12Burlage, “The Palawan Massacre,” 24; Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 57–58.
13Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 60–61.
14Ibid., 64.
15Eugene Nielsen, “World War II Stories,” 2006 interview transcription, 5–6.
16Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 60.
17Mango, “Carl Louis Mango” tribute, 4–6.
18Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 60.
19Ibid., 80.
20Ibid., 62–63.
21Burlage Oral History, 70.
22Munekazu Miyahara deposition, “Affidavits of Kempei Tai Members, Palawan Case,” RG 331, 1214UD, Box 1112, Folder 2.
23Shiro Isono deposition, “Affidavits of Kempei Tai Members, Palawan Case,” RG 331, 1214UD, Box 1112, Folder 2.
24Hough to Glenn McDole and Donald Thomas, June 16, 1971; Hubert Hough diary transcription, 4.
25Dimeo, Carmen M., Sgt, USMC. August 10, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 4.
26Cleere, Neal C., U.S. Marines. May 3, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6; Richards, James P., Pvt, USA. October 22, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6. Some prisoners would later offer the name of Boatswain’s Mate 2c George Graham as being involved in the punishment for this offense.
27Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 64.
28Charles H. Weston affidavit, March 6, 1945, RG 331, Box 1111, Folder 6.
29Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 65.
30Russell, “A Kind of Personal History,” 37; Norris, Charles Douglas, Pfc, USMC. August 26, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6; Weston affidavit; “Report of Atrocities at Camp 10A, Puerto Princesa.”
31Francis Galligan affidavit, October 2, 1946, from Manila Report No. 49, RG 331, E 1214, Box 1111, Folder 6.
32John Flowers Taylor affidavit of October 8, 1946, and CTM John Marvin Cheek affidavit of December 20, 1945. Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6.
33Donald H. Thomas to Hubert D. Hough, June 28, 1971; Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 66.
7. ESCAPE AND EVASION
1Rufus W. Smith Oral History, University of North Texas Oral History Collection, No. 788. Interview date: June 13, 1989, with George Burlage. Transcription, 1–2.
Rufus Smith was born on November 12, 1918, in the farming community of Nashville, Arkansas. He had two half brothers, born to another mother who passed away before Taylor Brooks Smith married his second wife, Elizabeth, and had five more children. When Rufus was eight years old, his family relocated to East Texas and settled in Cornett, a community near the town of Hughes Springs.
2Bajorek, F1c Aloysius Stanley. Affidavit of September 7, 1945. Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6.
3Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 5.
4Ibid., 5; Fern Joseph Barta affidavit of August 28, 1946. Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6; Preslar, Lyndal B. Affidavit of September 7, 1945. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6.
5Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 66–68.
6Russell, “A Kind of Personal History,” 32.
7Philip Brodsky Oral History transcription, 16.
8Levine, Captivity, Flight, and Survival in World War II, 65–67; Sidney Wright, “Wartime Experiences.”
9Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 29. The guides, named Hamja and Lahoud, had teeth filed flat and stained black with beetle juice. “I’m sure they thought our white teeth were ugly,” thought Elliott.
10Sidney Wright, “Wartime Experiences.”
11Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 13–19, 24–27.
12Ibid., 29.
13“Interrogation of Escapees from Bataan and Corregidor,” 8.
14Macaset, Valentin, Filipino resident. March 4, 1945. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 4.
15Johnston, Robert T. Jr., Cpl, USAA. January 16, 1945. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6. Johnston learned of Palawan’s Camp 10-A from Watkins and Little but remained behind when the pair moved toward Palawan’s northern tip after Christmas. Johnston moved to Cuyo Island in June 1943.
16“Dramatic Story of Local Sailor,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, Sunday, January 14, 1945.
17Elliott interview with Mansell.
18Swift, William Dewey, Cpl, USMC. Philippine Evacuee Report No. 214, August 21, 1944.
19Schloat, Don T., Pfc, USA. Affidavit of April 27, 1945. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 5.
20Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 5; Burlage, “The Palawan Massacre,” 25.
21Johnston, Robert T. Jr., Cpl, USAA. January 16, 1945. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6; Vicouroux, McVea J., Cpl. Philippine Evacuee Report No. 200, August 21, 1944.
22Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 83–87; Levine, Alan J. Captivity, Flight, and Survival in World War II, 74–75. The two servicemen were Army Air Force Corporal McVea J. Vigouroux and Private Calvin R. Hogg. The Filipino was Reynalda Abandiene. Hogg dropped out of the sailing party on northern Palawan at Bacuit after developing malaria.
8. CHANGING OF THE GUARD
1Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 69.
2Ibid., 81.
3Clarence Clough Memoirs.
4Joseph Dupont Oral History, Tape 2039 transcription, 26–27; Joseph E. Dupont Jr. Veterans Administration Statement in Support of Claim, November 4, 1982, Hubert D. Hough Papers.
5Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 70.
6Russell, “A Kind of Personal History,” 30.
7Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 72–73.
8Ibid., 73–74.
9Ibid., 75–76.
10Mango, “Carl Louis Mango” tribute, 8.
11Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 78.
12Francis Galligan, Veterans Oral History, videotaped interview.
13William J. Balchus statement of March 16, 1945, from Manila Report No. 49, RG 331, E 1214, Box 1111, Folder 6.
14Rufus Smith OH, 9.
15Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 77.
16Burlage Oral History, 74–75.
17Francis Galligan, Veterans Oral History, videotaped interview.
18“Interrogation of Escapees from Bataan and Corregidor,” 6.
19Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 6.
20Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 80.
21Munekazu Miyahara, Taichi Deguchi, and Shiro Isono depositions, “Affidavits of Kempei Tai Members, Palawan Case,” RG 331, 1214UD, Box 1112, Folders 1–2.
22Edwin A. Petry statement of March 16, 1945, from Manila Report No. 49, RG 331, E 1214, Box 1111, Folder 6.
23Clough, Pfc Clarence Sylvester. Affidavit of January 15, 1946. Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6.
24Aaron Lee Clemons affidavit, December 27, 1945, and Edwin A. Petry statement of March 16, 1945, from Manila Report No. 49, RG 331, E 1214, Box 1111, Folder 6.
25Sadaaki Katsuki affidavit, “Affidavits by Kinoshita Unit’s Members, Palawan Case, Volume I,” RG 331, 1214UD, Box 1112, Folder 4; Burlage, “The Palawan Massacre,” 25; Anthony Daniel Marangiello affidavit, December 27, 1945, from Manila Report No. 49, RG 331, E 1214, Box 1111, Folder 6; Kneeland, Harold William, CSM, USN, September 17, 1946 affidavit, RG 331, Box 1111, Folder 5.
26Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 86–87.
27King, Frank, Cox, USN. Affidavit of August 23, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 5.
28Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 87; William Andrew Kerr interview, December 12, 2005, Veterans History Project.
29Ibid., 88; Frank King affidavit of August 23, 1946; Douglas Bogue testimony in trial of Manichi, RG 153, Entry 143, Box 1358, transcript, 20–21. Earl Szwabo and Sanford Schrout assisted Bogue and Bingham with the tea. Schrout assisted Bogue once Bingham
was burned.
30“Interrogation of Escapees from Bataan and Corregidor,” 3.
31Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 89–90.
32“Death and Wound Reports Compiled and Maintained at Palawan, P.I.” RG 407, Entry 1072, Box 184; Jack Burton Flynn death report, September 2, 1945, typed by Hubert D. Hough. Prisoners Phil Brodsky, Alonzo Cook, and Russell Lash narrowly escaped death when the dive-bomber crashed into the shack.
33Burlage, “The Palawan Massacre,” 26; Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 89–90.
34Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 88.
35Burlage Oral History, 72; Kerr interview, December 12, 2005, Veterans History Project. Camp barber John Warren suggested the plan to steal the truck.
9. CODE NAME “RED HANKIE”
1Lee Wayne Moore affidavit of May 15, 1945, and Clifford A. Martinez affidavit of September 9, 1946, Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folders 6 and 5. Martinez was paralyzed by the beating.
2Holm, Holger Larsen, Cpl, USA. August 26, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6; Burlage Oral History, 75. Holm was the POW badly beaten by Oguri.
3Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 90–91; Walter A. Ditto affidavit, RG 331, Entry 1364UD, Folder 2.
4“The Palawan Massacre.” Research report of the General Headquarters Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers, May 15, 1946. National Archives Record Group 331, Box 1112, Folder 7, 5. Demitrio Otero and Urubano Tabinga assisted Pipori with the escape plans.
5May, Robert Carl, Pfc, USMC. September 10, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 4.
6Affidavit of Walter Ditto, RG 331, Entry 1364UD, Folder 2.
7William J. Balchus statement of March 16, 1945, from Manila Report No. 49, RG 331, E 1214, Box 1111, Folder 6; “Death and Wound Reports Compiled and Maintained at Palawan, P.I.” RG 407, Entry 1072, Box 184; statement of Moore, Pfc Neuvell Puckett, December 10, 1943. Driver Moore was ordered to make a sharp turn, whereupon Willie Balchus saw Burson fall, strike the post, and be crushed by the truck. Captain Harry Hickman determined that the victim had suffered an internal pulmonary hemorrhage.
8Budzaj, CGM Zygmond. Affidavit of September 7, 1945. Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6; Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 141. On December 21, Budzaj was beaten with a shovel by a guard named Takaytada and suffered a broken forearm. Doctors Mango and Hickman put his arm in a splint and left Budzaj on light duty for thirty-nine days. Joe “J. D.” Merritt was among the stevedores who helped smuggle notes to his Palawan comrades.
9Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 92–94.
10Russell, “A Kind of Personal History,” 38–39. The American cigarette brands favored by the Japanese guards included Lucky Strike, Chesterfield, and Camel.
11Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 94–95. McDole also learned that his sister was dating a young man named Johnny Sirfus, the son of fellow Palawan POW Charlie “Pop” Sirfus, who was separated from his wife and had lost contact with his son.
12Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 127; Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 4, 142.
13George Davis was declared dead by the military in 1946. The two Australians sailing with Bruce Elliott and Sid Wright were Walter Wallace and Charles Wagner. Wagner was killed in January 1944 while fleeing from Japanese patrols.
14Sidney Wright, “Wartime Experiences.”
15Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 122.
16Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 60.
17Ibid., 60–61; de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 150.
18Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 62; Taichi Deguchi statement, RG 331, Entry 1364, Box 2028, Folder 2.
19Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 151.
20Taichi Deguchi statement, RG 331, Entry 1364, Box 2028, Folder 2.
21Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 123.
22“Palawan Massacre” report, RG 331, 105; de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 152; Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 63.
23Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 128; Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 5-10, 65, 31–32. General MacArthur had appointed Colonel Macario Peralta as a regional corps commander of the guerrilla units on several islands, all charged with gathering intelligence for the Allies based in Australia. On August 13, he appointed Major Pablo P. Muyco to go to Palawan Island and formally organize the Palawan Special Battalion as a unit of the 6th Military District. Muyco divided Palawan into four sectors on October 4. Captain Mendoza’s Sector A covered the areas from Puerto Princesa to Caramay, with its headquarters at Tinitian. Sector B was under Lieutenant Felipe Batul, with his headquarters in Danlig, while Sector C under Captain Carlos Amores operated from Sibaltan.
24Elliott/ Mansell interview.
25“Dramatic Story of Local Sailor,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, Sunday, January 14, 1945.
26“Death and Wound Reports Compiled and Maintained at Palawan, P.I.” RG 407, Entry 1072, Box 184; Sergeant Douglas William Bogue Affidavit of Witness to Accident, Hubert D. Hough collection, courtesy of Lynhon Stout; Hubert D. Hough to Mrs. Burson, November 7, 1945.
27Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 92.
28Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 7; Norris, Charles Douglas, Pfc, USMC. August 26, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 6.
29Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 7.
30Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 123.
31Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 7; Hough to Rear Admiral John D. Bulkeley, November 28, 1971; Villarin, We Remember Bataan and Corregidor, 179–180.
32Hubert Hough/Trinidad Mendoza correspondence, July 1946.
33Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 98; Eugene Nielsen Oral History, UNT No. 802 transcription, 22–23.
34Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 7–8; Russell, “A Kind of Personal History,” 33–34.
35Hubert D. Hough diary transcription, 8.
36Pedro S. Paje trial testimony, September 7, 1948, Seeichi Terada et al. trial, Record Group 153, Box 1354, 424.
37Mrs. Triny C. Mendoza to Hubert D. Hough, January 7, 1946.
10. SUB SURVIVORS AND COASTWATCHERS
1Campbell, Eight Survived, 87–89; Ponce de Leon, The Puerto Princesa Story, 157. The other members of the Corpus unit were Sergeant Raymon F. Cortez, Corporal Teodoro J. “Butch” Rallojay, Sergeant J. “Slug” Reynoso, and Technician 5 R. D. “Dac” Dacquel.
2Carlos Placido guerrilla diary, May 28–July 24, 1944.
3Moore, War of the Wolf, 382–384.
4Escape and Evasion Report No. 23, 16; Edwin A. Petry August 13, 1948, testimony from Seeichi Terada et al. trial, Record Group 153, Box 1354, 185–186; Williams, George Rudd CQM, USN. Affidavit of September 25, 1946. RG 331, Manila Report No. 49, Entry No. 1214-UD, Box 1111, Folder 5.
5Statements of Poston and Martin made to Palawan guards, Palawan Military Police Report No. 56, August 28, 1944. Traditional accounts of USS Robalo list its date of loss as July 26, 1944. For the lesser-known true story of its survivors, see Moore, “New Light on the Last Days of the USS Robalo,” Journal of the Australian Association for Military History, 65–79.
Three men on the bridge drowned soon after Robalo’s sinking. They were Lieutenant Reginald Proseus, the officer of the deck; and two lookouts, Fire Controlman Second Class Edward Joseph Paw and Seaman First Class Marvin Clifford. The executive officer, Lieutenant Commander Charlie Fell, and Robalo’s senior radar man, Radar Technician Second Class Holley Berry Ivey, were seen swimming toward Comrian Island, but the other four survivors did not see them again.
6“Palawan Massacre” document, RG 331, 104; Affidavit of Pedro C. Aukay, RG 331, Entry 1364UD, Folder 2; Takeo Kawamura statement of December 12, 1949, from “Affidavits of Kempei Tai Members, Palawan Case,” RG 331, 1214UD, Box 1112, Folder 1; “Palawan Military Police Report No. 55, 18 August 1944. Examination of
POWs from American Submarine.” National Archives, courtesy of Douglas Campbell.
7Kawamura statement; Statement of Charles B. McAfoos, Office of Naval Records and History, USS Robalo file; Michno, Death on the Hellships, 225, 333.
8“Mistreatment of Crew of U.S. Sub Robalo, Palawan.” RG 331, 1211UD, Box 1265.
9Campbell, Eight Survived, 162–180.
10Campbell, Eight Survived, 188–211; Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 43; “Record of Proceedings of an Investigation conducted at the headquarters of the Commander Submarines Seventh Fleet by order of the Commander in Chief, United States Fleet and the Chief of Naval Operations to investigate the circumstances connected with the loss of the U.S.S. Robalo and the loss of the U.S.S. Flier,” 14 September 1944. National Archives, College Park, MD.
11Campbell, Eight Survived, 216–218.
12Ibid., 220, 227.
13Carlos Placido guerrilla diary, August 19–26, 1944.
14Campbell, Eight Survived, 150, 234–239.
15Ibid., 240–248; Manlavi, Palawan’s Fighting One Thousand, 30; Carlos Placido diary, August 30–31, 1944.
16“Dramatic Story of Local Sailor,” St. Petersburg (FL) Times, Sunday, January 14, 1945.
11. THE WEASEL AND THE BUZZARD
1Mango, “Carl Louis Mango” tribute, 7.
2Philip Brodsky Oral History, 17.
3Hubert D. Hough to Ben Guyton, circa November 1977; Hough to Guyton, January 18, 1978.
4Francis Galligan, Veterans Oral History, videotaped interview.
5Michno, Death on the Hellships, 241; Peter Elsworth Wannebo affidavit, July 8, 1948. Record Group 331, Manila Report No. 49, “Palawan Massacre,” Entry 1364UD, Folder 1.
6Hubert D. Hough to Mrs. Frances Lipe, November 11, 1979. Hough collection courtesy of Lynhon Stout.
7Russell, “A Kind of Personal History,” 42.
8Coons, Hannibal, “Massacre at Palawan,” Liberty, August 18, 1945, 26; Wilbanks, Last Man Out, 128.
9“The Palawan Massacre,” May 15, 1946, RG 331, Entry 1214UD, Box 1112, Folder 7, National Archives, 7.
10“The Palawan Massacre,” May 15, 1946, RG 331, Entry 1214UD, Box 1112, Folder 7, National Archives, 11; Kojima biographical information from RG 125, Box 2. Kojima is also listed as Chokichi Kojima in some war crimes documents.
As Good As Dead Page 36
