Escape from Davao
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102 The guards beat the prisoners: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 79; Bert Bank, author’s interview; Mario Tonelli, author’s interview; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 126.
102 For the Americans watching: Statements from American POWs, Report, Prison Camp at Davao Penal Colony, 1945–1948, Records of Allied and Operational Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1290; Statement of Sgt.
Joseph R. Stanford, Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, Prisoner of War File, RG 331, Box 1903, Grashio, Return to Freedom, 96; 1st Lt. Yoshimasa Hozumi, 1945–1949, Records of Allied and Operational Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1893.
102 After a guard had been killed: Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 40–41; Bert Bank, author’s interview; Jack Hawkins, film treatment, 88; Alan McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 27.
103 As if the wanton cruelty: Hawkins, film treatment, 78–79; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 84; Lawton, Some Survived, 38–43; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 123.
103 Though the entertainment value: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 61–62.
104 A hush fell over the audience: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 131; Hawkins, film treatment, 82, 94–97.
105 Escape may not have been: Heisinger, Father Found, 245–46; Knox, Death March, 269; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 172; Hawkins, film treatment, 80; Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese, 99–101; Office of the Commander, Nipponese Headquarters, Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1116, 80; U.S. Department of State, Multilateral Agreements, 1918–1930, 938–57.
105 Nevertheless, there were escapes: Bank, Back from the Living Dead, 39–42;
Mellnik, EXPERIENCES, 4–5; Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “B,” 1–2; Hawkins, film treatment, 79.
105 The inconsistency: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 80–81; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 7; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Mario Tonelli, author’s interview; Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Richard Gordon, author’s interview.
106 It was so dark: Mario Tonelli, author’s interview; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 173–74; Hawkins, film treatment, 97–99; McCoy, ESCAPE, 12–13.
106 The next morning, Hawkins: Hawkins, film treatment, 100–105; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 81; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 132–36; Richard Gordon, author’s interview.
108 Twenty-four hours would pass: McCoy, ESCAPE, 14; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 136; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 14.
108 After the storm of the preceding week: Shofner, “Guerrilla Diary,” 16–17; Hawkins, film treatment, 108–9; Jack Hawkins, Never Say Die (Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1961), 12; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.
109 Steve Mellnik waited: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 175; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 148; Sam Grashio, Return to Freedom, 96; Bert Bank, author’s interview.
109 Examining the manifest: Hawkins, film treatment, 111; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 72.
8. THE ERIE MARU
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110 “Death is a quiet room”: Henry Lee, “TO—(CAUSE OF DEATH—
INANITION),” Nothing but Praise, 42.
110 They had converged into Cabanatuan: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 96; Hawkins, Never Say Die, 13.
110 Under a steady gray drizzle: Hawkins, film treatment, 113;
110 The movement was: Hawkins, Never Say Die, 116–17.
111 Prodded into the port area: Grashio, EXPERIENCES, 9.
111 Sam Grashio had not expected: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 97.
111 There were several catches: Ibid., 97; Mellnik, EXPERIENCES, 7; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 12.
111 The environment belowdecks: Shofner, “Diary: 1941–1943,” 134.
112 While most prisoners were forced to remain: Hawkins, Never Say Die, 20–22; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.
113 The Erie Maru certainly: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 176; McCoy, ESCAPE, 15; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 98.
113 The generous portions: Hawkins, film treatment, 126.
113 Other than the guards: The POW was Alan McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 39–41.
113 This officer regained use: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 152.
114 The three Marines: Hawkins, film treatment, 132–35; Hawkins, Never Say Die, 24; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 152–53, Grashio, Return to Freedom, 99.
115 Much to the prisoners’ dismay: Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Bert Bank, author’s interview; Jack Hawkins, film treatment, 136; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 176.
116 The announcement came: Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, Never Say Die, 28.
116 After several hours: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 73.
116 The light of civilization dimmed: Hawkins, Never Say Die, 28–29; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Ed Dyess, The Dyess Story, 153.
116 A brief pelting of raindrops: Grashio, EXPERIENCES, 11; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Shofner, “Diary: 1941–1943,” 134; Grashio; Return to Freedom, 100; Brig. Gen. John Hugh McGee, U.S. Army (Ret.) Rice and Salt: A History of the Defense and Occupation of Mindanao During World War II (San Antonio: Naylor, 1962), 72; Hawkins, film treatment, 146–50.
9. A CHRISTMAS DREAM
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119 “Across one brutal, endless year”: Lee, “To Our Country (Given to Chaplain Talbot, Christmas, 1942), Nothing but Praise, 36.
119 Though more than six months: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 101.
119 Not Maj. Kazuo Maeda: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 74–75; McCoy, ESCAPE, 15–16, Hawkins, film treatment, 153–55.
119 The welcome: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 102; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 180; Carl Nordin, author’s interview; Yuki, AFFIDAVIT, 2–3; McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 45; Betty B. Jones, The December Ship: A Story of Lt. Col. Arden R. Boellner’s Capture in the Philippines, Imprisonment, and Death on a World
War II Japanese Hellship (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992), 77; Victor Mapes, The Butchers, the Baker: The World War II War Memoir of a United States Air Corps Soldier Captured by the Japanese in the Philippines (Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000), 174.
122 Only a man who had been through: Boelens, “Diary,” 26, 34, 37.
122 The benefits of hewing: A Brief History of the Philippine Prison System, Republic of the Philippines, Department of Justice, Bureau of Corrections, 19; Ernesto Corcino, author’s interview; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview.
123 Much of the colony’s substantial acreage: Heisinger, Father Found, 314; Austin
RECORD OF EVENTS AS A JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR: 6 May, 1942 to 4 April, 1943, ENCLOSURE “A,” MCHC, 7; Ernesto Corcino, author’s interview; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; Carl Nordin, We Were Next to Nothing: An American POW’s Account of Japanese Prison Camps and Deliverance in World War II (Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1997), 74; Knox, Death March, 251.
123 The war, however, brought about: Ernesto Corcino, author’s interview; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; Juan Acenas, Silver Jubilee Book—1957, Philippines Bureau of Corrections, 32–33; A Brief History of the Philippine Prison System, 20.
123 Forcing POWs to labor: Record of Proceedings of the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East, 1946–1948 (The Tribunal, 1948), 73, 1076–77.
124 There was perhaps no better place: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 176.
124 And yet, despite Dapecol’s seclusion: Hawkins, film treatment, 151–52, McGee, Rice and Salt, 73.
124 Dapecol was an open: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 167–69; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; Nordin, We Were Next to Nothing, 75.
125 Conditions were spartan: Grashio, EXPERIENCES, 11; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; McGee, Rice and Salt, 72; Hawkins, Never Say Die, 33–34.
125 “How ya doin?”: Hawkins, film treatment, 156–58.
&nbs
p; 126 Before dawn, brassy bugle calls: Ibid., 158–59; McCoy, ESCAPE, 16; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 12.
126 Once a detail reached: Shofner, Smallwood interview; Shofner, “Guerrilla Diary,” 19; McCoy, ESCAPE, 16; Mellnik, EXPERIENCES, 8; McGee, Rice and Salt, 80; Hawkins, film treatment, 158–61; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Jones, The December Ship, 79; Knox, Death March, 253–60.
127 Just beyond Mactan: Hawkins, Never Say Die, 36–39, Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.
127 The prisoners, in turn, exploited: Hawkins, film treatment, 162–66.
128 Relationships with the Filipinos: McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 50, Dyess, The Dyess Story, 156–57.
128 Though all civilians: Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview, McGee, Rice and Salt, 83.
128 Not all of the aid: Hawkins, film treatment, 178–79.
129 Their itinerant labors: John J. Morrett, Soldier-Priest (Roswell, GA: Old Rugged Cross Press, 1993), 80–82.
129 The prisoners rarely saw Major Maeda: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Statement of Cpl. Michael B. Scopa, Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, Prisoner of War File, RG 331, Box 1104, PERSONAL DATA SHEET RE ACCUSED, K. Maeda, Case Docket 232, Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, NARA, RG 331, Box 9696; AFFIDAVIT of Austin J. Montgomery, Lt. Col, QMC: Names, descriptions, and personal history of the Japanese Staff at Davao Penal Colony, P.I., from 10 December 1942 until 3 June 1944, Records of Allied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1911, 1; Carl Nordin, author’s interview; Statement of Sgt. Robert J. Endres, World War II, NARA, Prisoner of War File, RG 331, Box 1891.
129 Maeda’s nefarious subordinate, Hozumi: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 76; Hawkins, Never Say Die, 14; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 104–5; Heisinger, Father Found, 324.
129 Some Formosans shared: Hawkins, film treatment, 175–77; La Forte et al., With Only the Will to Live, 53; Heisinger, Father Found, 324.
130 The only way the prisoners: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 76; McGee, Rice and Salt, 87–88; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 165; AFFIDAVIT of Austin J. Montgomery, NARA, RG 331, Box 1911, 1–8; Carl Nordin, author’s interview; Nordin, We Were Next to Nothing, 78.
130 But the guards: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 156; Heisinger, Father Found, 356;
McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 46–47.
131 To put their consumption: Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese, 111; Shiraji (Lt), 1945–1947, NARA, P-201, Perpetrators and Suspected War Criminals, RG 331, Box 1083.
131 They had lived with hunger: McGee, Rice and Salt, 77; Bank, Return from the Living Dead, 72–73.
131 As the battle of nutritional attrition: Mellnik, EXPERIENCES, 8; Davao Penal Colony, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, American Prisoner of War Information Bureau (ca. 1942—09/18/1947), NARA, RG 389, Box 2135, 112.
131 Unsanitary living conditions: Nordin, We Were Next to Nothing, 81; McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 77; Mario Tonelli, author’s interview.
131 Some men awoke to find: Bert Bank, author’s interview; Bank, Return from the Living Dead, 75–76; La Forte et al., With Only the Will to Live, 182–83; Davao Penal Colony, NARA, RG 389, Box 2135, 115.
132 Such a policy looked to spell: Bert Bank, author’s interview; McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 50–51; Knox, Death March, 262.
132 Melvyn McCoy angrily plunged: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 180–82.
133 It would not take long: Ibid., 183–84.
134 Getting close to Abrina: Ibid., 184.
134 In reality, the fifty-five-year-old Abrina: E-mail correspondence from Angelica Abrina to the author, January 12 and January 15, 2007; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 184.
134 Each day brought McCoy: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 185.
135 One morning after the rice harvest: Ibid., 186–89.
136 This time, it was Paul Marshall: Ibid., 190.
136 It began on Corregidor: Paul Marshall, author’s interview; Robert Spielman, author’s interview.
136 Case in point: Paul Marshall, Smallwood interview; Paul Marshall, author’s interview.
137 A static life was no life: Paul Marshall, Smallwood interview.
137 Bob Spielman had enlisted: Robert Spielman, Smallwood interview.
138 In Manila, while working: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 24; Paul Marshall, Smallwood interview.
138 In Cabanatuan, when: Paul Marshall, author’s interview.
138 Though no stranger to rackets: Robert Spielman, Smallwood interview.
139 After the brief reunion: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 190–91.
139 “You can trust Bob and Paul”: Ibid., 191–92.
139 They practiced their roles: Ibid., 192–93.
140 Unlike superintendent Pascual Robin: McCoy, ESCAPE, 18; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 193–94.
140 Back in the compound: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 194–95.
141 To celebrate the Christmas season: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 192–97; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 53–54.
142 “The difference between friend and foe:” Maria Virginia Yap Morales, Diary of the War: WWII Memoirs of Lt. Col. Anastacio Campo (Manila, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila Press, 2006), 120; Fely Yap, author’s interview.
142 Upon exiting: McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 54.
142 In Barracks Five: Hawkins, Never Say Die, 54.
10. A BIG CROWD
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143 “I probed the whirling darkness”: Lee, “Anniversary of Parting,” Nothing but Praise, 27.
143 Crankcase oil and powdered lime: McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 43.
143 Generally, the reports just smelled funny: Heisinger, Father Found, 320; Knox, Death March, 261; Calvin G. Jackson, Diary of Col. Calvin G. Jackson, M.D. (Ada: Ohio Northern University Press, 1992), 94–96; Hawkins, film treatment, 211; McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 56–64.
143 “It’s Christmas, Commander McCoy!”: McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 80; McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 64.
144 Each POW received approximately: Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 160–61; Hawkins, film treatment, 212–13; American Red Cross Prisoner of War Invalid Food Package No. 1, NARA, RG 407, Records of the Adjutant General’s Office, 1905–1981, Box 144, 2–4; McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 81–82.
144 The rejuvenating effect: Grashio, Return to Freedom, 107–8.
144 The belated Christmas gifts: Dyess, The Dyess Story, 157, 163–64; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 103.
144 On the heels: McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 66–68; Boelens, “Diary,” 42; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 166.
145 Nineteen forty-three, by all early indications: Hawkins, Never Say Die, 45; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 112; Dyess, The Dyess Story, 163–65.
146 the appeal to Major Maeda’s pocketbook: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 197–200; McCoy and Mellnik, Ten Escape from Tojo, 84; Paul Marshall, author’s interview; Robert Spielman, author’s interview.
148 Confounded, the Japanese: La Forte et al., With Only the Will to Live, 158; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Paul Marshall, author’s interview; Grashio, Return to Freedom, 112; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 202.
148 The plotters decided: Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 210.
149 Abrina’s support was a major coup: Daws, Prisoners of the Japanese, 99–101; Diary of Major William J. Priestly, NARA, RG 407, Box 1482 (the time period for these escape attempts, as compiled by Priestly, spans the camp’s inception in June 1942 through the culmination of America’s reconquest of the Philippines in early 1945); McCracken, Very Soon Now, Joe, 48. For American military personnel in World War II, the question of whether to attempt to escape was a decision not only influenced by one’s own unique circumstances of captivity, but also certain moral and legal obligations both real and perceived. Some American officers, more so sen
ior officers than junior ones, were aware that they were expected to escape in the event of being captured by an enemy. This topic had reportedly been addressed in their commissioning oaths and other regulations. Most enlisted men, however, were ignorant of any such regulations. The topic was not fully and officially addressed until the standardized U.S. Armed Forces Code of Conduct was issued in 1955.
150 Geography was perhaps: Robert Spielman, Smallwood interview; Paul Marshall, author’s interview; Mellnik, Philippine Diary, 209–12.