Lost in Shangri-la

by Mitchell Zuckoff

  147 several thousand took the oath: Fabros, “California’s Filipino Infantry,” p. 4.

  147 An American reporter: James G. Wingo, “The First Filipino Regiment,” Asia 42 (October 1942): 562–63. (A tagline with the story notes that Wingo “was, until the occupation of Manila, the Washington correspondent of the Philippines Free Press.”)

  147 one battle on Samar Island: Fabros, “California’s Filipino Infantry,” p. 5.

  147 heavy combat against the Japanese on Leyte Island: Ibid.

  148 “‘I’ve got just the people to go in there’”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  150 a four-part warning: Ibid. See also Imparato, Rescue from Shangri-La, pp. 16–17.

  151 each one took a step forward: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  14. FIVE-BY-FIVE

  152 “We can clear enough space”: Hastings, SLD, part 9.

  152 a C-47: John McCollom, interviews, October 1997 and May 13, 1998.

  153 the “walkie-talkie”: The survivors didn’t specify the model, but Margaret Hastings’s description makes it likely that it was the Motorola SCR-300, a celebrated two-way radio used extensively in the Pacific during the war. See www.scr300.org and Harry Mark Petrakis, The Founder’s Touch: The Life of Paul Galvin of Motorola (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1965), pp. 144–47.

  153 “McCollom swiftly set it up”: Hastings, SLD, part 9.

  153 too choked up to speak: St. George, “Hidden Valley.”

  153 “This is Lieutenant McCollom”: Hastings, SLD, part 9.

  153 Sergeant Jack Gutzeit: The crew members of the 311 supply plane were identified in Jungle Journal (newsletter of the Far East Air Service Command) 1, no. 4 (June 20, 1945): 3.

  154 “almost too weak to move”: Hastings, SLD, part 9.

  154 Captain Herbert O. Mengel: Jungle Journal, p. 3.

  155 the natives had returned: The source of the scene and dialogue from the morning of Thursday, May 18, 1945, is SLD, parts 9 and 10.

  156 New Guinea housing project: Hastings, SLD, part 10.

  157 permanently embittered one resident: Yunggukwe Wandik, interview. After she reluctantly agreed to tell her story, the author paid her for the pig, on behalf of the people of the United States.

  158 tomatoes and tomato juice: In SLD, Margaret Hastings only mentions tomatoes, but John McCollom, in his interview with Robert Gardner, said he and Decker found “about a half-dozen big cans of tomato juice and tomatoes.”

  158 “Come on, Maggie”: Hastings, SLD, part 10.

  158 tend more thoroughly to their wounds: Information and quotes about their first medical treatment, including quotes, come from Hastings, SLD, part 10.

  15: NO THANKSGIVING

  162 the best soldier he’d ever met: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  162 raced model airplanes: “Model Planes Continue Championship Flights,” Los Angeles Times, September 6, 1938, p. 8. Background on Abrenica also comes from his immigration and enlisted records, www.ancestry.com (retrieved November 29, 2009).

  163 more perilous: Ramirez, interview. His enlistment records support Ramirez’s account of his involvement with the Philippine Scouts; his tale of capture and escape is supported by contemporaneous newspaper accounts of his involvement in the rescue at Shangri-La, including an undated news story in Walter’s scrapbook headlined “Shangri-La Hero Here; Filipino Visits Pal, Claims U.S. Bride.”

  163 “‘I will get through there’”: Ibid.

  164 “his gung-ho attitude”: Walter, interview with Izon.

  165 spoke again with Colonel Elsmore: Walter, interview by author, July 7, 2009. Also Walter’s personal diary, dated May 17, 1945.

  166 “It’s gonna be your operation”: Walter, interview with Izon.

  166 “That was a mess”: Walter, interview by author, July 7, 2009.

  166 “Do you really want to do this?”: Walter, interview with Izon.

  167 Walter noted in a journal: Walter, CEW.

  167 “Don’t let anyone jump”: Hastings, SLD, part 11.

  167 “I could no longer move”: Ibid.

  168 fleas in the blankets: Remarks of Colonel Jerry Felmley at John McCollom’s retirement dinner, September 23, 1980, Wright Patterson Air Force Base Officers’ Club. Felmley interviewed Decker for the occasion.

  168 “Eureka! We eat!”: Hastings, SLD, part 11.

  169 “Honest, Maggie”: Ibid.

  169 “He was in great pain”: Ibid.

  169 “They would chatter like magpies”: Ibid., part 9.

  170 sized up the native woman: Ibid., part 11.

  170 name was Gilelek: Helenma Wandik, interview.

  170 “They held out a pig”: Hastings, SLD, part 11.

  171 “It is the remembrance of pigs”: Heider, Grand Valley Dani, p. 39.

  16: RAMMY AND DOC

  173 Flying . . . over the survivors’ clearing: Walter, interview by author, July 7, 2009. This account also relies on Walter’s interview with Izon.

  173 “The reason I dropped five”: Walter, interview with Izon.

  174 “it looked like hell”: Ibid.

  176 “It was patent to all of us”: Hastings, SLD, part 12.

  176 “God bless you”: Kenneth Decker, interview by Sonny Izon, n.d.

  176 “I said more ‘Our Fathers’ ”: Hastings, SLD, part 12.

  177 “a hundred feet above the jump zone”: Ramirez, interview.

  177 “The natives have spears”: Ibid.

  179 “they came from the city”: Ibid.

  179 more harm than good: Hastings, SLD, part 13.

  179 “work the bandages off”: Ibid., part 12.

  180 “how shocked he was”: Ibid.

  180 “sorry-looking gams”: Ibid.

  17: CUSTER AND COMPANY

  182 Colonel Edward T. Imparato: Imparato, Rescue from Shangri-La, p. 55.

  182 take the plane in low: Walter, interview by author, July 7, 2009.

  183 “When we first landed”: Ibid. Except where otherwise noted, the dialogue throughout this scene of the paratroopers’ landing in the valley comes from the author’s July 7, 2009, interview with Walter.

  183 three hundred: “The Hidden Valley,” Pulse (suppl.), typewritten military newsletter, found in Walter’s scrapbook, p. 4.

  183 “Custer’s last stand”: Walter, interview by author, July 8, 2009.

  183 “frightening, weird sound”: “ Hidden Valley,” Walter’s scrapbook, p. 4.

  184 “fully equipped for a combat mission”: Ibid.

  184 an area known to the natives as Wosi: Lisaniak Mabel, interview by author, February 2, 2010.

  185 “a vine from the sky”: Ibid.

  185 his name was Yali: The leader of the Logo-Mabel clans was identified in photographs taken by C. Earl Walter Jr. by four separate witnesses interviewed February 1 to 3, 2010, including Yali’s grandson, Reverend Simon Logo.

  185 “I waved those damn leaves”: “Hidden Valley,” Walter’s scrapbook, p. 4.

  186 “they had nothing to fear from us”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  186 Writing that night in the journal: Walter, CEW, May 20, 1945.

  186 “never bathed”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  186 “a lot of hugging”: Ibid.

  188 “let’s take our pants down”: Walter, interview by author, July 7, 2009. See also Walter, CEW, May 21, 1945.

  188 “‘That’s not mud’”: Ai Baga, interview by author, February 2, 2010. The Dani reaction to the soldiers’ nudity also relies on interviews the same day with Lisaniak Mabel and the following day with Narekesok Logo.

  189 The Queen: Imparato, Rescue from Shangri-La, p. 105.

  189 strangers weren’t welcome inside the fence: Walter, CEW, May 20, 1945.

  190 “For six hours”: Hastings, SLD, part 13.

  190 scoured the jungle: John McCollom, interview, October 1997.

  190 “A native came running into our camp”: Hastings, SLD, part 13.

&
nbsp; 191 “with you by nightfall”: Ibid.

  191 “My beau, Wally”: Ibid.

  192 returned to the base: John McCollom, interview, October 1997. McCollom is the source of the dialogue for this entire exchange.

  194 “We had to slice”: Ramirez, interview.

  18: BATHTIME FOR YUGWE

  195 Margaret awoke the next morning: Hastings, SLD, part 13. This account of Margaret’s bath also came from McCollom, interview by Gardner, October 1997.

  196 “I looked around”: Hastings, SLD, part 13.

  197 “We saw she had breasts”: Helenma Wandik, interview.

  197 “a man, a woman, and the woman’s husband”: Ibid.

  197 “always heartily detested”: Hastings, SLD, part 13.

  197 “a short recon”: Walter, CEW, May 21, 1945.

  198 “one of the most interesting parts of our lives”: Ibid.

  198 “Fired a few shots”: Ibid.

  198 “just for the hell of it”: Walter, interview by author, July 7, 2009.

  199 “our weapons can kill”: Walter, CEW, May 21, 1945.

  199 “One man, named Mageam”: Lisaniak Mabel, interview.

  199 “Pika was shooting the gun”: Ai Baga, interview.

  199 “our enemies didn’t come”: Narekesok Logo, interview by author, February 3, 2010.

  200 a house for inalugu: Ai Baga, interview.

  200 fueled up with a breakfast: Walter, CEW, May 22, 1945.

  200 “God only knows”: Ibid.

  201 “A declaration, called a maga”: Yunggukwe Wandik, interview.

  201 “came out on a path and stopped us”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  202 “more bother than good”: Walter, CEW, May 23, 1945.

  202 “Did not understand”: Ibid.

  203 “Things look bad”: Ibid., May 24, 1945.

  203 “God only knows”: Ibid.

  19. “SHOO, SHOO BABY”

  204 “Finally they are over us”: Walter, CEW, May 25, 1945.

  204 “Earl will get down there”: McCollom and Walter, joint interview, May 13, 1998.

  205 “that yapping noise”: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  205 “He looked like a giant”: Ibid.

  205 “I knew they were all right”: Walter, interview with Izon.

  205 “His men worshipped Walter”: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  205 “a pretty good-looking gal”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  206 an American flag waved: Ibid., July 7, 2009.

  206 “The Lost Outpost of Shangri-La”: Walter, CEW, May 29, 1945.

  206 “The Stars and Stripes now fly”: Ibid., May 31, 1945.

  207 “won and lost thousands of dollars”: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  207 “Superman” and “Iron Man”: In her diary, Hastings refers to Caoili as “Superman,” but in captions on photos in his scrapbook, Walter uses the nickname “Iron Man.”

  207 “There ought to be a law”: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  207 “Deuces wild, roll your own”: “Here’s a Soldier Who Refuses to Embrace a WAC,” Chicago Daily Tribune, July 12, 1945.

  207 “don’t know how to play cards”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  207 “The captain played”: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  208 “Walter was a personality kid”: Ibid.

  209 “leave the men alone”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  209 “just walk away”: Ibid.

  209 “all the credit in the world”: Walter, CEW, May 25, 1945.

  210 burial duty: Walter, CEW, May 27 to May 29, 1945.

  210 a second Star of David: Document in the IDPF of Private Mary M. Landau, signed by her brother, Jack Landau, dated June 29, 1959.

  210 helping to toss the funerary supplies: Oral history interview with Ruth Johnson Coster, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, Object ID WV0145.5.001.

  211 the trail of Margaret’s hair: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  211 “There it is”: McCollom and Walter, joint interview, May 13, 1998.

  211 “Lieutenant Mac’s report”: Walter, CEW, May 29, 1945.

  212 “we buried Captain Good”: Walter, CEW, June 6, 1945. News reports at the time said the burial service took place May 26, but Walter’s journal puts the date at June 6. The credibility of his account is enhanced by previous entries in which he writes that he is waiting for orders about the disposition of remains.

  213 a hero in his own right: Air Force Link, www.af.mil/bios/bio .asp?bioID=5510 (retrieved February 18, 2010).

  213 “Out of the depth”: Russell Brines, Associated Press staff writer, “ ‘Shangri-La’ on New Guinea,” June 9, 1945, found in Walter’s scrapbook.

  213 “seemed to whisper a peace”: Ibid.

  213 “the saddest and most impressive funeral”: Hastings, SLD, part 14.

  214 “a long discussion on the world at war”: Walter, CEW, June 6, 1945.

  214 “a true blue gal”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  214 “When they climbed the mountain”: Yunggukwe Wandik, interview.

  215 condolence letters: Copies of letters from General Douglas MacArthur, General Clements McMullen, and General H. H. Arnold provided by Major Nicholson’s family.

  216 “a corrected report”: General Robert W. Dunlop to Patrick J. Hastings, May 27, 1945, Hastings’s archive file at TCHS.

  216 “a very miraculous escape”: Chaplain Cornelius Waldo to Patrick J. Hastings, dated 8, 1945, Hastings’s archive file at TCHS.

  20. “HEY, MARTHA!”

  218 seeped into his journal: Walter, CEW, excerpted entries from May 29 to June 8, 1945.

  220 Walter Simmons . . . was thirty-seven: Trevor Jensen, “Walter Simmons, 1908–2006: Editor and War Reporter,” Chicago Tribune, December 1, 2006.

  221 Reporting in May 1945: Headlines are from stories published in the Chicago Tribune under Walter Simmons’s byline on May 13, May 17, May 21, and May 31, 1945.

  221 A native of Nova Scotia: “Ralph Morton, Former War Reporter,” Newsday, October 20, 1988, p. 41.

  221 more than fourteen hundred newspapers: Encyclopædia Britannica, www .britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/136280/Kent-Cooper (retrieved February 22, 2010). See also www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3445000019.html.

  222 “In a hidden valley”: Walter Simmons, “WAC, 2 Yanks Marooned in Hidden Valley,” Chicago Tribune, June 8, 1945.

  223 “The crash of an Army transport plane”: Associated Press, “Chutists Land in Shangri-La to Rescue Fliers,” Deseret News, June 9, 1945.

  223 The New York Times: Associated Press, “Airfield Is Built to Rescue a Wac and 2 Men in New Guinea Crash,” New York Times, June 9, 1945.

  224 “stop worrying and start praying!”: “Plane-to-Ground Conversations Reveal Details of Survivors’ Life in Shangri-La Valley,” Trenton Republican-Times, July 13, 1945.

  224 “the queen of the valley”: Ibid.

  224 “Shangri-La Gets Latest News”: Ralph Morton, “Shangri-La Gets Latest News from Associated Press,” St. Petersburg Evening Independent, June 13, 1945.

  224 $1,000 each: Walter, CEW, June 16–18, 1945.

  224 a pang of jealousy: Ibid.

  224 WAC private Thelma Decker: “Plane-to-Ground Conversations.”

  225 bought a box of chocolates: Associated Press, “Shangri-La Trio Hikes Out Today,” Salt Lake Tribune, June 14, 1945.

  225 “She can go native”: U.S. Army air-to-ground transcript, June 24, 1945, reprinted in Imparato, Rescue from Shangri-La, p. 120.

  225 “clawed at the aluminum door frame”: Walter Simmons, “Crew Supplying Hidden Valley Averts Mishap,” Chicago Tribune, June 21, 1945.

  225 panning for gold: Ibid., p. 122.

  226 cases of beer: Walter, CEW, June 9, 1945.

  226 “too overcome to write”: Ibid.

  226 deliver personal messages: “Tribune Sending Kin’s Notes to ‘Hidden Valley,’ ” Chicago Tribune, June 15, 1945.

  226 “Robert was killed
instantly”: John McCollom to Rolla and Eva McCollom, quoted to the author by Robert’s daughter, Dennie McCollom Scott, May 30, 2010.

  227 “dropping me some panties?”: Simmons, “WAC, 2 Yanks.”

  227 “begging for a pair of pants”: Hastings, SLD, part 15.

  227 “Tropic skin diseases”: Ibid.

  228 “Mumu” and “Mua”: Helenma Wandik, interview.

  228 lengthy thoughts about the natives: C. Earl Walter Jr., “Miscellaneous Notes on the Natives,” CEW.

  228 “some pictures of pinup girls”: Ibid.

  229 couldn’t quite fill his gourd: Ibid.

  229 “many curving lines on the paper”: Ibid.

  230 “white gods dropped out of the sky”: Associated Press, “Three in ‘Shangri-La’ May Quit Peak Today,” New York Times, June 14, 1945.

  230 “the happiest people I’ve ever seen”: Walter Simmons, “Hidden Valley Dwellers Hide Nothing, but All Wear Smiles,” Chicago Tribune, June 16, 1945.

  230 “They lived well”: Walter, interview by author, July 6, 2009.

  230 “the best-looking girl”: Walter, “Miscellaneous Notes.”

  21: PROMISED LAND

  232 “headlines all over the world”: Walter, CEW, June 11, 1945.

  232 “my prayers on the future”: Ibid., June 13, 1945.

  232 “My last news of Dad”: Ibid.

  233 “I will not risk”: Ibid., June 10, 1945.

  233 delayed their departure: Ibid., June 15, 1945.

  233 kept after his journalistic prey: U.S. Army air-to-ground transcript, June 15, 1945, in Imparato, Rescue from Shangri-La, pp. 79–80.

  235 “Two Filipino medics”: Simmons, “WAC, 2 Yanks.”

  235 hailed from Chicago: Walter Simmons, “Glider Takes Six More Out of Shangri-La,” Chicago Tribune, July 1, 1945.

  235 reacted angrily in his journal: Walter, CEW, June 22, 1945.

  236 “you gonna use any of this?”: John McCollom, interview, October 1997.

  236 “farewells to Pete and his men”: Hastings, SLD, part 15.

  236 weeping at their departure: Ibid.

  237 bestowed another maga: Yunggukwe Wandik, interview.

  237 glanced back over her shoulder: Hastings, SLD, part 15.

  237 “break off a bite and eat it”: John McCollom, interview, October 1997.

  237 “Nobody knew what the food was”: Tomas Wandik, interview.