Lunga Point (CVE 94) - Naval Cruise Book

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for us the bare necessities of life until we could make our way to our own forces. We found, however, that this money was valueless to us, since the Filipinos would not accept payment for food or other articles of supplies with which they were so generous. So we passed the money out to them as souvenirs and they re- ceived it with great elation. All of them carried invasion money issued by the Japanese military government but this they would throw on the ground and stomp on, crying Damn Jap Pesos — no good ! American pesos — they good! One of our pesos was the equivalent of about 40 Jap pesos in purchasing power. The Filipinos gave us .American and Jap- anese cigarettes. A Spaniard who owned a sugar mill and was the leading citizen of one of the barrios because of his affluence, gave us — of all things — a bottle of Golden Wedding whis- key! He had been hoarding this since before the days of the Jap invasion and had reserved it for a very special occasion. Many of the Filipinos offered us native gin, distilled from sugar cane. It tasted like American gin, but packed a much more formidable wallop. The food we were given was abundant but monotonous. It consisted of boiled rice, meat from the ubiquitous carabao, chicken, eggs, bananas, and fresh tomatoes which were us- ually on the green side. The carabao meat was tough but quite tasty and all the food was well seasoned. We considered this fare sur- prisingly good for a country .Nhose farms had been picked again and again by the Jap vul- tures. We knew, howe er, that our food came from carefully hidden supplies and that many were going without so that we could eat. The health of the people seemed fairly good in spite of the acute shortage of medicines and medical care. There was much evidence of malaria and of nutritional deficiency diseases. And many of the guerillas had nasty looking leg sores. I noticed one lad in particular who had an unusually ugly sore on his leg. It was open and exuding pus, and extended for six inches across the front of his leg. I told him to go out of the house and he soon returned with no fewer than fifty of his companions similarly afflicted. So we set up a regular hospital ward, applying sulfa powder and bandages from our first-aid kits as long as the supply lasted. To say that our patients were grateful is something of an understatement. We spent our first night. 1 1-12 January, as guests of the guerilla leader in a one-room, thatched-roof house with woven mats for beds. Several guerillas of subordinate rank also shared our room. At bedtime, I removed my Mae West, the bright yellow inflatable life jacket that all carrier pilots and air crewmen wear, my jungle knife and my revolver and holster. The latter I placed several feet from my pallet, whereupon one of the guerillas cautioned me to keep it within arm ' s reach as I might need it before the night was o er. Japs near — may come, he said. But the night and the next day were uncvent- fiil and Lt. Thalman, Glizczinski, Kirkpatrick and I were given an opportunity to get better acquainted with our new found friends. We discovered, for example, that the guerillas are strictly a military organization spending hours each day in close-order drill and maneuvers. The lads took great pride in their skill with the rifle. One youngster — he couldn ' t have been more than 1 5 — performed the manual of arms for a solid hour, .solely for my edification. Even the toughest Marine sergeant would have admitted that the kid was terrific. He doesn ' t remember how many Jap soldiers he has killed. During the early morning ve would see Jap planes flying low overhead. Then by mid- morning they would disappear and our own planes would come over. The latter we frantically signalled with the few flares we had salvaged from our plane and with our signal mirror, but to no avail. It gave us a helpless feeling. Just before dusk, the Jap planes would again put in an appearance. Although we had blasted many of them out of the sky and had destroyed many more on the ground, they still managed to get more into the air. We consoled ourselves with the thought that soon our forces would overrun the well hidden Jap fields and capture the planes our pilots couldn ' t find. I had been curious to know how the Filipinos felt about the damage inflicted on their homes and villages by our bombers. Many civilians had doubtless been killed and wounded by our air attacks, since the Japs had established fuel and supply dumps and many other kinds of ground installations throughout the island. These could not be destroyed from the air with- out cost to the Filipinos. Standing in the en- trance of our house one night I expressed my curiosity to the guerilla leader. He shrugged. The Filipinos are ery grateful to the .Ameri- canos. We kno - that some must die so that

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Ronc scarcely a mile, I looked hack and saw a Rreat billow of smoke whii ii mark d ihe final resting place of our gallant Avenger. We were taken to a village or Barrio, about a mile and a half from where we landed. This would be al)out twelve miles south of Tarlac, and near the villau;e of Concepcion. The countryside throuijh which we passed was in the heart of an agricultural district cut up into small rectaiii;ular fields and farms. There were few dwellinp;s in evidence, but along the way men, women and children would suddenly appear ofTerinc; us fresh eggs, little cakes of sugar and other edibles. We had so many eggs that wc could not carry them all, but we ate all wc could raw and took the rest with us. Every- where wc were greeted with Americano, after which the people would stare at us as though we were strange creatures newly arrived from another planet. Soon we reached the barrio. Here vcrc grouped several houses of the thatched roof variety and which in .■ merica we would call huts. As we walked into the barrio and through the dusty main street, the whole pop- ulation turned out to welcome us. Their smiles and laughter would suddenly subside into stares. I have never been so stared at in my life and I guess we did our share of staring in return. For we had never seen at first hand the look an oppressed people bestows upon those who bring them promise of freedom after years of torture and misery. There is a look in the eye; an expression of face that tells what words cannot articulate. We four . mericans, in our funny Hying suits, toting our parachutes, first-aid kits, life jackets and other impedimenta of our kind, were symbols of imminent release from suffering and heartbreak for which these simple folk had prayed to Almighty God. .Since December 1 94 1 — three long years and more — these spiritually stalwart people had seen their land over-run, their crops and live- stock stolen, their sons and husbands tortured and killed, and their wives and daughters de- filed at the point of gun and bayonet by a God- less army of barbarians. The guerillas told me later that Red Cross shipments of medicines and supplies of mercy intended for our Ameri- can prisoners of war had been confiscated by Japanese authorities, diverted to their own greedy use, or sold to Filipinos at prices which only a handful could possibly pay. For ex- ample, a Filipino, ridden with malarial fever, could obtain a single capsule of quinine only by paying 1,000 Jap pesrjs the equivalent of about Si i.ck) in American money. They told me also of many unspeakable atrm ities inflicted on our prisoners, too horrible to relate here. In the barrio we were taken to a house and then- introduced to the leader of the guerilla forces in the immediate vicinity. He staled that he was in command of the 2nd Battalion of Hukbelahops, a unit of the Philippine .Xational .Xrmy. Hukbelahops, my ho.st informed me, meant Fighting the Japs. Later on we were to hear cjf many of the ex- ploits of this people ' s army as exciting and hair-raising a series of ad entures as ever were featured in the celluloid palaces of my home town, Front Royal, Virginia. The guerilla leader was young and said that his men were from 15 to 25 years of age, armed for the most part with old-style U.S. Army rifles and .45 caliber automatic pistols. They also had ac- cumulated an assortment of .-,0 and .30 caliber machine guns and numerous weapons taken from the Japs they had killed. Their ammu- nition was of various kinds and vintages and there was always need for more. From the tone of the leader ' s voice and the glint in his eye, I am sure that little ammunition was wasted. A Jap for every bullet was their motto. The leader informed us that clothing for his men was a real problem as the country was de- pendent on imports for its cotton and wool — imports which had been non-existent for three years. Many of the guerillas wore shirts and trousers fashioned from burlap bags and not a few wore parts of Jap army uniforms obtained by the simple expedient of killing the former owners. However, it seemed that nothing was too good for the Americano. .Several days later, when my fiying suit began to give off something of an aroma, one of my benefactors produced a pair of white cotton trousers, a dazzling blue sport shirt and a straw hat which he insisted that I accept. Not to have done so would have constituted an insult of the crudest kind. .So I donned the attire and spent the remaining days dodging Japs in an outfit that would have done credit to a country club sport. Prior to beginning our flights over Philippine territory, our Air Combat Intelligence officer had issued to each airman a packet containing 100 Philippine pesos, worth approximately S50.00 in -American money. This currency was to be used in the event any of us were forced down and presumably would purchase

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;ill iiiiiy !) ■ Iiii-. It is worili iinylliiiii; lo l«- rid of lite ).i|)s. Diiriiit; llic (Aciiini; ol the second lull chiy with the mu-rillas tlic leader told lis to t;el ready to move as llie battalion was about to head north. He hoped that before many days we could ellerl contact with the American forces advancing south from the Lingayen area. Wc were delighted as we had become im- patient to get under way. Vc lived in dread that our commanding ofticer had already sent oHicial dispatches to our wives and parents, ■ ' The Navy Department deeply regrets to in- form you that your husband (or .son) is missing in action. VV ' e must spare our loved ones that grief and anxiety at all costs, and we well knew that every day, every hour hastened that inescapable event. VVc started just before dusk. We marched in single file across fields and streams. The guerillas would not let us walk through the streams ourselves but insisted on carrying us on their backs. We a oided the main roads and the areas where the Japs were known to be concentrated. In about six hours we reached a barrio which was an almost exact duplicate of the first. Here wt were assigned a thatched hut and a straw mat and were soon sleeping like exhausted children. The next day, the leader told us that wc had met up with the ist Battalion of Hukbelahops and that we would split up. two of us going with each of the battal- ions. Thus, in case one of the groups ran into trouble, at least two of us Americans would stand a good chance of getting back to our own forces. He also said that it was known that the Japs were combing the countryside for us. The roads were alive with Nip patrols. Ac- cordingly, we split up: Kirkpatrick and I went with the new group (ist Battalion) and Lt. Thalman and Gliszcinski remained with the original outfit. We were introduced to the commander of the ist Battalion, a Major and a veteran of numerous engagements with the Japs. In the early part of the war he had been captured, subsequently escaping to become an important cog in the vast guerilla organization. Ob- iously well educated, he was perhaps 25 years old, of slim stature and wore glasses. He was constantly attended by no fewer than six order- lies. He wore civilian clothes with an air of a well trained military man and he had been fighting the Japs since the day they first landed on tli - same Lingayen beaches which our forces had so recently s -cured. I ' or the next seven nights we travelled from barrio to barrio. C)ne night we halted about midnight tcj get some much needed rest. I was sotjn sound asleep. At about 0200 I was awakened by someone shaking my shoulder. ■ ' Oome quick, said a voice, Japs! We were instantly awake. The Major then in- formed us that one of his sentries had dis- covered a large Jap patrol moving down a road toward us, not 200 yards away. One platoon of guerillas had crossed a small stream and had stealthily established a defense line Ix-tween us and the Japs. In front of this line was a fork in the road, one prong leading to our position and the other away from us. If the Japs con- tinued clown the road and took our fork, there would be a skirmish. If they took the other fork, they would pass by withr ut discovering us. We waited tensely. In a few minutes a courier appeared out of the night and reported that the Japs had passed by. We breathed considerably easier. During the day we would hide in a barrio, keeping out of sight as much as possible. Once from our hut we saw a Jap raiding party ap- proaching the barrio bent on stealing food supplies. Quickly wc made our way to the opposite side of the village and waited until the Japs had departed. Had we Americans not been with them, the guerillas would have taken care of this raiding party with ease. However, the Major would not risk a skirmish for fear that our security would be endangered. During our nocturnal travels the Major said that we were headed north. However, we soon discovered that our route was far from a straight one. In fact, after having passed the same sugar mill several times, first on one side of us and then on the other, it dawned on me that we had been travelling in circles. I asked the Major the reason for this and he replied that the Japs had us blocked on the north and he could not risk a skirmish with their patrols until we had been delivered to our forces. ■Since it was dangerous for us to remain in one spot, it was best that we keep moving, even though we were getting nowhere. On Saturday, 20 January, we met up with a unit of the Alamo Scouts, a specially picked and trained group of two American officers and ten enlisted men. It was the mission of these intrepid explorers to range far ahead of our advanced lines and report on enemy loca- 160