks assigned to it. 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. They also took part in a 15-mile hike during the month. The company also received additional tanks, trucks, light trucks, and what they called "peeps." These would later be known as jeeps.
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. On Sundays, the soldiers played the most baseball games. The majority of the company went into Louisville on weekends. 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.
It was at this time that more men from Selective Service joined the permanently company since the battalion had moved into its permanent barracks in March. Their basic training had been shortened and may have been merely weeks long. When they finished their training, they were sent to their assigned schools for specialist training.
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.
The members of the company every week rode a bus to Louisville. Many members of the company went to the Kentucky Derby on May 3rd. The week of May 12th, the battalion was selected to escort the Secretary of War and Assistant Secretary of War when they visited Ft. Knox. When their plane landed at the airport, two bands played and a 19-gun salute took place. The tankers stood in front of their tanks and were inspected by the Secretary of War. The escort consisted of motorcycles followed by 17 tanks.
During the same week, the base was visited by other dignitaries. Ten congressmen visited Friday and the tank battalion provided tanks and motorcycles that were lined up in front of General Chaffe's house. Bansa played and a 17-gun salute took place. Later that day the battalion went out on an attack with the First Armored Division which was part of the ceremonies for the congressmen.
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 and may have been picking up additional trucks. 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. A sergeant in B Company wrote a letter home telling his parents that they had heard the rumor, earlier that month, that they were being sent to the Philippines. He stated that they relieved having since heard that the 194th Tank Battalion - stationed at Ft. Lewis, Washington - would be going to the Philippine instead. 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.
Phil recalled that he was in the supply tent when papers were brought to him by a battalion runner. Because he was over 29, he was being allowed to be discharged from the Army. All he had to do was sign the papers. In his own words, “Up to that time, I had no difficulty with decisions—generally depending on my own judgment. But now my mind wavered between two rather important choices. I asked the runner to stop back a little later in the afternoon. In the meantime, I went around back of the tent and sat down, where I could be quietly alone for a brief time. Feeling a real need for guidance, I told God so and asked for help in making the right decision.
“Returning to my work, no gongs had sounded, no signs in the sky, but it was as though the decision had been made for me. My mind was calm, relaxed, and at ease. When the runner returned for the papers, I asked him to return them unsigned; I would be going.”
Both the new and old battalion members were given furloughs home to say their goodbyes. Those who did not receive furloughs had the job of inspecting the new tanks and putting cosmoline on any weapon that possibly could rust while at sea. While on furlough home, Phil saw Dorothy Ramaker, whom he had known several years, and began a relationship with her. A few days before he was to return to Ft. Knox, he sort of proposed to her, and she sort of accepted.
After their furloughs, the men returned to Camp Polk, where they prepared for duty overseas. In Phil’s case, he attempted to get discharged from the Army, but he found out that it was too late. Even the chaplain told him that he doubted he could help him.
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.
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.
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 USAT 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.
The 192nd boarded the USAT Gen. Hugh L. Scott and sailed on Monday, October 27th. During this part of the trip, many tankers had seasickness and also had a hard time walking on deck until they got their “sea legs.” It was stated that about one-tenth of the battalion showed up for inspection the first morning on the ship. Once they recovered they spent much of the time training in breaking down machine guns, cleaning weapons, and doing KP. The ship arrived at Honolulu, Hawaii, on Sunday, November 2nd, and had a four-day layover. As the ship docked, men threw coins in the water and watched native boys dive into the water after them. Most of the soldiers were given shore leave so they could see the island.
Phil and Jack Bruce remained on the ship because they had to count the company’s laundry so that it could be sent to a commercial laundry. Once they were done, they took a cab to what was called “uptown.” There they ate a good meal before going their separate ways.
During this time the soldiers visited pineapple ranches, coconut groves, and Waikiki Beach which some said was a lot of hype and nothing but stones since it was man-made. Phil visited the Dole pineapple cannery where the visitors could drink all the fresh pineapple juice they wanted. One of the biggest regrets Phil would have was that he and Jack had stopped at a small cafe on the last day of shore leave and ate. One of the two had ordered a large piece of raisin pie, but they were too full to eat much of it. As POWs, they often thought of that piece of pie.
Before they left Hawaii, an attempt was made to secure two 37-millimeter guns and ammunition so that the guns could be set up on the ship’s deck and the tank crews could learn how to load them and fire them, but they were unable to acquire the guns.
Before the ship sailed, an attempt was made to secure two 37-millimeter guns and ammunition so that the guns could be set up on the ship’s deck and the tank crews could learn how to load them and fire them, but they were unable to acquire the guns. On Thursday, November 6th, the ship sailed for Guam but took a southerly route away from the main shipping lanes. It was at this time it was joined by, the heavy cruiser, the USS. Louisville, and, another transport, the USAT President Calvin Coolidge. The ships headed west in a zig-zag pattern. Since the Scott had been a passenger ship, they ate in large dining rooms, and it was stated the food was better than average Army food. As the ships got closer to the equator the hold they slept in got hotter and hotter, so many of the men began sleeping on the ship's deck. They learned quickly to get up each morning or get soaked by the ship's crew cleaning the decks. Sunday night, November 9th, the soldiers went to bed and when they awoke the next morning, it was Tuesday, November 11th. During the night, while they slept, the ships crossed the International Dateline. Two members of the battalion stated the ship made a quick stop at Wake Island to drop off a radar crew and equipment.
During this part of the voyage that lasted 16 days, fire drills were held every two days, the soldiers spent their time attending lectures, playing craps and cards, reading, writing letters, and sunning themselves on deck. Other men did the required work like turning over the tanks’ engines by hand and the clerks caught up on their paperwork. The soldiers were also given other jobs to do, such as painting the ship. Each day 500 men reported to the officers and needle-chipped paint off the lifeboats and then painted the boats. By the time they arrived in Manila, every boat had been painted. Other men not assigned to the paint detail for that day attended classes. In addition, there was always KP.
Two men stated that the ship made a stop at Wake Island, but this has not been verified. It is known that around this time, radar equipment and its operators arrived on the island. On Saturday, November 15th, smoke from an unknown ship was seen on the horizon. The Louisville revved up its engines, its bow came out of the water, and it took off in the direction of the smoke. It turned out that the unknown ship was from a friendly country. Two other intercepted ships were Japanese freighters hauling scrap metal to Japan.
Albert Dubois, A Co., stated that they were in a room on the ship and listening to the radio. Recalling the event, he said, "We were playing cards one day at sea. President Roosevelt's speech to America was being piped into the room we were in. I still hear his voice that evening in November 1941. 'I hate war, Eleanor hates war. We all hate war. Your sons will not and shall not go overseas!' We were already halfway to the Philippines."
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.
Phil and Jack spent most of this time going over the company’s inventory. While they did this job, Capt. Write was with them. At different times, both men had to go to the other storage tent to look at something. That something was the rum and coke they had hidden. When Capt. Write figured out what they had been doing, he said if he had found it out earlier, he could have used a drink.
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.
On Monday, December 1st, the tanks were ordered to the perimeter of Clark Field to guard against paratroopers. The 194th guarded the northern end of the airfield, while the 192nd guarded the southern end where the two runways came together and formed a V. Two members of every tank crew remained with their tanks at all times, and meals were brought to them by food trucks. On Sunday, December 7th, the tankers spent a great deal of the day loading bullets into machine gun belts and putting live shells for the tanks’ main guns into the tanks.
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.
After hearing the news, Capt. Write went to his company and informed his men that Japan had bombed Pearl Harbor. To an extent, the news of the war was no surprise to the men, and many had come to the conclusion it was inevitable. The remaining members of the tank crews, not with their tanks, went to their tanks at the southern end of the Clark Field. The battalion’s half-tracks joined the tanks and took up positions next to them.
Phil was in the mess tent awaiting his turn to wash his mess kit. Someone in line said, “Are those our planes?” Phil responded by saying, “If they’re not, we’ll soon know about it.”
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.
Phil threw down his mess kit and grabbed his pistol belt and helmet. He dove into a ditch for protection. The bombs hit the hangars and barracks. Shrapnel was flying everywhere without foxholes for the men many had no place to hide. After the bombers, the Zeros came next. They strafed and destroyed the American planes on the runways.
Phil said about the attack, “We weren’t too surprised by the attack. When we were in Honolulu on the way over, the people there knew it was coming.” Remembering the attack, Phil said, “We were lucky. The bombs managed to somehow fall between the tanks right down the line.” He also said, “The tanks .37 millimeter guns were supposed to be used as anti-aircraft guns. For whatever good that would have been. The joker was the men had never fired the guns. We took our training in the older models that only had machine guns. We’d never fired a 37 mm shell.”
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.
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.
That night, he and Wesley Elmer dug a shoulder-deep hole and parked a truck over it. 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.
The next day, Phil walked around Clark Field to look at the damage. In his opinion, there were hundreds of dead. Some were pilots who had been caught asleep in their tents during the attack because they had flown night missions. Others were pilots who had been killed attempting to get to their planes to get them off the ground. 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.
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.
The tankers worked building makeshift runways away from Clark Field and digging a pit to put radio equipment for the airfield underground. While digging the pit, men stated they would never work in the pit. Seven or ten P-40s flew to the airfield and landed. All but one were later destroyed on the ground. The one plane that did get airborne was never seen again. When the airfield was attacked, all the men working in the radio pit were buried alive.
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 tank battalion received orders on December 21st to proceed north to Lingayen Gulf to relieve the 26th Cavalry, Philippine Scouts. During this move, B Company rejoined the battalion. B and C Companies were sent north but because of logistics problems, they soon ran low on fuel. When they reached Rosario on the 22nd, there was only enough gas for one tank platoon, from B Company, to proceed north to support the 26th Cavalry. Lt. Ben Morin’s platoon approached Agoo when it ran head-on into a Japanese motorized unit. The Japanese light tanks had no turrets and sloped armor. The shells of the Americans glanced off the tanks. Morin’s tank was knocked out and his crew was captured. During this engagement, a member of a tank crew, Pvt. Henry J. Deckert, was killed by enemy fire and was later buried in a churchyard. This was the first tank action in World War II involving American tanks. The rest of the tanks never reached the landing area because they were ordered from the area because of the lack of fuel for them. The tanks served as a rear guard, from this time on, holding roads open until all the other troops withdrew before falling back to another predetermined position to repeat the action. The Provisional Tank Group Headquarters remained in Manila until December 23rd when it moved with the 194th north out of Manila.
On December 23rd and 24th, the battalion was in the Urdaneta area. The bridge they were going to use to cross the Agno River was destroyed and the tankers made an end run to get south of the river. As they did this, they ran into Japanese resistance early in the evening. They successfully crossed the river in the Bayambang Province. One tank platoon went through the town of Gapan. After they were through the town, they were informed it had been held by the Japanese. They could never figure out why the Japanese had not fired on them.
On Christmas Day, the tankers had a turkey dinner which amazed them since they hadn't showered or changed their clothes for eighteen days. A Company lost its commander, Capt. Walter Write, on December 26th. According to the story, he saw Sergeant Owen Sandmire placing landmines in the road. The mines were made by Philippine Ordnance from cigar boxes with dynamite. Write took a mine away from Sandmire and told them it looked funny. As he was placing it, it exploded in his hands. Before he died, he asked that roses be placed on his grave, but since there were no roses, the men placed a native red flower on his grave. The tanks held the position until 5:30 in the morning on December 27th when the 192nd and part of the 194th fell back to form a new defensive line. From there, they fell back to the south bank of the BanBan River which they were supposed to hold for as long as possible. The tanks were at Santo Tomas near Cabanatuan on December 28th and 29th serving as a rear guard against the Japanese.
The tanks were near Santo Tomas on the 28th and were spread out from east to west and were being bombed and shelled. A few minor injuries were reported. They were ordered to fall back to San Isidro which was located south of Cabanatuan where they were shelled again resulting in one tank being flipped onto its side when a shell landed near it. The crew was taken to a field hospital with minor injuries. The tank was put in an upright position and manned by another crew. It was noted that the tank crews were physically in poor condition from lack of sleep, lack of food, and constantly being on alert.
The night of the 29th, A Company's 2nd and 3rd platoons were at Zaeagosa and bivouacked for the night on both sides of a road. A noise was heard and the sentries woke up the tank crews. The tankers watched a Japanese bicycle battalion of 100 to 300 men come riding down the road and into their bivouac. The tankers opened up with everything they had. When they ceased fire, they had wiped out the entire bicycle battalion. When they were ordered to withdraw, the tanks went over the bodies.
It was at this time that a platoon of B Company tanks found itself on a road holding up the Japanese advance. without knowing it, five tanks took a narrow road that led to the Japanese lines. The drivers of the tanks stayed close enough so that they could see the tank in front of their tank when a shell exploded behind one of the tanks. The tanks were trapped since there was no room for them to turn around. At Ft. Knox, they were taught that if you are lost, or trapped, to double your speed. The tanks hurdled down the road running through gun nests. a roadblock, and running down Japanese soldiers. The tanks turned around, ran through the Japanese positions again, and escaped.
The next morning, December 30th, 2nd Lt. William Read's, A Co., 192nd, tank platoon was serving as a rearguard and was in a dry rice paddy when it came under enemy fire by Japanese mortars. Read was riding in a tank when one of the enemy rounds hit one of its tracks knocking it out. After escaping the tank, Read stood in front of it and attempted to free the crew. A second round hit the tank, directly below where he was standing blowing off his legs at the knees and leaving him mortally wounded. The other members of his crew carried Read from the tank and laid him under a bridge. Read would not allow himself to be evacuated since there were other wounded soldiers. He insisted that these men be taken first. He would die in the arms of Pvt. Ray Underwood as the Japanese overran the area.
The Japanese had broken through two Philippine Divisions holding Route 5 and C Company was ordered to Baluiag to stop the advance so that the remaining forces could withdraw. On the morning of December 31st, 1st Lt. William Gentry, commanding officer of a platoon of C Company tanks, sent out reconnaissance patrols north of the town of Baluiag. The patrols ran into Japanese patrols, which told the Americans that the Japanese were on their way. Knowing that the railroad bridge was the only way to cross the river into the town, Gentry set up his defenses in view of the bridge and the rice patty it crossed. One platoon of tanks under the command of 2nd Lt. Marshall Kennady was to the southeast of the bridge, while Gentry’s tanks were to the south of the bridge hidden in huts in the barrio. The third platoon commanded by Capt Harold Collins was to the south on the road leading out of Baluiag, and 2nd Lt. Everett Preston had been sent south to find a bridge to cross to attack the Japanese from behind.
Early on the morning of the 31st, the Japanese began moving troops across the bridge. The engineers came next and put down planking for tanks. A little before noon Japanese tanks began crossing the bridge. Later that day, the Japanese assembled a large number of troops in the rice field on the northern edge of the town.
Major John Morley, of the Provisional Tank Group, came riding in his jeep into Baluiag. He stopped in front of a hut and was spotted by the Japanese who had lookouts on the town’s church steeple. The guard became very excited so Morley, not wanting to give away the tanks’ positions, got into his jeep and drove off. Gentry had told Morley that his tanks would hold their fire until he was safely out of the village. When Gentry felt the Morley was out of danger, he ordered his tanks to open up on the Japanese tanks at the end of the bridge. The tanks then came smashing through the huts’ walls and drove the Japanese in the direction of Lt. Marshall Kennady’s tanks. Kennady had been radioed and was waiting. Kennady held his fire until the Japanese were within view of his platoon and then joined in the hunt. The Americans chased the tanks up and down the streets of the village, through buildings and under them. By the time C Company was ordered to disengage from the enemy, they had knocked out at least eight enemy tanks.
C Company withdrew to Calumpit Bridge after receiving orders from Provisional Tank Group. When they reached the bridge, they discovered it had been blown. Finding a crossing the tankers made it to the south side of the river. Knowing that the Japanese were close behind, the Americans took their positions in a harvested rice field and aimed their guns to fire a tracer shell through the harvested rice. This would cause the rice to ignite which would light the enemy troops. The tanks were about 100 yards apart. The Japanese crossing the river knew that the Americans were there because the tankers shouted at each other to make the Japanese believe troops were in front of them. The Japanese were within a few yards of the tanks when the tanks opened fire which caused the rice stacks to catch fire. The fighting was such a rout that the tankers were using a 37 mm shell to kill one Japanese soldier.
The tank company was next sent to the Barrio of Porac to aid the Philippine Army which was having trouble with Japanese artillery fire. From a Filipino lieutenant, they learned where the guns were located and attacked destroying three of the guns and chasing the Japanese destroying trucks, and killing the infantry. The tanks were ordered to fall back to San Fernando and were refueled and received ammunition. From this time on, the tank battalions served as a rear guard and held roads open until other units passed them and organized a new defensive line. Once it had been established, they then dropped back to the new line.
As the Americans and Filipino troops fell back toward Bataan, the tanks found themselves with the job of holding the roads open until all other troops withdrew and a new defensive line was established. Once this was done, the tanks received the order to disengaged and fell back to the new line of defense. Being that Phil was supplying the tanks, he had to figure where the tanks were now located. At times, he found himself behind enemy lines.
The tanks were stationed on both sides of the Calumpit Bridge, on December 31st and January 1st. keeping the bridge open for the Southern Luzon forces. The defenders were attempting to stop the Japanese advance down Route 5 which would allow the Southern Luzon Forces to withdraw into Bataan. Platoons from B and C Company saw movement in the distance and opened fire. They later learned that they had knocked out five Japanese tanks. It was while doing this job that the defenders received orders to withdraw. General Wainwright was unaware of the orders since they came from Gen. MacArthur’s chief of staff. Because of the orders, there was confusion among the Filipinos and American forces defending the bridge over the Pampanga River with half of the defenders withdrawing. Due to the efforts of the Self-Propelled Mounts, the 71st Field Artillery, and a fierce attack by the 192nd Tank Battalion the Japanese were halted and the Southern Luzon Forces crossed the bridge.
From January 2nd to 4th, the 192nd was again holding a road open from San Fernando to Dinalupihan so the southern forces could escape. A Company, on January 5th, was near the Gumain River attached to the 194th Tank Battalion. It was evening and they believed they were in a relatively safe place. Lt. Kenneth Bloomfield told his men to get some sleep. Their sleep was interrupted by the sound of a gunshot. The tankers had no idea that they were about to engage the Japanese who had launched a major offensive. There was a great deal of confusion and the battle lasted until 5:00 A.M. when the Japanese broke off the attack having suffered 50 percent casualties.
It was at this time the tank battalions received these orders which came from Gen. Weaver: “Tanks will execute maximum delay, staying in position and firing at visible enemy until further delay will jeopardize withdrawal. If a tank is immobilized, it will be fought until the close approach of the enemy, then destroyed; the crew previously taking positions outside and continuing to fight with the salvaged and personal weapons. Considerations of personal safety and expediency will not interfere with accomplishing the greatest possible delay.”
The Japanese attacked on January 6th at Layac Junction. The defenders included the 26th Cavalry, Philippine Scouts, the 31st Infantry Regiment, the 26th Cavalry, artillery, self-propelled mounts, and the tank group. This was the first major battle in the defense of Bataan and the defenders halted the advance. That night the tanks withdrew into the peninsula with the 192nd holding its position so that the 194th could leapfrog past it, cross the bridge, and then cover the 192nd’s withdrawal over the bridge. The engineers were ready to blow up the bridge, but Lt. Col. Ted Wickord, 192nd, noticed A Co. 192nd, was missing and ordered the engineers to wait until he had looked to see if they were anywhere in sight. He found the company, asleep in their tanks, because they had not received the order to withdraw across the bridge. After they had crossed, the bridge was destroyed which made the 192nd the last American unit to enter Bataan. Each tank platoon lost one tank at this time. This was done to provide tanks to D Company, while those crews still without tanks were used as replacements. It was on the 7th, that the food ration was cut in half, and not too long after this was done malaria, dysentery, and dengue fever began hitting the soldiers.
The next day, the battalions were between Culo and Hermosa and assigned a road to enter Bataan which was worse than having no road. The half-tracks kept throwing their rubber tracks and members of the 17th Ordnance Company assigned to each battalion had to re-track them in dangerous situations. The battalion's tanks had shore duty from Abucay to Lamao on the east side of Bataan. The area took most of the Japanese artillery fire, bombings, and strafing. Self-propelled mounts were assigned to the tank group and each needed a driver so tank drivers were reassigned to the SPMs. The SPMs had a crew of an American driver, a Filipino Scout sergeant who commanded the SPM, and a gun crew from the Philippine Army. The tank drivers were replaced by other members of the battalion who could drive tanks. The tank battalions also received 15 Bren-gun carriers each which were driven by members of the Army Air Corps who reassigned themselves to the tank battalions. Other self-attached Army-Air Corps personnel repaired engines, welded, and served in tank crews. The battalion's medics were scattered among the companies providing aid. The battalion dropped back to Kilometer 142 on the 12th and did not stay long. When kitchen trucks arrived, the little food they had was divided up among the men.
During this time, the members of HQ Company drove fuel and supply trucks keeping the tanks supplied. It was not unusual for them to find themselves behind enemy lines since the line had moved since they received their orders. Those trained as tank mechanics kept the tanks running often making the repairs on the front line, while other men repaired electric systems on the tanks.
Fighting the Japanese for the tankers was made more difficult by the fact that when the tank battalions arrived in the Philippines the only shells that they had been issued for their tanks' main guns were armor-piercing shells. As it turned out, the Philippine ordnance department had an abundance of anti-personnel shells from World War I. The 17th Ordnance Company converted over 1,000 rounds for use by the tank crews against the Japanese.
A composite tank company was formed the following day under the command of Capt. Donald Hanes, B Co., 192nd. Its job was to protect the East Coast Road north of Hermosa open and to stop Japanese tanks attempting to use it to overrun the next defensive line that was forming. While in this position, the tanks were under constant enemy artillery fire. The rest of the tanks were ordered to bivouac south of the Abucay-Hacienda Road. When word came that a bridge was going to be blown, all the tanks were ordered out of the area, which included the composite company. This could have resulted in a catastrophe, but the Japanese did not take advantage of the situation. The tanks bivouacked south of the Pilar-Bagac Road and about two kilometers from the East Coast Road. It had almost been one month since the tank crews had a rest. At this time, the tanks had maintenance work done on them by the 17th Ordnance Company. Most of the tank tracks had worn down to bare metal and the radial engines had long past their 400-hour overhauls. It was also on this day that the tank platoons were reduced to three tanks per tank platoon.
On January 12th, Co. D, 192nd, and Co. C, 194th, were sent to Cadre Road in a forward position with little alert time. Land mines were planted on January 13th by ordnance to prevent the Japanese from reaching Cadre Road. C Co., 194th, was sent to Bagac to reopen the Moron Highway which had been cut by the Japanese on January 16th. At the junction of Trail 162 and the Moron Highway, the tanks were fired on by an anti-tank gun which was knocked out by the tanks. They cleared the roadblock with the support of infantry. Around this time, drivers were needed for the Self-Propelled Mounts, and tank drivers were reassigned to the SPMs. The SPMs had a crew of an American driver, a Filipino Scout sergeant who commanded the SPM, and a gun crew from the Philippine Army. The drivers were replaced by other members of the battalions who could drive tanks.
It was during this time Capt. Robert Sorensen was replaced as C Company's commanding officer by Capt. Harold Collins. Also during this time, Capt. Fred Bruni, who was the commanding officer of HQ Company, was made A Company's CO to replace Capt. Walter Write. Capt. Sorensen, replaced Capt. Donald Hanes as commanding officer of B Company. Hanes was made commanding officer of HQ Company.
The remainder of the tanks were ordered to bivouac south of Aubucay Hacienda Road. While there, the tank crews had their first break from action in nearly a month. The tanks, which were long overdue for maintenance, were serviced by 17th Ordnance and the tank crews had two or three days of rest. It was also at this time that tank companies were reduced to ten tanks, with three tanks in each platoon. This was done so that D Company would have tanks. It was on January 9th that the Japanese launched a major offensive on what was called the Aubucay Hacienda line that stretched from Aubucay on the east coast of Bataan to the China Sea on the west.
The defenders were ordered to withdraw on the 25th to a new line known as the Pilar-Begac Line. The tanks were given the job of covering the withdrawal with the 192nd covering the withdrawing troops in the Aubucay area and the 194th covering the troops in the Hacienda area. At 6:00 PM the withdrawal started over the only two roads out of the area which quickly became blocked, and the Japanese could have wiped out the troops but did not take advantage of the situation.
It was in the jungle that the tankers found out how inappropriate the M3 tanks were for use in the Philippines. Off the road, they had to travel with their turrets backward. If the tankers did not do this, the guns would get stuck in the jungle growth. The tanks were also restricted to the roads since they would get stuck in the mud of the rice fields. The high silhouettes and straight sides of the M3 also made the tanks easy targets for the Japanese.
Companies A and C were ordered to the west coast of Bataan while B Company – which was held in reserve – and 17th Ordnance held the southern shore of Bataan. During the night, they were kept busy with repeated threats both on and offshore. The tank battalions, on their own, took up the job of protecting the airfields at Cabcaban, Bataan, and Mariveles, since Japanese paratroopers were known to be available. The tanks and half-tracks were well hidden in the jungle around the airfields and different plans were in place to be used against Japanese forces.
The battalions were sent to cover the junctions of the Back Road and East Road with the Abucay-Hacienda Road on January 25th. While holding the position, the 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, fought its way to the position at 3:00 A.M. One platoon was sent to the front of the column of trucks that were loading the troops. The Japanese attacked through the Aubucay Hacienda Plantation which was the location of most of the fighting took place. The defenders stated that the bodies of the dead Japanese piled up in front of them and made it more difficult for the next Japanese troops to advance against the line. One tanker from B Co., 192nd, said that when they walked among the Japanese dead, they found hypodermic needles on them. To him, this explained why they kept coming at the tanks even after they had been hit by machine gun fire. The defenders’ artillery was so accurate that the Japanese later stated the defenders were using artillery pieces like they were rifles. The biggest problem was that the defenders had no air cover so they were bombed and stated constantly and were constantly harassed by snipers. The tanks often had the job of protecting the artillery. None of the tank companies liked doing this job since after the guns fired a few rounds a Japanese reconnaissance plane would be sent up to locate the guns. It wasn't long after this that the Japanese would zero in on where the guns were located. The tankers and artillery crews learned how to “shoot and scoot” very quickly.
Later in the day, both the 192nd and 194th held a defensive line on the Bakanga-Cardre-BaniBani Roads until the withdrawal was completed at midnight. They held the position until the night of January 26th, when they dropped back to a new defensive line roughly along the Pilar-Bagac Roads. When ordered to withdraw to the new line, the 192nd found that the bridge at Balanga, that they were supposed to use had been destroyed by enemy fire. To withdraw, they had to use secondary roads to get around the barrio. The tanks held their position for six hours after they were supposed to have withdrawn which prevented the Japanese from overrunning the defenders. On the morning of January 27th, a new battle line had been formed and all units were supposed to be beyond it but tanks were still straggling in at noon.
The tank companies also were given the job of protecting the artillery. The guns were mobile and hooked onto the tanks with a special carriage which allowed them to be moved. According to the tankers, it took a lot of preparation to set them up and a lot of preparation to take them down. The tankers didn't like doing this job because minutes after the guns began firing, the Japanese sent up reconnaissance planes to find the guns. When they did, Zeros would appear and strafe the area. The gun crews quickly learned to "shoot and scoot." After firing a few rounds the guns were quickly broken down and moved out of the area.
On January 28th, the tank battalions were given beach duty with the 194th assigned the coast from Limay to Cacaben. The half-tracks were used to patrol the roads. The Japanese attempted several landings on Bataan. One night while on this duty, the B Company, engaged the Japanese in a firefight as they attempted to land troops on the beach. When morning came, not one Japanese soldier had successfully landed on the beach. The Japanese later told the tankers that their presence on the beach stopped them from attempting landings.
The battalions took on the job of guarding the airfields in Bataan in February which had been constructed because of the belief that aid would be coming by air. Throughout the Battle of Bataan, men held the belief that aid would arrive. The Japanese bombed the airfields during the day and at night the engineers would repair them. 50-gallon drums were placed around the airfields to mark the runways, and at night fires could be lit in them to outline the landing strip. The well-camouflaged tanks surrounded the airfield and had several plans on how they would defend the airfields from paratroopers.
It seemed to the members of A Company that they always seemed to have the job of protecting the 155-millimeter howitzers that the Army used in batteries of six guns. The guns were mobile and could be hooked up to the tanks with a special vehicle and moved to another location. It was recalled that moving them took preparation and setting them up also took preparation. The tankers didn’t like this duty because the guns attracted Japanese fire. Whenever the guns started firing, the Japanese would send up Recon Joe to try to locate them. Shortly after this happened, the dive bombers came in and peppered the hell out of the position.
Sgt. Owen Sandmire, A Company, said that because of the jungle canopy, the nights on Bataan were so dark that the tankers could not see after dark. It was at night that the Japanese liked to attack. When the attacks came, if the tankers were lucky they were able to use their tanks’ machine guns on them. They could not use the turret machine guns since the guns could not be aimed at the ground. If the tank commander had attempted to use his pistol standing in the turret, he was an easy target, so the tanks would simply withdraw from the position.
After being up all night on beach duty, B Company, on February 3rd, was strafed by Japanese planes after one of its members pulled his half-track from under the jungle canopy, onto the beach, took a pot-shot at Recon Con Joe, and missed. Recon Joe was attempting to locate the tanks. Twenty minutes later Japanese planes appeared and dropped bombs on the company that exploded in the tree tops. Two men were killed in the attack and two others later died of their wounds. Later in the day, A Company’s bivouac was near a 155-millimeter artillery battery near Bambang, Limay, at KM 144. After the artillery fired several rounds the Japanese sent in planes that came in low. During the strafing and bombing, Sgt. Ivan Wilmer was attempting to reach his tank when he was hit by shrapnel from a Japanese bomb killing him instantly.
Later in the day, A Company was near Kilometer post 214, attempting to recover a tank that had been disabled. The tank of S/Sgt. William McAuliffe hit a land mine that exploded under it. Shrapnel from the mine hit McAuliffe wounding him on his legs, nose, and chest. Of all the wounds he received that day, the one on his legs would affect him for the rest of his life. He would also have a scar on his nose for the rest of his life. He was the only member of his tank crew wounded and was awarded the Purple Heart.
At this time, the tanks took part in the Battle of the Points on the west coast of Bataan. Using barges landed troops in barges that had been brought up to the shore as close as possible and cut loose to drift to the shore. The defenders didn't know the troops had landed since this happened at night and the Japanese hid in the terrain. They dug in creating foxhole manned by machine guns. They were discovered when a Filpino soldier was shot in the area. When they attempted to land reinforcements, they landed in the wrong place but ended up trapped. One was the Lapay-Longoskawayan points from January 23rd to 29th, the Quinauan-Aglaloma points from January 22nd to February 8th, and the Sililam-Anyasan points from January 27th to February 13th. The Japanese had been stopped, but the decision was made by Brigadier General Clinton A. Pierce that tanks were needed to support the 45th Infantry Philippine Scouts, so he requested tanks from the Provisional Tank Group.
On February 2nd, a platoon of C Co. 192nd tanks was ordered to Quinauan Point where the Japanese had landed troops. The tanks arrived at about 5:15 P.M. He did a quick reconnaissance of the area, and after meeting with the commanding infantry officer, decided to drive tanks into the edge of the Japanese position and spray the area with machine-gun fire. The progress was slow but steady until a Japanese .37 milometer gun was spotted in front of the lead tank, and the tanks withdrew. It turned out that the gun had been disabled by mortar fire, but the tanks did not know this at the time.
The decision was made to resume the attack the next morning, so the 45th Infantry dug in for the night. The next day, the tank platoon did reconnaissance before pulling into the front line. They repeated the maneuver and sprayed the area with machine gunfire. As they moved forward, members of the 45th Infantry followed the tanks. The troops made progress all day long along the left side of the line. The major problem the tanks had to deal with was tree stumps which they had to avoid so they would not get hung up on them. The stumps also made it hard for the tanks to maneuver. Coordinating the attack with the infantry was difficult, so the decision was made to bring in a radio car so that the tanks and infantry could talk with each other.
At Agaloloma Point, C Company lost one tank, on February 2nd, that had gone beyond the area controlled by the defenders. The tank was disabled by a thermite mine. It appeared that the crew - Sgt. Elmer Smith, Pvt. Vernor Deck, Pvt. Sidney Rattner, and Pvt. Robert Young - was killed by hand grenades thrown into the tank as they attempted to evacuate it. When the tank was recovered, it was taken to another site and a wrecker turned it on its side. Seventeenth Ordnance and the battalion's maintenance section removed the bodies which was a gruesome job. The bodies were so badly mangled that the only way to identify them was by matching personal possessions and clothing to the bodies. One man appeared to have been alive when the Japanese began to fill the tank with dirt from the foxhole they dug under it. In the man's hand was his handgun and a spent bullet casing was found in the tank. The crew was buried and the tank was put back into service
Only 3 of 23 tanks were being used and without the support of infantry and the trick during the attack through the jungle was to avoid large trees and clear a way for the infantry to attack. This they did by thrusting into the jungle. They only became aware of enemy positions when they were fired on. The tanks were supposed to have support from mortars but the ammunition was believed to be defective. It was found that the mortars were manned by inexperienced air corpsmen converted to infantry who had no idea that the arming pins on the mortar shells had to be pulled before firing them so the shells landed and did not explode.
In March, Gen Douglas MacArthur had given orders to Gen. King and Gen. Wainwright that they were not to surrender and fight to the last man. At some point during this time, the Pentagon had sent a message to MacArthur that if either Gen. King or Gen. Wainwright believed that surrendering was his only and best option each man had permission to surrender his forces. MacArthur chose not to forward this message to them.
The reality was that the same illnesses that were taking their toll on the Bataan defenders were also taking their toll on the Japanese. American newspapers wrote about the lull in the fighting and the building of defenses against the expected assault that most likely would take place. The soldiers on Bataan also knew that an assault was coming, they just didn’t know when it would take place. The newspapers in the U.S. wrote about the lull in Bataan and the preparations for the expected offensive.
Having brought in combat-harden troops from Singapore, the Japanese launched a major offensive on April 3rd supported by artillery and aircraft. The artillery barrage started at 10 AM and lasted until noon and each shell seemed to be followed by another that exploded on top of the previous shell. At the same time, wave after wave of Japanese bombers hit the same area dropping incendiary bombs that set the jungle on fire. The defenders had to choose between staying in their foxholes and being burned to death or seeking safety somewhere else. As the fire approached their foxholes those men who chose to attempt to flee were torn to pieces by shrapnel. It was said that arms, legs, and other body parts hung from tree branches. A large section of the defensive line at Mount Samat was wiped out. The next day a large force of Japanese troops came over Mt. Samat and descended the south face of the volcano. This attack wiped out two divisions of defenders and left a large area of the defensive line open to the Japanese.
A Co. was attached to the 194th Tank Battalion and was on beach duty with A Co., 194th. When the breakthrough came, the two tank companies were directly in the path of the advance. When the Japanese attempted to land troops, their smoke screen blew into their troops causing them to withdraw. C Company, 194th, was attached to the 192nd and had only seven tanks left. A counter-attack was launched – on April 6th – by the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts which was supported by tanks. Its objective was to restore the line, but Japanese infiltrators prevented this from happening. Other tanks of C Company tanks were supporting the 2nd Battalion, 45th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, which was moving east on Trail 8 toward Limay. It was about 5:00 A.M. at the junction of Trails 8 and Trail 6 when the battalion was ambushed by a large number of Japanese. The 1st Platoon of Company C was acting as part of the point when the lead tank was knocked out by anti-tank fire and the following tank was forced off the trail.
On April 7th, the 57th Infantry, Philippine Scouts, supported by tanks, attempted to restore the line, but Japanese infiltrators prevented this from happening. During this action, one tank was knocked out but the remaining tanks successfully withdrew. C Company, 194th, which was attached to the 192nd, had only seven tanks left. The Japanese attacked the line held by American troops on April 8th. It was said that the Japanese made what the Americans called "A Bridge of Death" where the Japanese threw themselves on the barbed wire until there were enough bodies on it so the following troops could walk over it. The defenders were not only defending against a frontal attack, but they also were defending against attacks on their flanks and rear.
It was the evening of April 8th that Gen. King decided that further resistance was futile, since approximately 25% of his men were healthy enough to fight, and he estimated they would last one more day. In addition, he had over 6,000 troops who were sick or wounded and 40,000 civilians who he feared would be massacred. His troops were on one-quarter rations, and even at that ration, he had two days of food left. He also believed his troops could fight for one more day. Companies B and D, 192nd, and A Company, 194th, were preparing for a suicide attack on the Japanese in an attempt to stop the advance. At 6:00 P.M. tank battalion commanders received this order: “You will make plans, to be communicated to company commanders only, and be prepared to destroy within one hour after receipt by radio, or other means, of the word ‘CRASH’, all tanks and combat vehicles, arms, ammunition, gas, and radios: reserving sufficient trucks to close to rear echelons as soon as accomplished.”
On the evening of the 8th, Capt. Fred Bruni, A Company’s commanding officer, gave his men the news of the surrender. While informing the members of the company of the surrender, he waved his arm toward the tanks and told the men that they would no longer need them. As he spoke, his voice choked. He turned away from the men for a moment, and when he turned back he continued. He next told the sergeants what they should do to disable the tanks. During the announcement, Bruni emphasized that they all were to surrender together. He told the soldiers to destroy their weapons and any supplies that could be used by the Japanese. Somehow, Bruni had found enough bread and pineapple juice for what he called, “Our last supper.”
When Phil learned of the surrender, he realized it was the same date that his mother had died in 1936. It was at 10:00 P.M. that the decision was made to send a jeep – under a white flag – behind enemy lines to negotiate terms of surrender. The problem soon became that no white cloth could be found. Phil realized that he had bedding buried in the back of his truck and searched for it. The bedding became the “white flags” that were flown on the jeeps. At 11:40 P.M., the ammunition dumps were destroyed.
At midnight Companies B and D, and A Company, 194th, received an order from Gen. Weaver to stand down. At 2:oo A.M. April 9th, Gen. King sent a jeep under a white flag carrying Colonel Everett C. Williams, Col. James V. Collier, and Major Marshall Hurt to meet with the Japanese commander about terms of surrender. (The driver was from the tank group.) Shortly after daylight Collier and Hunt returned with word of the appointment. It was at about 6:45 A.M. that tank battalion commanders received the order “crash.” As Gen. King left to negotiate the surrender, he went through the area held by B Company and the 17th Ordnance Company and spoke to the men. He said to them, “Boys. I’m going to get us the best deal I can. When you get home, don’t ever let anyone say to you; you surrendered. I was the one who surrendered.” Gen. King with his two aides, Maj. Wade R. Cothran and Captain Achille C. Tisdelle Jr. got into a jeep carrying a large white flag. Another jeep followed them – also flying another large white flag – with Col. Collier and Maj. Hurt in it. As the jeeps made their way north, they were strafed and small bombs were dropped by a Japanese plane. The drivers of both jeeps managed to avoid the bullets and while POWs would receive Silver Stars. The strafing ended when a Japanese reconnaissance plane ordered the fighter pilot to stop strafing.
At about 10:00 A.M. the jeeps reached Lamao where they were received by a Japanese Major General who informed Gen. King that he reported his coming to negotiate a surrender and that an officer from the Japanese command would arrive to do the negotiations. The Japanese officer also told him that his troops would not attack for thirty minutes while King decided what he would do. No Japanese officer had arrived from their headquarters and the Japanese attack had resumed.
King sent Col. Collier and Maj. Hunt back to his command with instructions that any unit in the line of the Japanese advance should fly white flags. After this was done a Japanese colonel and interpreter arrived and King was told the officer was Homma’s Chief of Staff who had come to discuss King’s surrender. King attempted to get assurances from the Japanese that his men would be treated as prisoners of war, but the Japanese officer – through his interpreter – accused him of declining to surrender unconditionally. At one point King stated he had enough trucks and gasoline to carry his troops out of Bataan. He was told that the Japanese would handle the movement of the prisoners. The two men talked back and forth until the colonel said through the interpreter, “The Imperial Japanese Army are not barbarians.” King found no choice but to accept him at his word.
Unknown to Gen. King, an order attributed to Gen. Masaharu Homma – but in all likelihood from one of his subordinates – had been given. It stated, “Every troop which fought against our army on Bataan should be wiped out thoroughly, whether he surrendered or not, and any American captive who is unable to continue marching all the way to the concentration camp should be put to death in the area of 200 meters off the road.”
The Japanese did not make contact with the company until April 11th. Phil had just taken a shower under a waterfall. A short time later, he saw a Japanese guard climb out of a ravine and ordered the Prisoners of War to Mariveles.
With the other tankers, he was loaded onto a truck and driven to Mariveles where they were searched and the Japanese took what they wanted from the POWs. In his case, Phil lost his barber tools. From there, the soldiers were then sent to an unfinished airfield and waited there. He and the other prisoners were hungry, thirsty, sweaty, dirty, and tired. It wasn’t long before Phil knew two words in Japanese. They were “Meza” (water) and “Aragoto” (thank you).
The Japanese funneled the POWs onto the road and escorted them with gun-toting guards. When Phil realized that they were going to walk, he got rid of everything he did not need. In his opinion, “the March” was an inaccurate name because it was more like a “trudge” than a march. Phil used the kilometer markers to get through the march. When he reached one, he set a goal to make it to the next marker. In his opinion, the column of captured soldiers was ten to twelve miles long, with guards a quarter of a mile apart. It was five days after the surrender that Phil and his group of POWs received their first food. It was a small rice ball handed to them from a bench in the middle of the road. Inside the ball, was a small piece of dried fish.
The guards were assigned to march a certain distance so they often made the POWs march at a faster pace so they could complete their part of the march. Those men who were sick had a hard time keeping up and if they fell out were bayoneted or shot. When the distance was covered, the column was stopped and allowed to rest and the guards were replaced. The new guards also had an assigned distance to walk and also wanted to complete it as fast as possible, so the POWs once again were moved at a fast pace.
When the prisoners reached Cabcaban Airfield, they saw that the Japanese had set up guns and were firing on Corregidor. It was about this time that the American guns on Corregidor began to pinpoint the location of the Japanese guns and shells that were landing on the road that the POWs were marching on. 1st Lt. Kenneth Bloomfield, A Company, ordered the men to double-time it across the area in an attempt to prevent casualties. As Phil ran, he watched the Japanese gun crews work their guns. Four or five men were working each gun. Suddenly, Phil saw a flash and heard an explosion. When the smoke cleared a Japanese gun and its crew was gone.
The lack of food and water was also a major issue for the POWs. The POWs were amazed by the courage of the Filipino people who openly defied the Japanese by giving food and water to the POWs. It was said that every 200 or 300 yards were artesian wells, but the POWs were not allowed to drink from them. As men became more desperate, they would run to the wells only to find that the Japanese had sent advance teams ahead who shot or bayoneted those attempting to get water from the wells. The further north they marched the more bloated dead bodies they saw. The ditches along the road were filled with water, but many also had dead bodies in them. The POWs’ thirst got so bad they drank the water and many of these men would later die from dysentery at Camp O'Donnell.
The column of POWs was often stopped and pushed off the road and made to sit in the sun for hours which was intentional. Men commented that they did most of the march at night. While they sat there, the guards would shake down the POWs and take any possession they had that they liked. At the end of each day, the POWs were ordered to stop in areas surrounded by barbed wire. The one problem was when they sat down, they were sitting in the feces of the men who had occupied the place the previous night. Other men stated they often just went to the sides of the road and lay down on the ground.
The further north they marched the more bloated dead bodies they saw. The ditches along the road were filled with water, but many also had dead bodies in them. The POWs’ thirst got so bad they drank the water. Many men would later die from dysentery. The column of POWs was often stopped and pushed off the road and made to sit in the sun for hours. While they sat there, the guards would shake down the POWs and take any possession they had that they liked. When they were ordered to move again, it was not unusual for the Japanese passing by on trucks to entertain themselves by swinging at the POWs with their guns or with bamboo poles.
The first time the column stopped was near an artesian well by Manila Bay. Not knowing any better, Phil left the column and went to the well, which was 400 to 500 feet from the road, and refilled his canteen. On his way back, he stopped at a Filipino shack and bought half a sack of rice. He slipped back into the column which had just started moving again. A little later, an American soldier broke from the column toward another artesian well. Without hesitation, the guard shot the man before he reached the well. It was at this moment that Phil realized that he had been extremely lucky.
Phil recalled that he always saved a final swallow of water in his canteen. “I would go along with that one swallow of water just thinking about it. I would go a mile and then get to a water hole. Then I dumped the swallow and refilled the canteen. That was a psychological thing; it closed the distance for me.”
At Lamao, a Filipino who had been dead for a couple of days lay in the pen where the POWs were held. The body was bloated and smelled. 300 to 400 prisoners were in the pen with the body. To make things even worse, the ground was covered with human waste from the POWs who had been held there before them. Since many of the POWs now being held in the pen had dysentery, they added to the mess.
The POWs were next herded into a corrugated metal warehouse, with a concrete floor, for the night. Suddenly, Phil heard two rifle shots. He never knew what happened but believed that it was a warning to the prisoners to quiet down. The floor of the building was covered with human waste and the men slept in it.
The next morning Phil and the other prisoners exited the building. They watched as a Japanese guard beat a Filipino with the butt of his rifle. The beating continued until the Filipino fell face down to the ground. Then the guard took his bayonet from the sheath and jabbed it into the man. The guard took out a piece of cloth and wiped the blade clean. He then returned it to the sheath. Phil and the other men believed that the Filipino had been caught giving aid to the Americans.
Not too far from Lamao, there was evidence that heavy fighting had taken place there. There were the bloated bodies of many Filipinos lying on the ground. One headless body lay in the middle of the road. A few yards away lay the head. It looked like it had been chopped off the body.
During this time, Phil was able to buy a can of sardines. Phil, Pvt. Jim Manogue and another member of A Company combined their rice and anything else they had and had a good snack before they continued on the march into the night. During this time they marched through a barrio. Since it was dark, they could not see much further than the sides of the road, but they could see and smell smoke. From the smell, they could tell that bodies were being burnt. Bodies that had been there for a few days. The smell of the smoke and stench from the bodies made the POWs sick.
As the march continued, Phil recalled it got hotter. What made things worse was that there was no rain to relieve the men from the heat. Phil found a paper on the road. The paper said that the temperature had dropped to 109 degrees from 116 degrees. To Phil, it seemed that the hotter it got the harder it became to get water. It also became harder for Phil to resist drinking from his canteen. He had learned a trick from a World War I veteran to always keep a little water in his canteen. Psychologically, it would keep a person going longer knowing that the water was there.
When they were allowed to get a drink, Phil would take a drink and then fill his canteen with water. One time he was allowed to fill his canteen. After he had filled his canteen, he saw the body of a dead Filipino floating in the water. Phil was lucky enough to have a tube of iodine on him from his first aid kit. He squeezed the iodine into the canteen which made the water taste bitter but made it safer.
Somewhere between Lamao and San Fernando, the POWs were moving slower than the guards allowed. Clouds were drifting slowly by when he heard someone say, “Send it down J. C.” Suddenly, a light shower began to fall on the POWs.
When the POWs were given a rest, they were held in a field with very little shade. Those who had a place in the shade did not get up. A young lieutenant got up from his place and Phil took it. When the lieutenant came back, he told Phil that it was his place. Phil looked at the lieutenant and said that he hadn’t seen the man’s name on it. Since there was no point in continuing the argument, the lieutenant moved on. In retrospect, Phil felt that this incident demonstrated that there was little respect for rank left among the Americans.
As the Americans sat waiting, a local vendor made his way among them. The man offered to sell Phil a sugar cake for five pesos. As Phil was about to pay for it, two officers rushed up and offered the man twenty pesos for the cake. The vendor gave it to them. Phil asked the man if he had another sugar cake. The man did and said it would cost twenty pesos. Phil had learned his first lesson about supply and demand.
It took Phil eleven days to reach San Fernando. When he did, he and the other prisoners sat in a vacant lot surrounded by barbed wire. How long he was there is not known. The Filipino doctors and nurses from the town offered to provide first aid to the POWs, but the guards would not allow them to do this. At some point, the Japanese ordered them to form detachments of 100 men. When this was done, they were marched to the train station and packed into small wooden boxcars known as “forty or eights” since each car could hold forty men or eight horses. Since there were 100 men in each detachment, the Japanese packed 100 men into each car. They were packed in so tightly that they could only stand. Those who died remained standing since they could not fall to the floors. They rode in these boxcars until they reached Capas, where they left the cars and walked the last miles to Camp O’Donnell which was an unfinished Filipino training base that the Japanese pressed the camp into use as a POW camp on April 1, 1942. When Phil arrived at the camp, his first impression was that it was a large, bleak, fenced-in area.
At Camp O'Donnell, the POWs were taken into a large field where they were counted and searched and all extra clothing that they had was taken from them and not returned. Blankets, knives, and matches were taken from them. If a man was found to have Japanese money or other items on them, they were taken to the guardhouse. Finally, the camp commandant came out, stood on the back of a flatbed truck, and told them that they were enemies of Japan and would always be Japan’s enemies. He also told them that they were captives and not prisoners of war and would be treated accordingly. After the speech, the prisoners were allowed to go to their barracks. Over the next several days, gunshots were heard to the southeast of the camp as the POWs who had Japanese items on them were executed for looting.
Each unit was assigned its own barracks with the 192nd, 194th, and 17th Ordnance in the same area. There was not enough housing for the POWs and most slept under buildings or on the ground. The barracks were designed for 40 men and those who did sleep in one slept in one with as many 80 to 120 men. Most of the POWs slept on the ground under the barracks. There was no netting to protect the men from malaria-carrying mosquitos as they slept, so many men soon became ill with malaria. The ranking American officer was slapped after asking for building materials to repair the buildings.
The POWs received three meals, mainly rice, a day. For breakfast, they were fed a half cup of soupy rice and occasionally some type of coffee. Lunch each day was half of a mess kit of steamed rice and a half cup of sweet potato soup. Some men said it was slop and made men violently ill. They received the same meal for dinner. All meals were served outside regardless of the weather. Men stated that other men would push the food away and not eat and were gradually starving themselves. When they realized that they were dying they tried to eat but had completely lost their appetites for any food. By May 1st, the food had improved a little with the issuing of a little wheat flour, some native beans, and a small issue of coconut oil. About once every ten days, 3 or 4 small calves were brought into the camp. When the meat was given out, there was only enough for one-fourth of the POWs to receive a piece that was an inch square. A native potato, the camote, was given to the POWs, but most were rotten and thrown out. The POWs had to post guards to prevent other POWs from eating them. The camp had a Black Market and POWs who had money could buy a small can of fish from the guards for $5.00.
One of the biggest problems with the food was the cooks - regardless of unit - pilfered extra food for themselves. It was reported that some of the cooks looked healthier than the average POW. The cooks even sold the food to other POWs. When the cooks were replaced in an attempt to deal with the problem, the new cooks soon were doing the same thing.
There was only one water faucet in the camp, and the prisoners stood in line for two to eight hours waiting for a drink. The Japanese guards at the faucet would turn it off for no reason and the next man in line would stand as long as four hours waiting for it to be turned on again. This situation improved when a second faucet was added by the POWs who came up with the pipe, dug the trench, and ran the waterline. Just like the first faucet, the Japanese turned off the water when they wanted water to bathe, but unlike the first water line, the POWs had the ability to turn on the water again without the Japanese knowing it.
There was no water for washing clothes, so the POWs would throw out their clothing when it had been soiled. In addition, water for cooking had to be carried three miles from a river to the camp, and mess kits could not be washed. The slit trenches in the camp were inadequate and were soon overflowing since most of the POWs had dysentery. The result was that flies were everywhere in the camp including the POW kitchens and in the food.
The camp hospital had no soap, water, or disinfectant. When the ranking American doctor at the camp wrote a letter to the camp commandant, Capt. Yohio Tsuneyoshi, asking for medical supplies. He was told never to write another letter. The Archbishop of Manila sent a truckload of medical supplies to the camp, but the Japanese commandant refused to allow the truck into the camp. When the Philippine Red Cross sent medical supplies to the camp the Japanese took 95% of the supplies for their use. When a second truck was sent to the camp by the Red Cross, it was turned away.
The POWs in the camp hospital lay on the floor elbow to elbow and only one medic – out of the six medics assigned to care for 50 sick POWs – was healthy enough to care for them. When a representative of the Philippine Red Cross stated they could supply a 150-bed hospital for the camp, he was slapped in the face by a Japanese lieutenant.
The Manila Society – which was a branch of the Philippine Red Cross – collected a great quantity of clothing, medicines, powdered milk, marmalade, and oatmeal and delivered it to the Red Cross which was under Japanese control. They were told they could help make juices and packages of sweet coconut for the POWs and did so. When they were finished, the Japanese stated that it was too good for the Americans and that the packages would be given to their soldiers.
Each morning, the bodies of the dead were found all over the camp and were carried to the hospital and placed underneath it. The bodies lay there for two or three days before they were buried in the camp cemetery by other POWs who were suffering from dysentery and/or malaria. To clean the ground under the hospital, the bodies were moved to one side, the ground was scraped and lime was spread over it. The bodies were placed in the cleaned area, and the area they had lain was scraped and lime was spread over it. At one point, 80 bodies lay under the hospital awaiting burial.
The dead were carried to the cemetery in litters and placed in a grave with four other POWs. It was not unusual for a POW working this detail to die and be put into the grave with the other dead. Before they were buried, the dead were stripped of their clothing, which was boiled in hot water and then given to another POW who needed clothing.
When the POWs returned to the cemetery in the morning to dig graves for the men who had died during the night, they found the arms and legs of the dead sticking out of the ground and wild dogs pulling on them. The men would chase off the dogs, knock the arms and legs down, and rebury them.
A Japanese clerk, Mr. Nishimura, was in charge of giving work details assignments to the POWs. It was stated he was the camp interpreter and a member of the diplomatic corps. Work details were sent out on a daily basis. Each day, the American doctors gave a list of names to the Japanese of the POWs who were healthier enough to work. If the quota of POWs needed to work could not be met, the Japanese put those POWs who were sick but could walk, to work. When these men returned to the camp many died. The death rate among the POWs reached 50 men dying a day.
Documents from after the war state that some of the Japanese assigned to the camp had drug problems which may have contributed to the abusive treatment of the POWs. POWs stated that they noticed that at times the guards had glassy eyes and seemed that their speech was slurred. It also was stated that the Japanese government ordered those soldiers caught abusing drugs be executed. The document also stated that the Japanese government went to great lengths to cover the problem up.
A work detail of POWs was being organized to go to Calauan. The ranking American officer was Lt. Col. Ted Wickord of the 192nd. Wickord attempted to fill the detail with as many members of the tank group as he could before the Japanese figured out what he was doing. As it turned out, 275 of the 300 POWs on the detail were from the tank group. The men referred to the detail as the Bridge Building Detail. On this detail with Phil were Dale Lawton, Ken Schoeberle, Forrest Teal, Jim Schultz, Lewis Wallisch, and John Wood.
The 1,000 man detail left Camp O'Donnell on May 7th, and went to San Fernando where they men spent the night. At the barrio the POWs were divided into different work parties all sent to various areas to rebuild bridges. On May 8th, they learned that Corregidor had surrendered. From San Fernando, on May 9th, the detachment he was in went to Manila and were fed rice three times each day. On the 10th, the detail arrived in Calauan.
The Japanese engineers running the detail treated the POWs better than the POWs on other details. The Japanese commanding officer was Captain Wakamori and his second in command was Lt. Miyasato. Another officer was Lt. Meanaga. The three officers had gone to college in the United States. It was stated that they allowed the POWs to roam the barrio without guards but the POWs could not go beyond the boundaries of the barrio. They also ordered the guards not to abuse the POWs.
The food was said to be rice, greens or seaweed. Twice a week the POWs received bones from the meat given to the guards. The food was good but there wasn't enough so men still quickly came down with beriberi, dysentery, and yellow jaundice. The Japanese also did not stop the Filipinos from giving food to the POWs. A Filipino doctor was allowed to treat the sick every day, and the Japanese allowed the POWs to take part in two celebrations in the barrio. During these fiestas, the POWs were asked to sing songs and the Japanese also sang their songs.
Once out of the camp, the POWs were broken into four detachments of 75 men each which were divided into four squads of 20 men. One squad wore pink armbands, one blue, one white, and one green. The POWs had to wear the armbands at all times. In all, the detail rebuilt 13 bridges that had been destroyed during the retreat into Bataan. The detachment was first sent to Calauan. There, the POWs were amazed by the concern shown to them by the Filipino people. The townspeople arranged for their doctors and nurses to care for the POWs and give them medication.
The work was hard, and one of the hardest jobs on the detail was driving pilings into the river banks. This the men did by hand by cranking up a pile driver that dropped a weight onto the piling. It appears six men worked the pile driver and were divided into teams of two men. One team of two men operated the pile driver. Each man cranked part of a handle on the winch that lifted a heavy weight 18 to 20 feet above the pile. When the weight was released, the weight fell and hit the piling and drove it into the riverbank. The POWs rotated so they had a rest, but because they were underfed, they tired quickly, and by the end of the work day, the POWs were exhausted.
Daily, about 20 POWs were healthy enough to work. At some point, another group of 40 POWs arrived from Cabanatuan. Malaria in particular began to take its toll on them. The Filipinos left bundles of cinchona bark with instructions on boiling it to make a syrup that was effective against malaria and stopped the spread of malaria. The POWs were also often sick with beriberi and dysentery.
The Japanese pressed the local Filipinos into working on the bridge. The detail had a detachment of 200 Filipinos, but the hard and most difficult work was always given to the Americans. The Japanese treated them just like they treated the POWs. One reason was that at night something always seemed to happen that slowed down the work on the bridge. Equipment that worked perfectly well the day before would malfunction for no reason or completely break down. The pile drivers were sabotaged so once the weight was in position, it could not be released.
One Japanese guard liked to abuse the POWs. One day, Joseph "Mule" Henderson and Field Reed had the job of pushing debris away from the pilings that the POWs were placing in the river. To do this job, they used long bamboo poles. The guard arrived and proceeded to abuse them. One of the men took the bamboo pole and hit the guard. The two men used their bamboo poles as weapons and killed the guard. After the guard was dead, they dumped his body into the river. When the Japanese came looking for the guard, the two POWs said that he had been with them earlier in the day but he had left sometime earlier.
It is known that it was in this barrio that the POWs and Japanese played their first baseball game against each other. The Japanese engineer in charge of the detail played for both teams. No one seemed to recall who won the game, but it was said the POWs cheered for both teams.
While at Calauan, the POWs got word that one of the POWs on the sawmill detail had escaped. The word was that ten men from the detail would be executed. Col. Wickord was sent to the sawmill to witness the execution and warn his men about the consequences. When he returned, he informed his men that the commanding officer had been told to select ten men for execution. The officer had a terrible time doing this and finally chose the five men who slept to the escapee’s right and the five men who slept to his left. The officer surmised that the night the man had escaped one of them must have heard something and could have prevented it.
The “selected” were made to dig their own graves. One pleaded with the ranking American officer to do something. All he could tell the man was that there was nothing he could do. Another regretted that he would never see Denver again. One of the men was the brother of another man on the detail. Even though other POWs volunteered to take his place, the Japanese would not allow it. The men were offered blindfolds but refused them. They were then shot. After falling into their graves, the Japanese shot them again.
On May 15, 1942, the Filipinos began to collect a large amount of food. When the Filipinos had enough food, they held a special meal for the POWs at the local Catholic church on June 1st. Just before the POWs were sent to Batangas to rebuild other bridges, an order of Catholic Sisters – who had been recently freed from custody – invited the Japanese commander and Lt. Col. Wickord and twelve POWs for a dinner the last night in the barrio. Six of the POWs were Protestants and six were Catholic.
Capt. Wakamori was supposed to attend the dinner but became ill. Before the POWs marched to the church he said to them, “Men, you’re on your honor. You are at liberty for the day.” During the dinner, the local Catholic priest walked among the prisoners dropping packs of cigarettes on the floor for them. To signal them about what he was doing, the priest looked down to the ground so that the POWs looked down and picked up a pack of cigarettes. The Filipinos were allowed to give the leftover food to the POWs who had not attended the meal. During the dinner, the local Catholic priest walked among the prisoners dropping packs of cigarettes on the floor for them. To signal them about what he was doing, the priest looked down to the ground. The POWs looked down and picked up a pack of cigarettes.
It was while he was on the bridge detail that his father received two messages from the War Department.
Dear Mr. H. Parish:
According to War Department records, you have been designated as the emergency addressee of Sergeant Philip R. Parish, 20,645,209, 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
(signed)
J. A. JULIO
Major General
The Adjutant General
When the bridge was finished the POWs moved to Batangas where they lived in a two-floor school. The Japanese lived on the first floor and the POWs lived on the second floor. Bernard Fitzpatrick, 194th, stated that the building was clean and the POWs could look out of the windows and see the harbor. He also said that the building had lush lawns around it and the POWs were allowed to sleep outside in good weather. Many of the POWs ended up with dysentery from the water. Once again, the people of the town did whatever they could to help the Americans. An order of Roman Catholic sisters brought the POWs food and clothing that they scrounged up. Because of the work, most of the uniforms of the POWs had disintegrated.
The POWs found a map of the world. On the map, the POWs pointed to Japan which their guards recognized. They then pointed to the United States – and included Canada – and said “America.” By the looks on the guards’ faces, the POWs knew they had gotten the message. The geography lesson ended when a Japanese sergeant saw what the POWs were doing.
At some point, Phil became ill and was sent to Cabanatuan. Medical records from the camp show that Phil was admitted to the camp hospital on July 2, 1942. The records do not state why he was admitted or when he was discharged.
In the camp, the prisoners continued to die, but at a slower rate on the hospital side. The hospital was described as being horrible and beyond description. There was no water for washing and barely enough to drink. There were no blankets or any other coverings for the sick. 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 POWs were sent to the hospital side of the camp not for treatment but to isolate them from the healthier POWs. 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.
In August, during the rainy season, Phil was assigned to the burial detail. 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.
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.
A POW was recaptured on September 17th who had escaped on August 7th was recaptured. He was placed in solitary confinement and during his time there, he was beaten over the head with an iron bar by a Japanese sergeant. The camp commandant, Col. Mori, would parade him around the camp and use the man as an example as he lectured the POWs. The man wore a sign that read, “Example of an Escaped Prisoner.”
Three POWs were recaptured on Sept. 21st who had escaped on Sept.12th were brought back to the camp. Their feet were tied together and their hands were crossed behind their backs and tied with ropes. A long rope was tied around their wrists and they were suspended from a rafter with their toes barely touching the ground causing their arms to bear all the weight of their bodies. They were subjected to severe beatings by the Japanese guards while hanging from the rafter. The punishment lasted three days. They were cut from the rafter and they were tied hand and foot and placed in the cooler for 30 days on a diet was rice and water. One of the three POWs was severely beaten by a Japanese lieutenant but was later released.
On Sept. 29th, the Japanese executed three POWs after they were stopped by American security guards while attempting to escape. The American guards were there to prevent escapes so that the other POWs in their ten-man group would not be executed. During the event, the noise made the Japanese aware of the situation and they came to the area and beat the three men who had tried to escape. One so badly that his jaw was broken. After two and a half hours, the three were tied to posts by the main gate, and their clothes were torn off them. They also were beaten on and off for the next 48 hours. Anyone passing them was expected to urinate on them. After three days they were cut down, thrown into a truck, driven to a clearing in sight of the camp, and shot.
From September to December, the Japanese issued numbers to the POWs. It was at this time that Phil became POW 1-08254. This was his POW number as long as he was in the Philippines.
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 quickly 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.
The POWs were organized in groups on November 11th. Group I was made up of all the enlisted men who had been captured on Bataan. Group II was the POWs who had come from Camp 3, and Group III was composed of all Naval and Marine personnel from both Camps 1 and 3 and any civilians in the camp. It was also at this time that an attempt was made to stop the spread of disease. The POWs dug deep drainage ditches, and sump holes for only water, and the garbage began to be buried, and the grass in the camp was cut. Fr. Antonio Bruddenbrucke, a German Catholic priest, came to the camp – assisted by Mrs. Escoda – with packages from friends and relatives in Manila on November 12th. There was also medicine and books for the POWs.
One hundred POWs worked on Sunday, November 15th digging latrines and sump holes. Since Sunday was a day off, Lt. Col. Curtis Beecher, USMC, made sure each man received 5 cigarettes. On November 16th, Pvt. Peter Laniauskas was shot trying to escape. Two other POWs were tried by the Japanese for being involved in the escape attempt. One man received 20 days in solitary confinement and the other 30 days. Pvt. Donald K. Russell, on November 20th, was caught trying to reenter the camp at 12:30 A.M. He had left the camp at 8:30 P.M. and secured a bag of canned food by claiming he was a guerrilla. He was executed in the camp cemetery at 12;30 P.M. on November 21st. The Japanese gave out a large amount of old clothing – that came from Manila – to the POWs on November 22nd. On November 23rd, the Japanese wanted to start a farm and needed 750 POWs to do the initial work on it. It was noted that there were only 603 POWs healthy enough to work.
Two POWs in December attempted to escape and were caught. They were tied to the gate of the camp hospital and left there for the day. Each time a guard passed the men, they picked up a stick and beat them. The Japanese were going to shoot them at 4:00 pm that day, but an American doctor, Lt. Col. Craig, convinced the Japanese not to shoot them. The two men were put in the guard house for six months. Fr. Bruddenbrucke returned on December 10th without proper authorization from the authorities in Manila so he was turned away. He had brought a truckload of medicine and food for the POWs. It was estimated by the POWs that he spent $300.00 for fuel to make the trip. A POW Pvt. Art Self was beaten so badly on December 12th, that he died. Fr. Bruddenbrucke returned on December 24th with two truckloads of presents for the men and a gift bag for each. This time he was allowed into the camp. The next day, Christmas, the POWs received 2½ Red Cross boxes. In each box was milk in some form, corn beef, fish, stew beef, sugar, meat and vegetable, tea, and chocolate. The POWs also received bulk corn beef, sugar, meat and vegetables, stew, raisins, dried fruit, and cocoa which they believed would last them three months. The POWs also were given four days off from work.
At some point, he was selected to go to Clark Field to build runways. The original POWs had arrived at the airfield on May 21, 1942. Many of the POWs considered this the best POW camp in the Philippines. When they arrived, they were put into barracks that had been constructed for the Philippine Scouts. Each POW had his own bunk and while cleaning up the junk from the fighting, the POWs found mattresses and blankets They also had washrooms with toilets and sinks with running water. They also had a commissary where the POWs were allowed to purchase items. The POWs were paid and at the commissary, they could buy tobacco, mung beans, or brown sugar. All the items were measured with a canteen cup. They were also able to purchase salt that they could use as seasoning on their rice.
The barracks they lived in were surrounded by a single strand of barbed wire and escapes could have happened at any time since it would have been easy. The Japanese also put the POWs in “Blood Brother” squads. If one POW from their group escaped, the other nine men would be executed. It was stated that they chose not to escape since there was no place to go if they did, but that didn’t mean that POWs didn’t try.
They were fed twice a day but the amount of food, two cups of rice, was inadequate. Once in a while, they got soybeans and greens The Japanese did not give the POWs any medical supplies, and if they had them it was because the POWs had scrounged them. There was no real medical facility at first. Those POWs who came down with malaria did not have to work since the Japanese knew the symptoms of malaria. POWs who had been injured while working also did not have to work. If they developed wet beriberi, the POWs were soaked in cold water to bring down the swelling.
The guards were from Formosa and POWs stated that they were pretty decent when Japanese officers were not around. The guards were combat veterans who didn’t care how much dirt the POWs moved. They liked the detail and wanted it to last as long as possible. All they expected from the POWs was that they looked busy. The only time the POWs were expected to work hard was when officers came around to expect the work. The one thing the POWs were not allowed to do was talk to each other while they worked.
The Japanese did not give the POW medical personnel any medicine. Like so much in the camp, the POW scrounged up medicine while they were cleaning up the debris. The Japanese did not make POWs who had malaria work, and they allowed the injured to rest too. But, they regularly checked the POWs to sure that they were sick or injured and could not work.
At first, if a POW escaped, they made the remaining POWs stand at attention, at formation, for hours. On one occasion, the POWs stood at attention until 4:00 A.M. when they were dismissed. Shortly after this, reveille was held and they went to work. To stop escapes, the Japanese instituted the "blood brother" rule since several POWs escaped from the detail. If one man escaped, the other nine men in the group would be executed. Men were often thrown into a small metal shack made from corrugated steel that had no windows and had only enough room for the man to squat. Anyone put into it had his rations cut and received very little water. The POWs witnessed the execution of two Filipinos who were caught stealing corrugated sheet metal. They were tied to poles and used for bayonet practice by the Japanese. In addition, there were also the daily punishments like being hit over the head with a saber by one Japanese lieutenant. Other men were beaten with a golf club. POWs who committed a serious violation of a camp rule were put into the camp cooler. It was said it was designed to be uncomfortable and made of sheet metal with only one opening which was the door. It was too low for a man to stand up and too short for a man to lie down. The POW had to squat or curl up. It was placed in a location so the sun beat on it throughout the day. At night it cooled off but the mosquitos came out and continued the misery. They also witnessed the execution of Filipinos who had been caught stealing sheet metal. The Filipinos’ hands were tied behind their backs and they were hanged so their feet were barely touching the ground. Some men stated the Filipinos were hanged until they died while others said the Japanese used them for bayonet practice. The worst thing for the POWs was that they had to walk past them on their way to and from work.
The workday started at 6:00 A.M. with breakfast which was mostly rice. This was followed by roll call before the POWs went to work. The original guards were combat veterans and soon realized that this was an easy detail and wanted to stretch it out as long as possible. As the POWs worked they did not force them to work at a fast pace. At first, they made repairs to the runways that had been damaged during the fighting by filling in craters. When this was done, they built revetments and a runway. The Japanese realized that the work was progressing slower than expected, so they changed the guards. When the guards were changed, the climate changed and the POWs found themselves working faster harder pace.
A base was needed for the runway, so the POWs went to a quartz mine and mined rock with picks and shovels. When the quarry ran out of rock, the POWs began digging rocks out of the ground and screened the rock to get rid of the dirt. If the POW squad met its quota for the day, they were allowed to return to their barracks early. If they did not meet their quota by the end of the workday, they worked until it was met. When rock became hard to find, the Japanese decided to use sand as the base. The result was that the first time a Japanese bomber landed on the runway it flipped over onto its back when its landing gear sank into the concrete supported by the sand. The POWs who witnessed this happen wanted to cheer but remained silent. The POW workday ended at 6:00 P.M. roll call was taken, and they had dinner which again was mostly rice.
The POWs’ job was to build runways at the airfield. Since no rock was available from a gravel pit, the POWs dug the rock out of the ground, with picks and shovels, and screened it. The POWs worked in squads of eight to ten men and were given a quota of how much rock they needed to collect that day. If they were lucky, they found a place where they could dig out the quota of rock by 4:00 PM, if they weren’t lucky, they worked until they reached their quota. It was said that at times squads worked until midnight. Some POWs stated that there were no days off while other men stated that if they completed their quotas by Friday, they got the weekends off. While working on the airfield, the POWs were in contact with the Filipinos who would smuggle newspapers to them. The papers were written in English and heavily censored by the Japanese. Although the Japanese never admitted they were losing the war, the POWs knew it was not going well for them since the papers would say the Japanese had moved prepared positions in the rear.
No records have been found, but Phil became ill and was most likely sent to Bilibid before being returned to Cabanatuan. It is known that during his time as a POW, he had beriberi.
The Japanese allowed the POWs, on May 30th, to hold a memorial service to honor the nearly 2,600 men who had died. (This number is the total number of deaths at both Camp O’Donnell and Cabanatuan.) At 9:00 AM, the POWs marched to the camp cemetery which was slightly over a half-mile from the camp. The services were conducted by Catholic, Jewish, and Protestant chaplains. The Japanese camp commandant presented a wreath. The POWs choir sang several hymns, the POWs were called to attention, and taps were blown as they saluted.
Any POW who was healthy worked on the farm detail or garden detail which had started in November 1942. As time went on, it became the largest POW detail. The POWs cleared the area that they called "the farm" and planted camotes, cassava, taro, sesame, and various greens. The Japanese used most of the food for themselves. When the POWs arrived at the farm, they would enter a shed. As they came out, it was common for them to be hit over the heads by the guards. Although the Japanese told the POWs what they grew would supplement their meals, they took most of what was grown for themselves. The POWs ate the tender tips of the sweet potato plants which angered the Japanese since it stopped the plants' growth. This resulted in many of the barracks growing their own gardens in the camp.
The POWs had breakfast a half hour before dawn and at dawn, the men went to work. Each morning, after arriving at the farm, the POWs went into a tool shed to get their tools. As they left the shed, the guards hit them on their heads. This was considered the most abusive of the work details with the POWs receiving the worst beatings. Another guard, “Smiling Sam” would tell the POWs he was taking a break and then turned his back to them. While he was on his break, they could rest or steal food. Before he ended his break he warned them that his break was over and when he turned around, they were all working.
The detail was under the command of “Big Speedo” who spoke very little English. When he wanted the POWs to work faster, he told the POWs “speedo.” Although he was known to have a temper, the POWs thought he was fair. Another guard was “Little Speedo” who was smaller and also used “speedo” when he wanted the POWs to work faster. He punished the POWs by making them kneel on stones. “Smiley” was a Korean guard who always had a smile on his face but could not be trusted. He was the meanest of the guards and beat men up for no reason with the club. Any prisoner who he believed was not working hard enough got knocked over with it.
The second in command was a guard the POWs called “Donald Duck” because he talked constantly and was described as being unpredictable and would beat POWs at a whim. He knew the POWs called him Donald Duck and they told him that Donald Duck was a big American movie star. One day, he saw a Donald Duck cartoon while in Manila and came looking for the POWs who used the name. The POWs stated they stayed out of his way for days.
Any POW who was healthy worked on the farm detail or garden detail which had started in November 1942. As time went on, it became the largest POW detail and described by the POWs to be the most brutal work detail. The POWs cleared the area that they called "the farm" and planted camotes, cassava, taro, sesame, and various greens. The Japanese told the POWs that the food they were growing would be used to supplement their meals, but the reality was that the POWs saw very little of the vegetables they grew. The POWs ate the tender tips of the sweet potato plants which angered the Japanese since it stopped the plants' growth. This resulted in many of the barracks growing their own gardens in the camp. This resulted in many of the barracks growing their own gardens in the camp. Each morning, after arriving at the farm, the POWs went into a tool shed to get their tools. As they left the shed, the guards hit them on their heads.
The detail was under the command of “Big Speedo” who spoke very little English. When he wanted the POWs to work faster, he told the POWs “speedo.” Although he was known to have a temper, the POWs thought he was fair. Another guard was “Little Speedo” who was smaller and also used “speedo” when he wanted the POWs to work faster. He punished the POWs by making them kneel on stones. “Smiley” was a Korean guard who always had a smile on his face but could not be trusted. He was the meanest of the guards and beat men up for no reason with the club. Any prisoner who he believed was not working hard enough got knocked over with it. The second in command was a guard the POWs called “Donald Duck” because he talked constantly and was described as being unpredictable and would beat POWs at a whim. He knew the POWs called him Donald Duck and they told him that Donald Duck was a big American movie star. One day, he saw a Donald Duck cartoon while in Manila and came looking for the POWs who used the name. The POWs stated they stayed out of his way for days.
The POWs had breakfast a half hour before dawn and at dawn, the men went to work. Each morning, after arriving at the farm, the POWs went into a tool shed to get their tools. As they left the shed, the guards hit them on their heads. It was stated that the POWs received the worst beatings. The POWs stated that the guards walked in the fields looking for any excuse to beat the POWs. The POWs were beaten for talking, stealing food, and not working hard enough. The POWs pulled weeds growing among the vegetables and were expected to bend over to pull the weeds. Since they did this for hours, they grew tired and would go down on one knee or squat. The guards - when he saw a POW doing this - would sneak up and beat the men with clubs. They always hit the POWs in the ribs and across their spines. It was stated men were constantly being brought to the camp hospital from the detail for medical treatment because of the beatings. A guard, “Smiling Sam” would tell the POWs he was taking a break and then turned his back to them. While he was on his break, they could rest or steal food. Before he ended his break he warned them that his break was over and when he turned around, they were all working.
The guards also did not need a reason to beat the POWs. POWs were simply working when guards would just hit them with a pick handle or some other object until they fell. Then, they kicked the POWs and jumped on them. When they finished the guards left the POWs lie on the ground. When the POWs regained consciousness, they continued to work until noon and then were given medical treatment.
POWs who stole vegetables while working in the field were also beaten if they were caught. One POW was caught stealing peppers and was taken in front of the guard house where he was beaten with a sign board. After the beating, he had to stand at attention from 9:00 am to 11:45 am with his hands extended above his head. In another incident, a POW tore off leaves from a trillium plant to eat and was seen by a guard. The guard beat the man with his fists and rifle. A Japanese supervisor saw what was going on and came over and threw the POW down and kicked him with hob-nailed boots.
When the POWs returned to the camp at the end of the work day, they were searched. POWs who were caught trying to smuggle a radish or ear of corn into the camp would have their arms broken. It was stated that during the three years the farm existed 25 or 30 men had their arms broken. The rest of the camp had their food rations cut for two meals. On one occasion, the 100 POWs were forced to stand at attention for hours because one man was caught stealing a radish.
The POWs organized shows for the other prisoners as a way to break the monotony of camp life. During his time in the camp, there was an incident with the camp band at Cabanatuan. The band always tried to learn new songs to play for the POWs. One of the songs the band learned to play was “Paper Moon.” The only problem was that the song had not become popular until after the soldiers had become POWs. When the Japanese realized this, they knew the POWs had a radio hidden in the camp. The Japanese searched the camp vigorously to find the radio and tortured many men, but they never did find the radio.
Another POW, Conley, escaped from the garden detail on July 11, 1943, and was captured in a barrio. At about 11:00 PM, there was a lot of noise in the camp. The next morning, at the camp morgue, POWs described what they saw. Conley’s jaw had been crushed as was the top of his skull, his teeth had all been knocked out with a rifle butt, his left leg had been crushed, and he had been bayoneted in the eyes and scrotum. From a guard tower, a drunk Japanese guard shot 2nd Lt. Robert Huffcutt while he was working in his garden. After shooting him from the tower he went into the garden and shot him a second time. The guard claimed Huffcutt had tried to escape although he was nowhere near the camp fence.
Also during July, the names of 500 POWs were posted, and on July 21st, the POWs were issued new shoes, a suit of “Philippine Blues” and were 2 cans of corn beef and 3 cans of milk. They were informed they would be taking a 21-day trip. The detachment left the camp that night. As it turned out, when they arrived in Manila, they were used in the Japanese propaganda film The Dawn of Freedom to show how cruel the Americans were to the Filipinos. After this, they were sent to Japan on the Clyde Maru.
Any POW who was healthy worked on the airfield detail or on the farm detail which had started in November 1942. The POWs had breakfast a half hour before dawn and at dawn, the men went to work. The detail was under the command of “Big Speedo” who spoke very little English. When he wanted the POWs to work faster, he told the POWs “speedo.” Although he was known to have a temper, but overall, the POWs thought he was fair. Another guard was “Little Speedo” who was smaller and also used “speedo” when he wanted the POWs to work faster. He punished the POWs by making them kneel on stones. The second in command was a guard the POWs called “Donald Duck” because he talked constantly and was described as being unpredictable and would beat POWs at a whim. He knew the POWs called him Donald Duck and they told him that Donald Duck was a big American movie star. One day, he saw a Donald Duck cartoon while in Manila and came looking for the POWs who used the name. The POWs stated they stayed out of his way for days.
Each morning, after arriving at the farm, the POWs went into a tool shed to get their tools. As they left the shed, the guards hit them on their heads. This was considered the most abusive of the work details with the POWs receiving the worst beatings. The POWs cleared the area that they called "the farm" and planted camotes, cassava, taro, sesame, and various greens. The Japanese used most of the food for themselves. When the POWs arrived at the farm, they would enter a shed. As they came out, it was common for them to be hit over the heads by the guards. Although the Japanese told the POWs what they grew would supplement their meals, they took most of what was grown for themselves. The POWs ate the tender tips of the sweet potato plants which angered the Japanese since it stopped the plants' growth. “Smiley” was a Korean guard who always had a smile on his face but could not be trusted. He was the meanest of the guards and beat men up for no reason with the club. Any prisoner who he believed was not working hard enough got knocked over with it. Another guard, “Smiling Sam” would tell the POWs he was taking a break and then turned his back to them. While he was on his break, they could rest or steal food. Before he ended his break he warned them that his break was over and when he turned around, they were all working.
From a guard tower, a drunk Japanese guard shot 2nd Lt. Robert Huffcutt while he was working in his garden. After shooting him from the tower he went into the garden and shot him a second time. The guard claimed Huffcutt had tried to escape although he was nowhere near the camp fence.
Another POW, Conley, escaped from the garden detail on July 11th and was captured in a barrio. At about 11:00 PM, there was a lot of noise in the camp. The next morning, at the camp morgue, POWs described what they saw. Conley’s jaw had been crushed as was the top of his skull, his teeth had all been knocked out with a rifle butt, his left leg had been crushed, and he had been bayoneted in the eyes and scrotum. Also in July, the names of 500 POWs were posted on the list of POWs being sent to Bilibid Prison. On July 22nd, the POWs were issued new shoes, a suit of “Philippine Blues” and were 2 cans of corn beef, and 3 cans of milk. They were informed they would be taking a 21-day trip. On July 15th, 25 to 30 trucks arrived at the camp to transport POWs to Manila. The trucks with the POWs left at 8:00 P.M. and arrived at Bilibid Prison at 2:00 A.M. The only food the POWs received was rotten sweet potatoes. As it turned out, when they arrived in Manila, they were used in The Dawn of Freedom, a Japanese propaganda film, to show how cruel the Americans were to the Filipinos. After this, they were sent to Japan on the Clyde Maru.
In August, the rainy season had started, and all the extra food was long gone. The Japanese planned to move the hospital to the same area as the healthy POWs to reduce the size of the camp so they could reduce the number of guards. On September 22nd, the hospital was moved. The POWs also were ordered to stop cooking their food. For the sick, this was bad news since meals for them were being cooked individually. The POWs adopted a system where a group placed an order for food 24 hours before they wanted the food. The supplies were debited from that group’s supplies.
Some sources state it was in September 1943 while others state it was in January 1944 that a new detail was sent out to work at Cabanatuan Airfield which had been the home of a Philippine Army Air Corps unit and had been known as Maniquis Airfield. The airfield was seven miles southeast of the camp and the POWs marched to it and from it each day. It was reported that 1,500 POWs were used on the detail in the construction of runways and revetments. Those POWs working on the airfield dug dirt and moved it to where the Japanese wanted it with wheelbarrows and small mining cars. The POWs worked at the airfield until March 1944 when the detail ended. A guard the POWs called “Air Raid” was in charge of the detail. It was said that the POWs had to watch him but that he was usually fair.
The Japanese continued to discipline the POWs. Those POWs who were too sick to work were made to stand in the sun for hours with their arms stretched out straight in front of them or above their heads holding heavy objects. Another common punishment was for the POWs to squat for 2 to 3 hours with pick handles placed between their thighs and calves to cut off circulation. Both on the work details and in the camp the POWs continued to be beaten with holes, rifle butts, 2x4s, and bamboo whips. The most vicious guard when it came to the beatings was called “Clark Gable” by the POWs.
An order was issued on October 3rd that all good khaki garments, hats, rifle belts, and field bags they had must be turned over to the Japanese. The next day, the Japanese sent 1300 POWs to Bongabong in captured U.S. trucks. On one of the front bumpers of a 6 by 6 truck were the markings “Hq 192nd.” The POWs were back in the camp by 8:00 P.M. and to the surprise of the other POWs, their possessions were returned to them. It turned out that the Japanese were still shooting the movie, and the POWs were used as extras in the movie. Also during the month, the POWs noted that the food they were growing on the camp farm was being sent to Manila. On October 18th, 103 telegrams were brought to the camp but only 21 men present in the camp received them. It appeared that other men were out on work details. Four days later, 175 telegrams arrived at the camp, but only 65 were distributed. It was noted that some had been received in Tokyo that same month.
Another duty Phil performed was to walk the perimeter of the camp. He did this with Sgt. Lewis Wallisch, from HQ Co., 192nd. Both had been National Guardsmen in Janesville. Their job was to prevent POWs from escaping from the camp. This was done so no other prisoners would be executed by the Japanese.
In August, the rainy season had started, and all the extra food was long gone. The Japanese planned to move the hospital to the same area as the healthy POWs to reduce the size of the camp so they could reduce the number of guards. On September 22nd, the hospital was moved. The POWs also were ordered to stop cooking their food. For the sick, this was bad news since meals for them were being cooked individually. The POWs adopted a system where a group placed an order for food 24 hours before they wanted the food. The supplies were debited from that group’s supplies.
Phil’s brother Paul, received a POW postcard from him in September 1943, on the card Phil had checked off, “I am well and not under treatment.” He also wrote, “Please see that my insurance and barber licenses are taken care of. Take care of yourself. Love to all.” The card was signed by him.
It is known that Phil was officially listed as a Prisoner of War by the War Department on October 15, 1943. Weeks earlier his brother informed he was a POW.
P PARISH
1318 SOUTH JACKSON STREET
JANESVILLE WISCONSIN
REPORT JUST RECEIVED THROUGH THE INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS STATES THAT YOUR BROTHER SERGEANT PHILIP R PARISH 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=
A week or so after this notification, they received a letter from the War Department.
Mr. Parish
Report has been received that your brother, Sergeant Philip R.. Parish, 20,645,209, Infantry, is now a prisoner of war to the Japanese Government in the Philippine Islands. This is to confirm my telegram of September –, 1943.
The Provost Marshall General, Prisoner of War Information Bureau, Washington, D. C., will furnish you the address to which mail may be sent. Any future correspondence in connection with his status as a prisoner of war should be addressed to that office.
Very truly yours
(signed)
J. A. JULIO
Major General
The Adjutant General
This was followed by another letter.
Mr. Paul Parish;
The Provost Marshal General directs me to inform you that you may communicate with your brother, postage free, by following the inclosed instructions:
It is suggested that you address him as follows:
Sgt. Philip R. Parish, 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 to you.
Further information will be forwarded to you as soon as it is received.
Sincerely
(signed)
HOWARD F. BRESEE
Colonel, CMP
Chief Information Bureau
Some sources state it was in September 1943 while others state it was in January 1944 that a new detail was sent out to work at Cabanatuan Airfield which had been the home of a Philippine Army Air Corps unit and had been known as Maniquis Airfield. The airfield was seven miles southeast of the camp and the POWs marched to it and from it each day. It was reported that 1,500 POWs were used on the detail in the construction of runways and revetments. Those POWs working on the airfield dug dirt and moved it to where the Japanese wanted it with wheelbarrows and small mining cars. The POWs worked at the airfield until March 1944 when the detail ended. A guard the POWs called “Air Raid” was in charge of the detail. It was said that the POWs had to watch him but that he was usually fair.
The Japanese continued to discipline the POWs. Those POWs who were too sick to work were made to stand in the sun for hours with their arms stretched out straight in front of them or above their heads holding heavy objects. Another common punishment was for the POWs to squat for 2 to 3 hours with pick handles placed between their thighs and calves to cut off circulation. Both on the work details and in the camp the POWs continued to be beaten with holes, rifle butts, 2x4s, and bamboo whips. The most vicious guard when it came to the beatings was called “Clark Gable” by the POWs.
An order was issued on October 3rd that all good khaki garments, hats, rifle belts, and field bags they had must be turned over to the Japanese. The next day, the Japanese sent 1300 POWs to Bongabong in captured U.S. trucks. On one of the front bumpers of a 6 by 6 truck were the markings “Hq 192nd.” The POWs were back in the camp by 8:00 P.M. and to the surprise of the other POWs, their possessions were returned to them. It turned out that the Japanese were still shooting the movie, and the POWs were used as extras in the movie. Also during the month, the POWs noted that the food they were growing on the camp farm was being sent to Manila. On October 18th, 103 telegrams were brought to the camp but only 21 men present in the camp received them. It appeared that other men were out on work details. Four days later, 175 telegrams arrived at the camp, but only 65 were distributed. It was noted that some had been received in Tokyo that same month.
During this time, the death rate in the camp dropped after the Japanese issued Red Cross packages to the POWs. Another thing that helped lower the death rate was that the POWs were allowed to have gardens to grow vegetables. This occurred because the ranking American officer, Lt. Col. Curtis Beecher, USMC., had been friends with the Japanese camp commander when they were both stationed in Shanghai.
The POWs noticed a change in the running of the camp on November 7th. There was only one detachment of guards and only Americans were cooking for the Japanese. The Japanese supply warehouse was broken into and sugar and milk were found to be missing. The POW punishment was that they would not receive their meat ration that day. Later in the day, the order was changed and the POWs received the meat ration. The Japanese explanation was, “We know the Americans did not steal the foods.”
The POWs received on December 7, 1943, ½ a pound of sugar, 2 cans of soluble coffee, 2 chocolate emergency rations, 1 pound of prunes, and a ½ pound of cheese. The items were perishable goods that came from the Red Cross Christmas boxes sent to the camp. That night they received a Japanese “news sheet” that told of the terrible American losses in the southwest Pacific. According to the sheet, the U.S. had lost most of its navy. It also stated that the U.S. lost 5 carriers, 2 cruisers, and a battleship in the Gilberts, and 37 ships were lost at Bougainville. On the 11th, they received more coffee, two cans of cheese, two chocolate bars, and two boxes of raisins.
On Christmas Eve the Japanese gave each man an unopened Red Cross box. Inside the POWs found cigarettes which usually were missing from the boxes. From 9:00 P.M. until midnight on Christmas Eve, carolers were all over the camp. Christmas started with midnight mass for the Catholics with Protestant services at 5:30 A.M. Bango was at 7:00 A.M. instead of 6:30. The Japanese also handed out to each man an unopened Red Cross box. In total, POWs stated they received four Red Cross boxes.
One of the changes that took place in January 1944 was that the POWs on the work details were no longer beaten. The farm detail where the POWs received the worst beatings was considered the best detail to be on. The POWs received in January another Red Cross box around the 19th. Inside were 3 cans of beef, 4 cans of butter, 1 spam, 1 purity loaf, 1 salmon, 1 Pate, 1 canned milk, and jam. In addition, the POWs received packs of cigarettes. Those who received ¼ of sugar on December 7 received ½ a pound of cocoa.
In February 1944, the rumor spread among the POWs that the Marshall Islands and Gibert Islands had been retaken. They also heard that the Marianas Islands had been bombed and that there had been a sea Battle in the Java Sea. They also heard that the Filipino food ration had been cut to 120 grams of rice a day and that no one was allowed to leave Manila.
During his time in the camp, Phil went out on a work detail, the POWs attempted to do as little work as possible. One day, Phil was jabbed by a Japanese guard with his bayonet for not working hard enough. The prisoners were marched to the work area, and when they returned, they had a couple of hours of daylight to read. Phil found a Life magazine from just before the war. In it were pictures of the U.S. Navy with the caption, “We’ll lick the Japanese in just two weeks.” At this time, Phil had been a prisoner for two years.
Phil recalled that there was a Tom Cat that lived in the camp. Phil had decided that he was going to make a meal out of the cat. The cat seemed to sense this and kept its distance. One day, Phil found the cat’s hide near the prison camp’s fence.
A POW complained that he believed the American officers in charge of the mess were giving out the food in bigger quantities to their friends. He was almost beaten to death by the Japanese because they expected loyalty to officers, regardless of their army.
Phil stated that harsh treatment was not only reserved for the American prisoners. Once he saw a Japanese soldier made to run double-time tied to the back of a truck. When he collapsed, they stopped the truck. Two other soldiers got out of the truck, picked him up, and threw him into the truck like a bag of rice.
During his time in the camp, he witnessed men killed for no reason. Two POWs, who had tried to escape, were forced to dig their own graves and shot. Two others had their hands tied behind their backs and then tied to the fence by the entrance to the Japanese Headquarters across from the camp. Every Japanese guard that passed would beat the men. The men died two days later. Like the other prisoners, Phil became ill. During his internment at Cabanatuan, he came down with wet beriberi, which made his body swell like a balloon.
In March 1944, Phil was sent to Clark Field to build runways. He recalled that it was the POWs’ job to remove small hills with picks and shovels so the runways could be lengthened. On this detail, 300 POWs worked to enlarge the runways and build new ones. They also built revetments for planes with shovels and wheelbarrows. He felt like a Hebrew building a pyramid for the Egyptians.
The only good thing about the detail is that Phil and the other prisoners got sweet corn to eat from the stalks left in the field that was being turned into a runway. The bad thing was that the men worked in temperatures of over 100 degrees and never had a day off. They worked long hours starting at 6:00 A.M. working long hours even during the typhoon season. They were fed, a cup of rice, twice a day but the amount of food was inadequate. The Japanese did not give the POWs any medical supplies, and if they had them it was because the POWs had scrounged them. They were housed in the same barracks that many of them had lived in before the war.
If a POW escaped, the POWs remaining POWs were forced to stand at attention, in formation, for hours. On one occasion, they stood at attention until 4:00 A.M. Afterwards, they went to work. The Japanese instituted the “Blood Brother” rule since several POWs escaped from the detail. If one man escaped, the other nine men in the group would be executed. Men were often thrown into the metal shack that served as a cellblock that had no windows and only enough room for the man to squat. They also witnessed the execution of Filipinos who had been caught stealing sheet metal. They were tied to poles and used for bayonet practice.
He remained on this detail until August of 1944. To keep his sanity, Phil spent hours in the sun drawing up plans for a home and a barbershop. For him, living in a dream world was better than dealing with the reality of the camp. It was reported on August 8th in the Janesville Gazette, that Dorothy, who was serving in the WACs and stationed in Amarillo, Texas, received a typed postcard from Phil. He indicated that his health was excellent and had his signature.
The rumor also began to fly that the prisoners were going to be moved to Bilibid Prison. The prison was used as a holding station for men being sent to Japan or other countries under Japanese control. On the morning of August 27, 1944, the POWs had to be up and ready to move by 2:30 in the morning. When they arrived at Bilibid, they were given thorough physical exams. Those considered to be ill, would not be sent to Japan. Phil had learned that his friend Pvt. Jack Bruce was buried at Bilibid and wanted to see Jack Bruce’s grave. But because it was in an area of the camp that was considered “off-limits,” he could only see it from a distance.
A list was posted with the names of POWs leaving the Philippines, and his name was on it. On August 13, 1944, the 1.034 POWs went to the Port Area of Manila. Many of these men came from Cabanatuan while others came from Bilibid Prison. According to some POWs, they were taken by barges to the Noto Maru on August 15, 1944. This was the last ship to sail for Japan that was not attacked by American submarines. The POWs boarded the ship. It was stated it was extremely hot outside. Next, they were sent down into one of its holds almost 1,000 square feet, and extremely hot. Another company of POWs arrived by barge and put into the ship's hold. The companies had as many as 200 men in them. Five companies of POWs were placed in the hold totaling 1,058 men. With each company put into the hold, the POWs got closer to the hatch. According to men who were on the ship they boarded and disembarked the ship two more times. Some men believed this happened because American submarines had been seen in the area and the ships could not sail. The last time they boarded the ship was on August 25th, and after they were in the hold, the Japanese removed the ladder trapping the POWs. As the hatch was closed, the Japanese guard said in perfect English, "Make yourself comfortable." The POWs sat in positions that took up as little space as possible.
The ship also carried Japanese troops and civilians. The civilians were being evacuated from the Philippines. The ship moved on August 27th, but it dropped anchor and spent the night in Subic Bay until three other ships were ready to sail. The ship finally sailed as part of a convoy of ten to fifteen ships on August 28th, but for the POWs in the hold, it was always night. The light that did enter the hold through the hatch did not penetrate the darkness.
A large barrow cut half length-wise below the hatch was supposed to serve as the latrine but it was almost impossible to get to it. To get to the tub, the POWs had to crawl over other men. When the man was finished, he found someone else had taken his place. Many men could not get to the tub, so the floor was soon covered with human waste. When the half-barrow was hoisted out of the hold, human feces fell on the men below in the hold. The smell coming out of the hold was so bad that the Japanese covered the hatch which made the hold get hotter and made the smell worse. The POWs stated that the heat was so bad that men passed out and fell into the excrement that covered the floor. It was said that the POWs willed themselves not to pass out because it was certain death if they did. The dead were piled under the hatch and pulled out with ropes.
The POWs were fed boiled barley once a day and given water once or twice a day. A POW was lucky if he received a tablespoon of water. As the ship made its way to Japan men died of sickness and starvation. With each death, there was more room in the ship’s hold. The dead were hoisted from the hold by rope and thrown into the sea. The suction of the ship’s propellers pulled the bodies into them and resulted in the bodies being cut up.
On its trip to Formosa, depth charges were dropped since American submarines were believed to be in the area of the ships. The ship arrived at Takao on August 30th. While it was docked, the smell from the hold was so bad that the POWs who could walk were brought up on deck, taken ashore, and hosed down with salt water. The Japanese also washed down the hold to clean out the waste on the floor. After the POWs went back into the hold, the temperature dried the water off but left them with a layer of salt on their skin. The second day at Takao American B-17 attacked. The POWs in the ship's hold could not hear the planes as they approached. They became aware of the attack when the first bombs exploded. The attack lasted about 45 minutes but the planes failed to hit any of the ships.
During the trip, men died of sickness and starvation. With each death, there was more room in the ship's hold. The bodies of the dead were hosted out of the hold by ropes and dumped in the sea. The suction of the ship's propellers pulled the bodies into them and resulted in the bodies being cut up.
The convoy came under attack from American submarines one night at 3:00 a.m. The POWs chanted for the subs to sink the ship. The POWs did not know it, but they were under attack by a wolf pack made up of the USS Crevale, USS Angler, and USS Flasher. At least two torpedoes were fired at the ship, but since they ran deep, the torpedoes went under the ship. The prisoners heard a bang under the ship and they assumed that it was a torpedo from an American submarine. It is known that several other ships in the convoy were sunk. One POW said, "That is an eerie feeling. Here, it's an American sub firing at you. You're below the waterline." They also heard an explosion and saw a flash go over the hatch when a tanker was hit. After this happened the Japanese covered the hatch.
The surviving ships arrived in Moji, Japan on September 4th, and the POWs were given a piece of colored wood as they left the ship. The POWs were put into two groups by the color of the piece of wood. Each detachment went to a different camp. Their smell was so bad, that the Japanese civilians held their noses as the POWs passed.
The POWs next were put on a ferry to cross the Bay of Kobe. They then were boarded onto a train. As they boarded, Phil noticed that there was a large number of Japanese civilians who appeared to be maimed. The men then were boarded onto a silver streamliner. It was nice inside, but there was no air conditioning. They were ordered not to touch the curtains and to leave them down. The POWs peeked out the windows and learned why. The Japanese city had suffered a great amount of damage from American bombers.
On the trip, the prisoners received the best meal that they had received in years. When the train arrived in Takaoka, a small coastal city on the edge of Honshu facing the Sea of Japan, they disembarked. From there, the POWs were marched to Tokyo POW Camp 21-D. It was September 6, 1944. This camp was later known as Nagoya #6 which was built for 300 POWs and located near a manganese plant. The barracks in the camp were divided between American and British POWs. This was done to keep order and to prevent problems with camp records. Phil was also issued the POW number 6-5559
When the Americans got to the camp, it appeared that the barracks had been built in a hurry. There was a small building in the camp for the prisoners who were really disabled and another building, near the main gate, for the guards. In front of the prisoners’ barracks, there was an area for calisthenics. There was also a zigzag trench that was supposedly an air raid shelter. Within the barracks, each prisoner had a sleeping area of four feet covered with a firm matting material. The entire compound was surrounded by an eight-foot wooden fence.
The Japanese commanding officer addressed the prisoners. He had only one arm having lost one fighting the Chinese. He spoke decent English and informed them that the harder they worked, the better they would get along. He also informed them that those who could not work would receive reduced rations.
There were also artesian wells in the camp with 50-degree water. Phil got a large pocketful of water and a bar of soap and washed from head to toe. He then raised the pocket of water above his head and dumped it on himself. It was the coldest bath he ever had and also the most needed. He slept well that night.
The camp was located on the property of the Nomachi Smelting Company. About half the POWs worked at Hokkai Denka, Fushiki on three different details. Most of the Americans worked at a smelter owned by the Hokkai Denka Company, others worked at a second magnesium smelter owned by a different company, while still, others worked in a quarry on the third detail.
The POWs worked two twelve-hour shifts. One was a day shift and the other a night shift. Every two weeks the prisoners would change shifts. When this happened there was an eighteen-hour-long swing shift. Phil was assigned to a sixteen-man crew that shoveled mixed ore into the furnaces. Since the ore was heavy and the heat tremendous, the POWs worked thirty minutes on and thirty minutes off. From September 8, 1944, until September 1, 1945, the POWs were forced to work without a day off. The biggest problem the two groups of prisoners had with each other was language. Phil concluded that the British were no better or worse than the Americans. One hundred fifty additional British POWs arrived in the camp, from Hong Kong, in January 1945.
The prisoner rations were better at this camp than at the other camps Phil had been held in before this camp. Although it was mostly rice, there was also barley and soybean when it was in season. They also received daikons which were overgrown white radishes. The prisoners sliced it and boiled it into a thin soup. The only meat they received was from three or four cobras that they had discovered inside a giant anthill. Once they even had real Irish potatoes.
The only stealing that was tolerated was stealing from the Japanese. One of Phil’s friends had figured out a way to steal soybeans from the Japanese. Two British prisoners saw him do it and wanted in on the action. Both men were caught. The Japanese then searched all the prisoners’ barracks for soybeans. When they found those of Phil’s friend, the entire barracks were punished by going without firewood for two days.
While in the camp, Phil received a letter from Dorothy. It was a year old but a morale booster. In the letter, she told Phil that she was still single. Phil concluded that this meant that she still loved him or that single men were scarce.
The prisoners knew that the war was not going well for Japan. When they were working in the plant, they watched how tightly the food was rationed to the civilians. The foreman gave each worker the same amount of rice. The workers made sure that the kernels that fell on the floor were picked up and put in their baskets. The rats and mice also felt the food shortage. The rats had started to kill the mice for food.
One of the benefits of working in the plant was that there was always enough hot and cold water. The hot water was the result of the furnaces. The prisoners at the plant introduced the Japanese to taking showers. A couple of POWs who worked in the machine shop got permission to make a showerhead. The Japanese liked it so much that they had one made.
While working in the plant, the Americans and the British were not allowed to be mixed in the work details. The POWs worked in the same areas but never together. The British did not tolerate stealing within their ranks. If a British soldier was caught stealing, the punishment was harsh. Those who were victimized formed a ring around the thief. They were allowed to hit the man until he could not stand or his face was a bloody mess. The thief was then carried on a stretcher to the camp hospital.
By November 1944, snow was everywhere. Phil saw the Japanese putting markers about five feet tall on the buildings and on posts along the roads. One morning Phil and the other POWs went to work in a foot of snow. It snowed every few days until there were about four feet of snow on the ground. They had no boots and their shoes were three years old. What amazed Phil was that in the spring there was no flooding. The ground soaked up all the water.
When Christmas 1944 approached, Phil and the other POWs hoped that they would have the day off. They hoped that the Japanese would also allow them to have decorations inside their barracks. There also was a rumor that they would receive Red Cross parcels for Christmas. As it turned out, parcels were delivered and each was shared by two men.
A few days before Christmas, the Japanese brought ornaments into every barracks. The ornaments looked just like the ones back home. As it turned out they were the same. These ornaments were supposed to have been shipped to the United States when the war started.
On Christmas, both the Americans and British POWs sang carols together. They also learned that the Japanese had received the Red Cross parcels months earlier, but had held them back to have something to give the prisoners on Christmas. The prisoners needed the food inside the parcels, but what they needed, even more, was what the packages represented. To them, the parcels meant that they had not been forgotten back home. When an American was caught stealing, the ranking American officer, 1st. Lt. George Sense knocked him down on his rear. Phil believed that this was the right thing to do because it sent the right message.
While Phil was a prisoner at Nagoya #6, four POWs died. Men would wear out from being overworked and underfed. Then pneumonia took over and the men died in a couple of days. Their bodies would be put in a four-by-four-foot by two-foot box. It had handles that allowed it to be carried. A Buddhist priest from the village walked ahead of the procession in his white and gold robes. When the remains were returned to the camp, they were in a four-inch by four-inch by twelve-inch box. The man’s name and serial number were on the box. The box was kept by the camp commandant in his office.
Being that the Japanese had a quota of POWs they needed to work on the details each day, those suffering from diarrhea or dysentery were not considered sick. The sick were beaten with shovels to get them to do work that they were too sick to do. They also had their meal rations reduced.
Collective punishment was practiced in the camp and all the POWs were punished when one man broke a rule. On one occasion, for 7 days, the POWs were denied coal, in the middle of winter, because someone had broken a rule. 15 POWs were accused of stealing rice from sacks that they were unloading from a ship. Once they returned to the camp, they were forced to kneel for 1 to 5 hours to get them to confess. Six of the fifteen men confessed and the others were fed and sent to their barracks.
When the camp commandant left the camp at 8:30 that evening, all the POWs were called from the barracks by the second in command and ordered to stand at attention. They were then beaten with pickax handles, rope, that was about 3 inches thick and five feet long, clubs, and farrison belts across the buttocks, face, and legs.
When the POWs passed out, they were either thrown into a large tub of water, with their hands and feet bound, or they had water poured on them until they revived. They once again had to stand at attention as the beating continued for a total of 3 hours. One POW counted that he received 150 blows to his face and 20 on his buttocks.
The Japanese denied the POWs food, clothing, shoes, and other items sent to the camp by the Red Cross. Instead of giving these things to the POWs, the Japanese pilfered the items for their own use. The guards were seen wearing shoes sent by the Red Cross for the POWs. Phil and the other POWs knew of the air raids. The Japanese workers would bring newspapers to the mill. The POWs would sneak the papers into the camp and figure out what was happening. As they marched to the mill, the POWs saw teenage boys being trained by army officers. They knew that it was for the expected invasion of Japan. The boys used sticks for rifle practice.
Phil recalled that the attitude of the Japanese civilians at the plant varied. Some of the civilians were very friendly while others were hostile. The son of the owner of the manganese works liked associating with the POWs because he could speak English. On another occasion, Phil was chewed out by a Japanese girl because he had asked for nails to fix his shoes. Still, another Japanese girl saw that Phil’s gloves were worn through and gave him hers. She told him she could always get another pair.
Phil believed that prayer was one of the major reasons he survived. When he got to a point where he thought he would die, he would pray and seemed to get better.
Being that the Japanese had a quota of POWs they needed to work on the details each day, those suffering from diarrhea or dysentery were not considered sick. The sick were beaten with shovels to get them to do work that they were too sick to do. They also had their meal rations reduced.
Sometimes at night, the plant would be blacked out and the POWs were returned to their barracks. Occasionally, they had an air raid drill where the POWs went into the zigzag trench. Phil did not like these drills and felt funny when they had them. Because of this “funny feeling,” Phil would hide in the latrine during the drills. He would squat there until the all-clear was given. It was only after the war that he learned about the Palawan Massacre.
At night, the POWs also began to hear American bombers going over the camp which was a beautiful sound to them. One night Phil could hear the sound of bombs exploding in the distance. The guards entered the barracks and told the POWs to stay away from the windows. Despite this warning, Phil and the other prisoners peeked out. In the distance, they could see flames that had been started by incendiary bombs. The first fires would light up the target, then wave after wave of bombers bombed the area. The interior of the POWs’ barracks was red from the light of the fire burning in the southeastern sky. The sound of one squadron of planes would fade when the sound of another could be heard approaching.
In secret, the POWs wanted the City of Takaoka bombed. This included the manganese mill where they worked. As they went to work, they saw Japanese civilians pushing carts down the roads to escape the city. The civilians were moving into the caves in the hills for protection against the bombers.
One change that took place was that of the attitude of the guards toward the prisoners. A friend of Phil’s, Jimmy Lujen, hit a supervisor at the mill. Instead of being punished, he was transferred to another job. The POWs believed this was a sign that the civilians knew that the end of the war was near.
One morning the POWs went to work as usual but were given new jobs. They were told that the blast furnaces were going to be dismantled. They also saw the Japanese women in the mill talking and weeping. All Phil and the other POWs knew was something serious had happened.
A few days later, a Japanese officer came to the camp and spoke with the ranking American officer. The Japanese officer told him that the war was over and that the POWs would not be going to work. He also said that the POWs would remain in the camp until the Americans came for them. One immediate change was that the POWs received more food. The guards were still at the gate, but now their role was to protect the prisoners. They also saluted the Americans.
One night, a U. S. Navy pilot appeared in the camp. He contacted the ranking officers and informed them of how and when they would leave. He also told them about the atomic bomb and that none of the prisoners should leave the camp alone. The former prisoners did leave the camp to go to a nearby river. There they swam and lay in the grass as free men.
Food was dropped into the camp by B-29s in 55-gallon drums. The former POWs wanted to go home but were nervous about the future. One morning the Red Cross showed up at the camp gate and inspected the camp. All the men knew that they were fortunate to be alive. They also received the order that they would be leaving Takaoka by train on September 1, 1945.
When the POWs arrived at the train depot, Phil saw hatred in the face of one Japanese man in a military uniform, but most of the Japanese offered them. Phil received six handmade salad bowls. The train took the train to Yokohama. There they disembarked the train near the docks and saw GIs who looked healthy and strong.
They were processed and cleaned up on the U.S.S. Rescue, on September 7, and taken to Manila by a destroyer. Phil could not believe how young the sailors looked on the ship. When they arrived in Manila, they were taken to a tent city and processing center. The Americans had a yellow color to their skin. The reason for this is that they were taking atabrine to prevent Malaria. It was at this processing center that Phil and the other freed POWs received new shoes and uniforms. This was the first time in three and a half years that they were given new shoes and uniforms. He was also promoted to Staff Sergeant.
During this time, while he was on an American transport, he wrote a letter home to his entire family while on the ship awaiting his orders. The following is an excerpt from it.
“I’m well, sent a radiogram a couple of days ago. Expect to start home soon—will phone you at the first opportunity. Very anxious to hear and will expect first letters to be really long ones. Don’t hold out anything on me like announcements of new relatives, etc.
“My group didn’t leave the prison camp ’til the sixth (of September), 150 of us and I’ve not had a chance yet to see any of the other Janesville boys. I haven’t seen Fay (Baldon who died on the Arisan Maru when it was sunk in the South China Sea on Oct. 24, 1944.) since February 1943. He was well then.
“Out of 94 tank men, 47 were alive the last I knew. Perhaps Aunt Mabel was notified of Ray’s death about May 19, 1942 (Ray was Fay’s twin brother).
“I have received some of your mail. All came about September 1944, so, you see, I’m pretty anxious to hear. We’re sure living comfortably now, aboard a transport anchored in the bay.”
Phil for the first time wondered what would be waiting for him at home. By bus, the former POWs were taken back to Manila. There, he boarded the S.S. Simon Bolivar for San Francisco arriving on October 21, 1945. During the trip, Phil began cutting hair again.
Phil returned to Janesville. When he arrived home, in his possession was a prayer book that had belonged to M/Sgt. Robert Havens. After Havens had died in 1942, Phil had carried it with him from camp to camp to return it to Havens’ parents. Of Havens he said, “…knew more about the regulations and operations than many of the majors and other high-ranking officers.”
After returning to the United States, Phil married Dorothy Ramaker on October 31, 1945, and was discharged on May 22, 1946. His wife and he raised five children. He returned to school and earned his high school equivalency diploma. He went to Molar Barber College and spent 38 years as a barber in Janesville retiring in 1985. On April 27, 1987, Philip R. Parish passed away at the age of 78 and was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery in Janesville.
