Escape From Davao (58 page)

Nor wil I forget the outstanding hospitality I enjoyed during my visit to Lake Jackson, Texas, to visit Elizabeth “Nel ” Denman, Ed Dyess’s

sister. I want to thank Nel for her crucial help in supplying me with vital information and source materials, for patiently and thoughtful y

replying to each e-mail, and, final y, for introducing me—in a manner of speaking—to her brother.

In Towson, Maryland, Kyle Richards catalogued a wealth of materials on his grandfather Steve Mel nik.

Mel nik’s daughter, Thelma Basham, contributed a significant amount of personal insight and information.

I traveled to Fargo, North Dakota, to meet Lois Dobervich and left with newspaper clippings, photographs, and, most important, a better understanding of her husband.

I thank Paul Marshal ’s sons—Bob, Scott, and Tim—for the practical assistance they rendered after their father’s passing, as wel as their encouragement.

Lucy Spielman’s hospitality during my visit to Austin was greatly appreciated, as was Margaret Spielman’s help in scanning and copying images of her father.

Thelma Kost, Leo Boelens’s niece, was one of the most dedicated and enthusiastic supporters of this project. I owe Thelma a debt of gratitude for sending me copies of her uncle’s diary and sharing her personal recol ections. The same goes for Jeanie Peterson, who provided me with rare family photographs.

I’m grateful to Winsor Soule for sharing information and materials concerning his former father-in-law, Melvyn McCoy, and also for introducing me to McCoy’s niece, Julie Witkoff, who supplied me with McCoy’s surviving papers and documents, vital materials that immeasurably improved this book.

• • •

I am profoundly grateful for the many knowledgeable and talented archivists, curators, historians, and researchers whose assistance in locating and procuring primary source materials proved invaluable.

At the MacArthur Memorial in Norfolk, Virginia, the incomparable James Zobel worked tirelessly on my behalf locating many of the obscure orders, affidavits, after-action reports, records, and radio messages that became the bones of this book. I owe Jim a cold San Miguel—several.

There’s perhaps no more proficient and personable archivist than Bob Parks at the Franklin D.

Roosevelt Library in Hyde Park, New York.

At the National Archives in Col ege Park, Maryland, Ken Schlessinger and Barry Zerby found important needles in quite a few paper haystacks for me.

The assistance of Alan Aimone at the U.S. Military Academy Library in West Point, New York, and Marilee Meyer of the West Point Alumni Archives was greatly appreciated.

In Annapolis, Maryland, Beverly Lyal at the U.S. Naval Academy Special Col ections and Archives and Paul Stil wel at the Naval Institute provided essential help.

Kudos to Dr. James Kitchens and Jeffrey Saihaida at the U.S. Air Force Historical Research Agency at Maxwel Air Force Base, Alabama.

Dick Long, formerly of the Marine Corps Historical Center at the Navy Yard, Washington, D.C., was a fount of information.

I’m thankful for the help of Jim Ginther at the Marine Corps Research University Archives, Quantico, Virginia, and the late Col. John Ripley, USMC (Ret.) of the Marine Corps Historical Division.

Gary Johnson and Stephen Bye at the Center for Military History at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania, deserve high praise.

I’m extremely grateful for the passion and professionalism that Richard “Doc” Warner, curator at the Dyess Heritage Center at Dyess Air Force Base in Abilene, Texas, brings to his job—it made mine so much easier. In Doc, Ed Dyess has a good man keeping an eye on his personal belongings and his legacy.

Randy Vance and Connie Aguilar of the Southwest Col ection, Special Col ections Department at Texas Tech University, Lubbock, Texas, were a huge help.

JoAnna Chrisco mined some terrific research material for me at the Denver Public Library with the help of archivists Ann Brown and El en Zazzarino.

I’d be remiss if I didn’t thank Bob Conte at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia.

And they don’t cal Tennessee the Volunteer State for nothing: the staffs at both the Nashvil e Public Library and the Tennessee State Library and Archives were extremely helpful. I’d also like to thank Harris D. “Bud” Ford, the Associate Athletic Director for Media Relations at the University of Tennessee, plus Dr. Bob Bul en and Ken Byers at Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro for providing me with video of Bul en’s interview with Austin Shofner.

No research concerning American prisoners of the Japanese during World War II can be undertaken without the assistance of the American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, the Battling Bastards of Bataan, and AX-POW (American Ex-Prisoners of War). Roger Mansel ’s Center for Research, Al ied POWs Under the Japanese, is an indispensable Internet resource.

Yuka Ibuki and Kinue Tokudome, the founder of U.S.-Japan Dialogue on POWs, Inc., deserve my thanks for their help in providing translations, as wel as assisting me in my attempts (which were ultimately unsuccessful) to reach surviving Japanese participants. In that regard, Chris Laycock, U.S.

Consul for Public Affairs in Osaka, Japan, and Justin Taylan and Alfred Weinzierl of Pacific Ghosts, deserve thanks, too.

Authors Bil Bartsch, Bil Smal wood, and Stanley Falk shared their time, thoughts, and the fruits of their many years of research with me, for which I am extremely grateful.

The escapees could not have succeeded without the help of their Filipino friends and neither could I.

Earlier renderings of this story were largely incomplete because of a lack of information regarding most of the Filipino participants. These oversights, however, were not intentional: the exigencies of the war prevented the escapees from learning about their friends and al ies in great detail during their brief period of comradeship in the guerril a movement. Wartime censorship restrictions in the United States necessitated the purging of many names that were included in published accounts. Through the wonder of the Internet and the help of certain individuals, I was able to develop some of these largely unknown yet vital characters in greater depth. Most notably, Mercedes Brolagda and her brother, Eduardo Gardé, provided essential information concerning their father, Benigno de la Cruz. I’d also like to thank Angelica Abrina for marshaling members of her family in order to provide me with information concerning her grandfather Candido “Pop” Abrina.

During my research trip to the Philippines in 2005, I learned that the bamboo telegraph stil functions extraordinarily wel . A cal went out and many individuals and organizations answered, helping make the trip a success. They include Myleen Abrigo, Peregrino Andres, Edna Binkowski, Art Boncato, Francis Ledesma and the staff at the Davao Marco Polo Hotel, Fé Campo, Lita de los Reyes, Alma Focolare, Alma Alesna, Dr. Ricardo Trota José of the University of the Philippines, Lt. Col. Art Matibag of the Corregidor Foundation, Rizalina Mitra-Pangan and the staff at the Davao Museum, Evelina Noroña-Togle, Josie San Pedro, and

Fely Yap.

I’m especial y grateful to Davao’s historian emeritus, Ernesto I. Corcino, whose in-depth knowledge of the story from the previously undocumented guerril a viewpoint enhanced this book.

Eddie Rojo, the executive assistant to the governor of Davao del Norte Province, was the catalyst who made possible my visit to the former Dapecol, the intersection where the escapees were united and the physical terminus of my own research odyssey. I’d also like to thank Superintendent Rodolfo V.

Bagaoisan and his administrative officer, Efren S. Varabe, my tour guide Pablo Asunción, plus the two police detectives who served as my bodyguards, Jose Colegado and Geriman Manos. My thanks to General Dionisio R. Santiago, the former director of the Philippine Bureau of Prisons, for his interest in this story, as wel as his correspondence and contributions.

My friend Jim Litton arranged an unforgettable land-sea tour of the Bataan Peninsula. Capt. Nestor Saladero of Southstar Aviation provided me with a sensational bird’s-eye view of the terrain surrounding the former Davao Penal Colony, the Libuganon River, and southern Agusan Province—and, most important, returned me safely and softly to terra firma.

I would also like to acknowledge the generous support of Carlos “Sonny” Dominguez, “The One” in the Philippines who made it al happen. Sonny immediately understood the historical significance of this story and put his time and resources in both Manila and Davao at my disposal.

Both in the States and in the Philippines, Lou Jurika selflessly served this project in a variety of capacities: editor; PR man; negotiator; travel agent; translator; research assistant; copilot; sailor; wingman; drinking partner. This book would have been a lesser work without his help.

Peter Parsons, the son of Charles “Chick” Parsons, deserves special recognition not only for his material contributions—documents, maps, and photographs from his family’s archives—but also for sharing his firsthand experiences and memories of his father, for serving as a soundboard for my thoughts and ideas, as wel as for his unwavering support. Banzai, Pete.

Other individuals who assisted me in various ways include Richard Burns, Jane Cambus, Cheryl Cerbone, Rowena Crow, Jeff Davis, Mauree Donalson, Jim Erickson, John Foreman of the
Champaign
(Illinois)
News-Gazette
, Duane Heisinger, Chad Hil , Wes Hoyt, Larry Gundrum, John Gunn, Mirana Medina, Rick Meixsel, Rick Rocamora, Richard Roper, Bruce Smith, Michael Sweeney, and Al an Winkler.

I’d also like to thank Brian Gal agher, Matt Griffith, Rich and Jessica Oskin, Christy Reese, Brad Spier, Mike Talmadge, and James Torrance for their couches, cars, and consideration as I Kerouacked across the country on research trips.

I am indebted to the Grashio family for permission to quote at length from Grashio’s memoirs,
Return
to Freedom
; the Shofner family for permission to quote from Austin Shofner’s diary and other accounts; and Jack Hawkins to quote from his book,
Never Say Die
, and his unpublished film treatment. I’d also like to thank Bil Nugent and the Marajen Stevick Chinigo Estate for permission to quote extensively from
The
Dyess Story.
In instances where I was unable to locate copyright holders, every effort wil be made to to provide proper credit in future editions.

If not for my agent, Gail Ross, this story would likely never have been told. Jenna Free, formerly of the Gail Ross Literary Agency, deserves a substantial amount of credit for helping sculpt an abstract idea into this book.

If intrepidity in editing leadership were a valorous action, my editor, Bob Bender, would deserve to be decorated. His understanding, talent, and patience are remarkable. Without Bob, I would not have made it out of the swamp.

I’d also like to thank Johanna Li of Simon & Schuster for her assistance, and Fred Chase for superb copyediting.

And while I credit al of the aforementioned for their help, any errors found in this work, factual or otherwise, are my responsibility.

John D. Lukacs

The Royal Hawaiian Hotel

Honolulu, Hawaii

December 6, 2009

Notes

Prologue
PAGE

2
WILL ARRIVE CHICAGO:
Western Union telegram from Dyess to wife Marajen Stevick Dyess, August 12, 1943, Dyess Papers, Southwest Col ection, Special Col ections Library, Texas Tech University Library, Lubbock, TX.

2
“little more than a glimpse”: Abilene Reporter-News
(Texas), November 8, 1943.

2
But mystery had surrounded: Albany News
, July 29, 1943;
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
, July 24, 1943;
Esquire
, May 1943.

3
“One-Man Scourge of the Japs”: New York Times
, July 26, 1942.

3
when a brief, cryptic message: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
, July 24, 1943.

3
MacArthur, the first to hear:
Colonel Al ison Ind,
Allied Intelligence Bureau: Our Secret
Weapon in the War Against Japan
(New York: David McKay, 1958), 180.

3
“the greatest story of the war in the Pacific”: Fort Worth Star-Telegram
, January 29, 1944.

1. TEN PESOS

PAGE

7
“Soldierman, sailorman and pioneer”:
Henry Lee, “Manila,”
Nothing but Praise
(Pasadena, CA.: Philippine Arts Council, Pacific Asia Museum, 1985), 12.

7
from all corners of the United States:
Wil iam H. Bartsch,
Doomed at the Start: American
Pursuit Pilots in the Philippines, 1941–1942
(Col ege Station: Texas A&M University Press, 1992), 436–40.

7
1939 Hollywood blockbuster:
I. B. “Jack” Donalson, author’s interview.

7
With crossed arms:
Lt. Col. Wm. E. Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, edited, with a biographical introduction, by Charles Leavel e (New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons, 1944), 27.

8
“Men, you are not a suicide squadron yet:”
Ibid., 27.

8
Pursuit George, as was his way:
Lt. Col. Al ison Ind,
Bataan: The Judgment Seat
(New York, Macmil an, 1944), 3.

8
George paused:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 27.

8
had watched the winds of war whip:
Letter from Lt. Col. Ray Hunt, USAF (Ret.), to the Commander, American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, 1981.