As Good As Dead

by Stephen L. Moore

  Doc Mango earned Smitty’s top respect with his action in this case. Other prisoners came to admire Mango for a variety of reasons, not just because of his medical training. He was not opposed to physically putting an end to trouble when necessary. One incident witnessed by many happened when a young marine, Private First Class Frederick Lutz, decided he was unable to work. Mango refused to put him on the sick list, and Lutz challenged the Army doctor to a fight. Mango initially declined to fight a fellow American, but Lutz came after him. They squared off, and Mango laid out his opponent in twenty seconds.17 The marines were stunned to see one of their own decked by a single hard right punch to the head. To his credit, Lutz picked himself up, shook hands, and made peace with the doctor. The two thereafter understood each other well, and no further disagreements arose regarding Mango’s authority over the sick list.

  Gene Nielsen considered Mango the bravest and most caring man in camp. The doctor became a favorite among the enlisted men because he was willing to stand up to both Japanese officers and prison guards. Nielsen believed even the Japanese respected Mango to a certain degree for his unflinching resolve.

  Yet survival groups and Doc Mango could not prevent abuse. Mac McDole continued his slow work routine, tempting his guards to beat him for it. As he was picking up shovels of dirt one afternoon and slowly shaking them back onto the same ground, a Japanese soldier approached, tapping a club in his hand. Mac couldn’t have cared less—this had happened before. He continued screwing around until the guard smashed the wooden bat across the top of his pith helmet, sending him to his knees.18

  “Ya didn’t hurt me, you son of a bitch!” Mac growled as he pulled himself up.

  Again the guard swung his club, slamming it into the side of Mac’s head. This time he fell to the ground, where he lay dazed for a moment. But he brushed himself off, stood to glare at the guard, and said defiantly, “Ya still didn’t hurt me, you son of a bitch!”

  Smitty was shocked when the guard just shook his head and walked away. He warned his buddy that such actions were going to get him killed, but McDole would continue to draw the ire of his guards in the future by slacking off on the job. On another occasion, he was attacked for accidentally hitting Evan Bunn’s hand with a sledgehammer. Bunn was spurting blood from his wound, but he could not control his own laughter as a guard beat McDole for apparently removing Bunn’s thumb with the blow. After Bunn explained that his thumb had been lost long ago, the guard became so angry that he refused to let him return to camp for the rest of the day to have his hand treated.19

  Physical pain was something marines like Mac McDole and Evan Bunn could handle, but what truly hurt McDole was the theft of his high school ring. He lost it for a while in the barracks, then discovered it jammed between two floorboards near his blanket. He was so happy to see this relic from home again that he fell asleep with it on his finger that night and forgot all about it until a Japanese guard spotted it at the airfield the next day. The man demanded the ring, but Mac pretended it was stuck and could not be removed. Only when the guard threatened to slice off the finger with his bayonet did Mac angrily hand it over. He was left feeling bitter with himself. Someone had stolen his small Bible weeks before. Now his last material possession from Iowa was gone too.20

  Such losses only added to Mac’s desire to piss off his guards, and he was not alone. George Burlage did anything he could to slow the progress of Japanese work details. He was not blatantly defiant like McDole but always made sure that the men in his party fell a bit short of their goal. Burlage had long since recognized the reality of the situation: If we ever make our quota, they’re just going to give us a bigger one the next day.21

  *

  KEMPEI TAI.

  It was the name of a special Japanese military police unit the American prisoners learned to fear. Based in Manila, the Kempei Tai was first assigned to send a small unit of its men to Palawan Island in October 1942. The group had wide authority to handle any problems it encountered—from Filipino guerrilla resistance to American prisoner insubordination—with whatever means necessary.

  The small Kempei Tai force arriving at Puerto Princesa in October was commanded by Sublieutenant Tadayoshi Watanabe. He arrived on a transport ship with eight subordinates: sergeant majors Ogura and Shiro Isono; sergeants Susumu Kato, Zentaro Sawada, Munekazu Miyahara, and Tatsuo Nakaya; corporals Yukihiko Kuroiwa and Takeo Kusumoto; interpreter Kintoku Uehara; and a cook, Yoshikatsu Ito.22

  Sergeant Major Isono was unimpressed by his new assignment. The largely abandoned capital city appeared to be a desolate place lacking all facilities for recreation. His commander, Lieutenant Watanabe, felt the small population at Puerto Princesa was meaningless, but his military police unit nonetheless set up station in an abandoned two-story concrete brig located near the entrance to the American POW compound.23

  Commandant Kishimoto could now hand over the punishment of his Camp 10-A prisoners to the new military police, and the Americans found the Kempei Tai unit only too happy to oblige. The first challenge for Lieutenant Watanabe’s men came soon after their arrival, when Captain Kishimoto learned some of his charges were stealing from the camp kitchen. Camp clerk Hubert Hough noted in his diary that November 8 was the date the “cornbeef deal” started. While the POWs were at work at the airfield, guards conducted a search of their barracks and emerged with cans of purloined corned beef. Hough, Private Bill Bragg, and another prisoner were hauled off to the Kempei Tai brig that evening. They were quizzed in broken English by Senior Private Oguri, the interpreter known to them as “John the Baptist.” Watanabe was dissatisfied with their answers. “We got the third and fourth degree,” Hough wrote of his beatings.24

  Hough’s trio was determined to be unaware of the identity of the canned goods thieves, and they were released the following morning into the care of Doc Mango for treatment of their fresh interrogation wounds. The investigation was only just beginning. Boatswain’s Mate First Class Charlie Weston was also thrown into the brig under suspicion of stealing the corned beef. Weston and marine Carmen Dimeo had been on KP duty during the week of the thefts. Dimeo had actually been caught in the act of stealing by mess sergeant Suzuki, but he was pretty well liked by the Japanese and managed to talk his way out of the tricky situation. Weston had no such luck: He spent three days in the Kempei Tai brig without food, a punishment given in an attempt to make him confess.25

  During that time, the search for more stolen goods intensified. Guards ransacked the prisoner barracks and soon found a large cache of the canned meat hidden below the floor of Company A. Marine Neal Cleere was angry, pointing out that the food supposedly stolen was actually Red Cross articles sent for the use of American prisoners of war. Nevertheless, Lieutenant Watanabe had the entire company of men stand at attention for hours until someone would admit to the theft. It was 2100 before six men finally stepped forward and accepted the blame to protect their companions.26

  The rest of Company A was dismissed to the barracks while the guilty were thrown into the brig with Charlie Weston. Those joining him were four sailors and two marines, each fed only one salty rice ball per day, punishment designed to make them even thirstier.

  Private First Class Jimmy Barna, a marine from Detroit, was also detained for making contact with Filipino guerrillas while working on the airfield. Captain Kishimoto learned that some of the prisoners had found an abandoned shack in the jungle near their work site and were placing notes and even money in an empty can. A Filipino sneaked into the shack each day to retrieve what the prisoners had hidden; in return, he left food or information. In mid-November, as the Japanese were investigating the stolen-food issue, the Filipino left a note in the shack saying that the Japanese were watching him and that he would no longer be able to help for fear of his family members’ lives. Barna, seeking more information, left another note asking for the numbers of Japanese on the island and their locations. Guards found the note on November 18 and informed Kishimoto.27

  The Palawan ca
mp commandant decided to let the Kempei Tai make an example of these seven Americans. It was Sunday, a day when the other prisoners were off work and could witness the punishments, so Kishimoto had the entire camp lined in formation, and he selected two special guards from his command to administer the justice. The first was Sergeant Kinhichi Tomioka, a noncommissioned officer about thirty years old and known to the POWs as “the Bull.” Tomioka, who spoke some English, had a round face, and at five foot eleven and 210 pounds, he was large in comparison to other Japanese. Camp head cook Manichi Nishitani assisted Tomioka. Shorter and huskier in build than Tomoika, Nishitani was nicknamed “Buckteeth” by the prisoners due to his protruding jaw, which made his four large, gold-capped upper teeth prominent.28

  Seaman Clarence Freeman was the first taken out of the Kempei Tai brig for punishment before the Bull and Buckteeth. His arms were tied around a tall coconut tree in the courtyard of the prisoner barracks, and Tomioka’s men began flogging Freeman’s bare back with a small whip made of two strands of eighth-inch wire. Charlie Weston, watching through a cell window in the brig, counted about a hundred blows. Suffering with high fever from malaria, Weston was determined to go next to get the punishment over with, so he raced out when the guard opened the door for the next man. Freeman was taken back into the brig as Weston was lashed to a coconut tree, beside which Nishitani was seated with a loaded Luger pistol. He smiled at Weston with his golden buckteeth and said in broken English, “If there is any attempt to resist, I will shoot you very dead.” Weston was a bloody pulp by the time the blows ceased.

  The third prisoner brought forth was Corporal Jack Taylor, a blond marine of strong build who had maintained his muscular shape by lifting heavy rocks and homemade barbells. Mac McDole, lined up with other prisoners nearby, could see that the Japanese were particularly pleased to torture such a strong American. They’re probably hoping he will make a run for it, Mac thought.29

  But Taylor made no effort to flee. Nishitani smiled wickedly while the small wire whip ripped flesh away from the husky marine until his bare backside resembled raw hamburger meat. Charles Norris, a fellow marine, was inspired by Taylor’s courage, and Bob Russell was moved by the fact that the man never flinched or cried out.30

  The beating was so brutal that Weston, still lashed to a neighboring tree, turned his head slightly to look away. This only outraged the Bull. Sergeant Tomioka ordered another of his guards to begin beating Weston with a three-foot club made of Filipino hardwood. The first blow impacted Weston’s lower back with such severe force that he cried out, which seemed to please the Bull. Tomioka nodded for his assistant to continue working over Weston until he fell unconscious after fifteen more blows. The guards then resumed their pounding of Taylor’s shoulders, back, butt, and skull. Only when the marine was completely collapsed and unconscious did Sergeant Tomioka send for the next victim.

  Robert Laidlaw, Jimmy Barna, Delbert Hoefling, Bobby Bacon, and John Yoder endured both the wire whip and the wooden bat. When a guard became too tired to swing any more, the Bull ordered in another Japanese soldier to take over. “Buckteeth” Nishitani even manned the whip and club at times when he was unsatisfied with the work of his subordinates, whom he continually urged to do their utmost to cause pain. At least six other guards participated in the blood sport, most of them largely unknown to the Americans. Neal Cleere knew one of them only by the nickname “Grandma,” a name chosen because the soldier was fat and had a squeaky voice that sounded like that of an old woman.

  The last six men were each beaten until they passed out. Barna was revived several times by buckets of cold water and was made to stand up again for more punishment. The Japanese guards laughed when the Americans stumbled and fell as flesh was ripped from their backsides. Seaman Yoder, whose arms had not been bound to the coconut tree, also passed out at one point from his beating. When a guard sloshed a bucket of cold water in his face, Yoder leaped up and instincti´vely assumed a fighting stance. The other POWs yelled at him, telling the disoriented marine he was not in a boxing ring. Yoder’s mind quickly cleared, and he allowed his own beating to resume.31

  The public punishment continued for two hours, although Captain Kishimoto later claimed to have no knowledge that such abuse was going on and that he sent guards to end the torture as soon as it was brought to his attention. The eight bloody Americans were dragged back to the door of the Kempei Tai brig, where Sergeant Tomioka slugged each prisoner in the face until the prisoner collapsed. Charlie Weston, half-conscious, took only one punch to his jaw before he crashed to the floor. The resilient Taylor, however, absorbed several punches before he collapsed.

  The victims were heaved into their cells and left to suffer. Jack Taylor could feel the broken, burning skin on his back, and pain racked his body from the backs of his knees on up. Lieutenant Watanabe kept the bloodied prisoners on reduced rations for the next three days, although Chief Torpedoman John Cheek and other prisoners went to great risks to slip rice balls in through the prison cell windows to help feed them.32

  On November 21, Captain Kishimoto ordered the eight battered men to be shipped back to Manila, along with six other Americans too sick to work—including Lieutenant John Janson, who was suffering from malaria. The thirteen prisoners shipped out of Palawan dropped the camp count to 404 remaining Americans. Those who saw Barna, Freeman, Hoefling, Laidlaw, Taylor, Bacon, Weston, and Yoder as they were led toward their transport ship were shocked and angered. Don Thomas, who had slept next to Laidlaw in the barracks for months, found it hard to even recognize his friend behind the black bruises and swollen face.33

  Five of the men were returned to Bilibid Prison. Those in the Puerto Princesa camp later heard rumors that Jimmy Barna and Bob Laidlaw were executed shortly after their arrival in Manila, but officially the two men simply disappeared from the record books. At the end of World War II, the status of Laidlaw and Barna was listed as missing in action, and both were later declared dead, bodies not recovered.

  7

  ESCAPE AND EVASION

  SMITTY FOUND THANKSGIVING and Christmas a far cry from the happy holidays he had known in East Texas. As he endured the drudgery and boredom of slave labor, his thoughts often turned to the simple cotton farming community where he had attended high school in Naples, Texas, about ten miles north of his family home near Hughes Springs. His classmates called him Willie, and he was much happier with that than his given name of Rufus. After graduating from Naples in 1937, the blue-eyed Texas boy had lived a carefree lifestyle for more than two years as he roamed across his great state and those of New Mexico and Arizona.

  When Willie returned to his family farm in December 1939 for Christmas, he had told his parents that he was ready to make a new start with the U.S. Marines. The tall, skinny farm boy soon found himself fresh out of boot camp and aboard the troop ship USS Henderson, bound for the beautiful blue waters and sandy beaches of the Philippines. The outbreak of war, capture, and the pitiful life of a prisoner of war had since reduced Willie Smith to longing for simpler holiday seasons back home.1

  The things Smitty had seen in November 1942 on Palawan made his blood boil. Even the beatings of the eight Americans he had witnessed did not dissuade him and other prisoners from pilfering food, canned or fresh. On November 20, Sergeant Elwin Bigelow, Corporal Robert Farmer, and Corporal John Boswell slipped out from the compound to gather papayas. Mess Sergeant Nishitani happened upon the scene and caught Farmer red-handed up in a tree, tossing fruit down to Boswell. Bigelow avoided detection, but the other two were hauled before Captain Kishimoto, who gave his approval for Nishitani to punish the two guilty men.

  The entire camp was again called out from the barracks to witness the barbarity. Nishitani screamed at them and began to beat Farmer and Boswell numerous times across the back and buttocks with a heavy iron rod. Each instinctively raised an arm to help ward off the vicious blows, and both men suffered broken left arms. Once Nishitani was pleased with the beatings he had handed out, he made Boswell
and Farmer remain at attention for another fifteen minutes before allowing them to report to sick bay to have their broken limbs splinted.2

  The only break from construction duty came on the Japanese holiday of the second Harvest Festival on November 23, when Captain Kishimoto announced that no one would work. Two days later, Hubert Hough and several others were sent out to gather fruit for the camp. Hough wrote in his diary that the day marked his first chance encounter with a Filipino guerrilla who slipped him information from the free world. The prisoners continued to toil at their airfield project as poor food and even worse sanitation allowed malaria to dwindle their ranks. The third batch of men to be returned to Manila shipped out on December 22, and the dozen leaving included Boswell and Farmer with their broken arms—reducing the POW camp population to 392 men.3

  December 23 was a “big day” for Yeoman Hough. He was ordered over to the “Big House” where Captain Kishimoto lived near the compound, a place no American prisoner had yet visited. With the assistance of the camp interpreter, he typed up a speech for Kishimoto to deliver at the Iwahig Penal Colony after lunch. Hough was given a bowl of rice, a new shirt, and trousers for the occasion. At the penal colony, the commandant delivered a speech about not working on the holidays before the trio arrived back at his Big House, where Hough was ordered to return his new clothes. “So, back to my G-string,” he wrote.