Escape from Davao

by John D. Lukacs

  65 they had been separated hours earlier: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 47, 50.

  65 Though there was no logical explanation: Ibid., 46–47, 52, 57.

  66 Since it certainly seemed: Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 48.

  66 There were, however, no absolute certainties: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 47–48.

  66 Before the Japanese segregated the prisoners: John Olson, author’s interview; Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 20; Knox, Death March, 127; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 71; Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese, 76–77; John Cowgill, author’s interview.

  67 At least they could count on: James Litton, author’s interview; Hampton Sides, Ghost Soldiers: The Forgotten Epic Story of World War II’s Most Dramatic Mission (New York: Doubleday, 2001), 95; Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 23–24; Bert Bank, author’s interview; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 52–53.

  67 Often, the aid came: Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese, 76; Bank, author’s interview; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 52–53, 56; Groom, 1942, 134; Taylor, A Trial of Generals, 100.

  67 At midnight, after an exhausting: EXPERIENCES OF 1st LT. SAMUEL C. GRASHIO WHILE A PRISONER OF WAR OF THE JAPANESE FROM APRIL 9, 1942, to APRIL 4, 1943, October 26, 1943, MacArthur Memorial and Archives, Norfolk, VA, RG 53, Box 9, Folder 14, 2; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 78–79.

  68 a catastrophic masakozi: Falk, Bataan; John Gunther, The Riddle of MacArthur (New York: Harper & Brothers, 1951), 100.

  68 As a military plan: Taylor, A Trial of Generals, 92–95; Lord Russell of Liverpool, The Knights of Bushido (New York: Berkley, 1959), 45–46; Falk, Bataan, 47–55; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 58. For additional detailed reading on the Imperial Japanese Army’s written code of conduct (the Senjin-kun, or “Code of the Battlefield”) or the Rikutatsu (“Army Instruction”) concerning Japanese rules for the humane treatment of prisoners of war, see Falk, Bataan, 235–46.

  68 Homma’s intentions: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 56; Taylor, A Trial of Generals, 40–49; Falk, Bataan, 224–25; Arthur Swinson, Four Samurai: A Quartet of Japanese Army Commanders in the Second World War (London: Hutchinson, 1968), 36–44.

  69 That flaw: Falk, Bataan, 40, 46, 56–66. As Falk indicates, after the war, Homma himself admitted that in April 1942 his primary focus was not on the prisoners of war: “My first and last concern was how I could assault the impregnable fortress [of Corregidor] in the shortest time possible” (p. 46).

  69 And despite the vaunted Japanese notions: Ibid., 227–29; Maj. Eugene A. Wright, “The Jap Fighting Man,” Infantry Journal, February 1945.

  69 Certainly, beheading: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 59–60; Taylor, A Trial of

  Generals, 97; Toland, The Rising Sun, 367; Edwin P. Hoyt, Japan’s War: the Great Pacific Conflict (New York: Cooper Square, 2001), 269.

  69 A final rationalization: As Lord Russell of Liverpool states in The Knights of Bushido, 56, “those who committed these crimes had never expected that retribution would follow for, as one of them said ‘we shall be the victors and will not have to answer questions.’ ”

  70 And whether by impulse or design: EXPERIENCES OF MAJOR S.M. MELLNIK FROM THE FALL OF CORREGIDOR, MAY 6, 1942 TO ESCAPE FROM A JAPANESE PRISON CAMP, APRIL 4, 1943, MAC, RG 30, Box 3, Folder 5, 10.

  70 On April 24, a rancorous editorial: Toland, The Rising Sun, 376.

  70 For hours, Ed Dyess had stumbled: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 78–80.

  70 One American had started counting: Toland, The Rising Sun, 371.

  70 “The bloodthirsty devils”: Dyess, The Dyess Story, p. 78.

  70 “the imaginations”: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 49.

  70 For Dyess, the worst part: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 80–86; Mallonée, The Naked Flagpole, 151; Lawton, Some Survived, 21–22; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 3.

  71 Finally, after being fed: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 87.

  71 There, the train depot buzzed: Falk, Bataan, 184–90; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 54–55.

  72 The train panted to a stop: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 90–97; Falk, Bataan, 197.

  6. GOODBYE AND GOOD LUCK

  PAGE

  74 “Then came the bitter day”: Lee, “Awakening,” Nothing but Praise, 38.

  74 “Our flag still flies on this beleaguered”: Jonathan Wainwright, General Wainwright’s Story: The Account of Four Years of Humiliating Defeat, Surrender and Captivity (New York: Doubleday, 1946), 85.

  74 And, as Hawkins had also seen: Hawkins, film treatment, 9–11.

  74 The resilient garrison: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 118; Morton, The Fall of the Philippines, 492, 535; Evans, Soochow and the 4th Marines, 59; Austin Shofner, Smallwood interview.

  75 Hawkins, who rarely left his dugout: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.

  75 Continuing to surveil: Hawkins, film treatment, 10.

  75 Not a single prisoner: Michiel Dobervich, DESCRIPTION OF LIFE IN JAPANESE PRISON CAMPS, ENCLOSURE “A,” Marine Corps Historical Center, Washington, D.C., 2.

  75 Rumbling in a slow convoy: Ibid., 2–3.

  76 “The infuriating, obtuse guards”: Mariano Villarin, We Remember Bataan and Corregidor (Self-published, 1990), 154.

  76 Dobervich was one of the first: Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE

  “A,” 3.

  76 After a long wait: Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 98–99; John Olson, O’Donnell: Andersonville of the Pacific (Self-published, 1985), 44–47; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 65.

  76 “The captain, he say Nippon”: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 99; Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “A,” 3.

  77 “Words cannot describe”: Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “A,” 5.

  77 The Japanese would attempt to cram: Olson, O’Donnell, 8–9, 93–94, 97;

  E. Bartlett Kerr, Surrender and Survival: The Experience of American POWs

  in the Pacific, 1941–1945 (New York: William Morrow, 1985), 62; Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “A,” 3–4; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 100; Knox, Death March, 159.

  77 The prisoners were fed tiny portions: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 101–2; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 70; Lawton, Some Survived, 28–29.

  77 The starvation diet: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 102–5; Olson, O’Donnell, 53,

  117–19; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 72–76.

  78 Not content to let starvation: Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “A,” 5; Lawton, Some Survived, 26–27; Breuer, The Great Raid, 55; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 100–101.

  78 It was not long before the corpses: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 101; Knox, Death March, 165, 169; Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 28–29; Olson, O’Donnell, 132.

  78 The burial details: Olson, O’Donnell, 139–45; Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 34; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 77; Mario Tonelli, author’s interview.

  79 Tales of men being buried alive: Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE

  “A,” 5.

  79 Dogs and buzzards: Bert Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 29; Olson, O’Donnell, 142, 145; Knox, Death March, 165.

  79 The whole affair looked: Knox, Death March, 116, 156; John Olson, author’s interview; Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “A,” 5–7.

  79 “Many Nippon die Bataan”: Haggerty, Edward, Guerrilla Padre in Mindanao, New York (Longmans Green, 1946), 116.

  80 Inanition, the word scrawled: Olson, Death March, 159; Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “A,” 5; Miller, From Shanghai to Corregidor, 43; e-mail correspondence from Jane Cambus to the author, January 8, 2007; Dr. Ricardo T. José, “Civilians in Bataan and the Death March,” Speech on the Occasion of the Battle of Bataan, April 9, 2008, Capas, Tarlac, Philippines (http://battlingbastardsbataan.com/rico.htm). As the above sources indicate, Dobervich’s survival was yet another example of his amazing luck, or perhaps more accurately, the misfortune of others. In December 1941, fourteen Czech nationals living in Manila volunteered their services to the U.S. Army, eventually serving on Bataan in a variety of noncombat capacities suc
h as truck drivers and salvagers. Though citizens of a German protectorate and thus technically Axis allies under the auspices of the Tripartite Pact, the Japanese nevertheless confined the Czechs in Camp O’Donnell alongside the surrendered Americans and Filipinos.

  80 The Japanese had mostly forbade: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 107–9; Mario Tonelli, author’s interview.

  80 Each night, as the searchlights: Olson, O’Donnell, 95; Mario Tonelli, author’s interview.

  80 Many prisoners, likewise whirling: Bert Bank, author’s interview.

  81 As the reality of the surrender: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 66, 85; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 120.

  81 It had once been inconceivable: Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 25.

  81 Bert Bank’s enlistment: Bert Bank, author’s interview.

  82 Bank had befriended Ed Dyess: Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 21, 24; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 91.

  82 The Death March had proven: John Olson, author’s interview; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 102; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 76, 85.

  82 One man had been discovered: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 87.

  82 Though more dark days: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 111.

  83 Mellnik, a onetime USAFFE staffer: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 116, 130;

  84 Hello, darling: Letter from Steve Mellnik to wife Thelma, May 3, 1942.

  84 An estimated 1.8 million pounds: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Morton, The Fall of the Philippines, 547, 549.

  84 Yet Mellnik was still there: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 50–51, 3–4.

  84 The ship carrying Tekla Mellnick: Stephen M. Mellnik, “Personal History Info on Stephen M. Mellnik” (unpublished), June 7, 1975, 1; Thelma Basham, family history (unpublished), 1.

  85 An ambitious private: Thelma Basham, author’s interview.

  85 It was during difficult times: Stephen Mellnik, Kirkpatrick interview; letter from Steve Mellnik to wife Thelma, May 3, 1942.

  86 It took General Wainwright: Schultz, Hero of Bataan, 285–87.

  86 The Marines, upon hearing: Evans, Soochow and the 4th Marines, 80; Condit and Turnbladh, Hold High the Torch, 240; Hawkins film treatment, 17b–c.

  86 The surrender was doubly painful: Leatherneck, June 1976; Shofner, “Guerrilla Diary,” 7–8.

  87 History, as well as: Frederick D. Parker, Pearl Harbor Revisited: United States Navy Communications Intelligence, 1924–1941 (Washington, D.C.: Center for Cryptological History, National Security Agency, 1994), 7.

  87 McCoy had had several opportunities: Melvyn McCoy, “Yankee Guerrillas” (unpublished) Personal Papers of Melvyn H. McCoy, 6.

  87 Having already supervised the destruction: Battle Report: Pearl Harbor to Coral Sea, Prepared from Official Sources by Commander Walter Karig, USNR and Lieutenant Welbourn Kelley, USNR (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1944), 324.

  87 The misty morning air: Hawkins, film treatment, 28.

  87 Any place would seem to be better: Ibid., 22–25; Edgar Whitcomb, Escape from Corregidor (New York: Paperback Library, 1971), 102–4; Cmdr. Melvyn H. McCoy and Lt. Col. S. M. Mellnik, as told to Lt. Welbourn Kelley, USNR Ten Escape from Tojo (New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1944), 20–21; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 155–61; Hawkins, film treatment, 22–25; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Melvyn H. McCoy, ESCAPE OF LT. COMDR. MELVYN H. MCCOY, USN FROM A JAPANESE PRISON CAMP IN THE PHILIPPINES (Personal Papers of Melvyn H. McCoy, 5–6.

  88 The conquerors had enlisted: Shofner, “Diary 1941–1943,” 131; Shofner, “Guerrilla Diary,” 8–9.

  88 Both Shofner and Hawkins: Edgar Whitcomb, author’s interview; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 25–28; Austin Shofner, Smallwood interview; Whitcomb, Escape from Corregidor, 106–13.

  88 “Where do you think they”: Hawkins, film treatment, 29–31.

  89 A modern-day Jonah: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 161–62.

  89 To Melvyn McCoy: McCoy, ESCAPE, 6.

  89 “Shof, I wonder if”: Hawkins, film treatment, 32.

  90 The march soon proved: Ibid., 33; McCoy, ESCAPE, 6.

  90 Nonplussed, the Japanese endeavored: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 23–24.

  90 In so many ways: E-mail correspondence from Peter Parsons to the author, July 24, 2005, October 6, 2005; William Wise, Secret Mission to the Philippines: The Story of “Spyron” and the American-Filipino Guerrillas of World War II (New York: E. P. Dutton, 1968), 140; Louis Jurika, author’s interview.

  90 Officially, Parsons was not: E-mail correspondence from Peter Parsons to the author, April 7, 2004, July 24, 2005.

  91 He embellished the ruse: E-mail correspondence from Peter Parsons to the author, July 24, 2005; Travis Ingham, Rendezvous by Submarine: The Story of Charles Parsons and the Guerrilla-Soldiers in the Philippines (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Doran, 1945), 20–39; Wise, Secret Mission to the Philippines, 36–38.

  91 With the help of his wife: Wise, Secret Mission, 39–47; C. Parsons, MEMORANDUM AS TO CONDITIONS IN THE PHILIPPINES DURING PERIOD OF JAPANESE OCCUPATION, On Board M/S Gripsholm, August 23, 1942, Personal Papers of Charles Parsons, Baguio, Philippines, 28.

  92 The deception worked: Wise, Secret Mission to the Philippines, 51–52; e-mail correspondence from Peter Parsons to the author, July 24, 2005.

  7. A RUMOR

  PAGE

  93 “We saw an open grave”: Lee, “An Execution,” Nothing but Praise, 41.

  93 Steve Mellnik thought: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 167; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 69; McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 34–35.

  93 Jack Hawkins, unable to find: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 53–57;

  94 He was severely underweight: Hawkins, film treatment, 53–64.

  95 “You won’t like it here”: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 37–38, 44.

  95 “Those things don’t happen to Americans”: Ibid., 42.

  95 That much was true: Lawton, Some Survived, xviii.

  95 Located seventy-five miles north: McCoy, ESCAPE, 8–9.

  96 “We used to say in Shanghai”: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Evans, Soochow and the 4th Marines, 97; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 106–7; Hawkins, film treatment, 66; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 71.

  96 Dysentery prevented them: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 168; Hawkins, film treatment, 66, 70; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 72–73, Dyess, The Dyess Story, 129.

  97 Many ultimately ended up: Calvin Chunn, Of Rice and Men (Los Angeles: Veterans Publishing Company, 1946), 40; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 167–69; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.

  97 When Hawkins was stricken: Hawkins, film treatment, 72–74, 76.

  97 Ed Dyess felt he had someone: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 108.

  98 Mellnik noticed that the prisoners reacted: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 170;

  Shofner, “Guerrilla Diary”, 24–25.

  98 Sam Grashio had made up his mind: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 88–89, 93.

  99 War had, at the very least: Ibid., 84; John Cowgill, author’s interview; Shofner, “Guerrilla Diary,” 24.

  99 Their Yankee humor and ingenuity: Mellnik, EXPERIENCES, 4; Shofner, “Diary; 1941–1943”, 174 (supp.).

  99 The mucky roads and alleys: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 122.

  99 And there was a hustler: Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 43.

  99 Prisoners produced shows: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 127; Chunn, Of Rice and Men, 63–77; Hawkins, film treatment, 83, 90–91; McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 60–61.

  100 Some prisoners taught classes: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 69, 75; Knox, Death March, 264; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 90–91; Shofner, “Diary: 1941–1943,” 97 (supp.).

  100 Germany’s surrender: Chunn, Of Rice and Men, 106–9; Alan McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe (New York: Hobson, 1947), 29; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 113; Duane Heisinger, Father Found: Life and Death as a Prisoner of the Japanese in World War II (Xulon, 2003), 292–93; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 89–90.


  100 Since Cabanatuan was almost: Chunn, Of Rice and Men, 106–7; Hawkins, film treatment, 67–69; Kerr, Surrender and Survival, 100–101.

  101 One sure sign: Kempei Yuki, AFFIDAVIT OF KEMPEI YUKI, Kazuo Maeda, Case Docket 232, Vol. II, Records of Allied and Operational and Occupation Headquarters, NARA, RG 331, Box 9525, 1; Kempei Yuki, Lt. Kempei Yuki, 1942–1944, Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1911, 1.

  101 The Americans observed: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 139–40.

  102 Guarding prisoners was not honorable: Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese, 99; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 79; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 130; Robert S. LaForte, Ronald E. Marcello, and Richard L. Himmel, With Only the Will to Live: Accounts of Americans in Japanese Prison Camps (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994), 21.