Escape From Davao (59 page)

8
According to Japan’s militarists:
Wil is Lamott,
Nippon: The Crime and Punishment of Japan
(New York: John Day, 1944), 92–93; John Dower,
War Without Mercy
(New York: Pantheon, 1986), 273–74.

8
The annexations of Formosa, Korea, and Manchuria:
Brig. Gen. Steve Mel nik,
Philippine
Diary: 1939–1945
(New York: Van Nostrand Reinhold, 1969), 4.

8
By the summer of 1941:
Louis Morton,
U.S. Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific:
The Fall of the Philippines
(Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1989), 17–18.

9
The relentless climate:
Gen. Douglas MacArthur,
Reminiscences
(New York: McGraw-Hil , 1964), 84; “Transcript of Interview with Brig. Gen. Stephen Michael Mel nik, U.S.A., Retired”—

Conducted at Fort Bliss, TX, December 13, 1983, by Charles E. Kirkpatrick (cited hereafter as Kirkpatrick interview).

9
in a universal lethargy:
Duane Schultz,
Hero of Bataan: The Story of General Jonathan M.

Wainwright
(New York: St. Martin’s, 1981), 43; John W. Whitman,
Bataan: Our Last Ditch
(New York: Hippocrene, 1990), 25.

9
An exchange rate:
Malcolm Amos, author’s interview; e-mail correspondence from Louis B.

Read, to the author, October 20, 2004.

9
bunks neat and their shoes shined:
E-mail correspondence from Louis B. Read, October 20, 2004; Anton Bilek; author’s interview; e-mail correspondence from Joe Merritt to the author, October 26, 2004.

9
most were energetic young officers:
E-mail correspondence from Joe Merritt, October 26, 2004; Samuel C. Grashio and Bernand Norling,
Return to Freedom
(Spokane: Gonzaga University Press, 1982), 33.

9
Poker, baseball, and air-conditioned double features:
Anton Bilek, in col aboration with Gene O’Connel ,
No Uncle Sam: The Forgotten of Bataan
(Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 2003), 4; Anton Bilek, author’s interview.

9
Clark Field and Fort Stotsenburg:
E-mail correspondence from Richard B.

Meixsel to the author, February 1, 2005.

9
slugged ice-cold bottles:
Bilek,
No Uncle Sam
, 4.

9
The real action, however:
E-mail correspondence from Clyde Childress to the author, December 13, 2004.

9
Santa Ana Cabaret:
E-mail correspondence from Louis Read to the author, October 23, 2004.

9
sailors drank at the Silver Dollar:
“The Cruiser Houston,” online exhibit hosted by the University

of

Houston,

Special

Col ections

Library,

http://info.lib.uh.edu/sca/digital/cruiser/onboard.htm.

9
air redolent of jasmine, sewage:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 5.

9
Officers mingled:
E-mail correspondence from Clyde Childress to the author, December 13, 2004.

10
MacArthur also suffered:
The Japanese had perhaps as many as six mil ion troops, many of which were veterans of the China war, under arms; Wil iam Manchester,
American Caesar
(New York: Del , 1978), 211–12; Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 24.

10
Ten Philippine Army reserve divisions:
Quoted from Col. Clifford Bluemel, 31st Division, Philippine Army, Report of Operations, in Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 30.

10
The American and Filipino soldiers:
MacArthur,
Reminiscences
, 110.

10
Glaringly, there were no tanks:
According to Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 33, the first armored units, the 192nd and 194th Tank Battalions, each consisting of fifty-four M-3 Stuart light tanks, arrived in November 1941.

10
Hangars throughout the archipelago:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 23; Bartsch,
Doomed at the Start
, 2.

10
The Asiatic Fleet was still anchored:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 46.

10
“a little stick which the United States”:
Clark Lee,
They Call it Pacific: An
Eye-witness Story of Our War Against Japan
, (New York: Viking, 1943), 121.

10
He deemed War Plan Orange:
Manchester,
American Caesar
, 213

10
Envisioning the Philippines:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 31–50, 64–65.

11
Stimson and Marshall:
Henry L. Stimson and McGeorge Bundy,
On Active Service in
Peace and War
(New York: Harper Brothers, 1947, 1948), 388–89.

11
A shortage of transports:
Louis Morton,
U.S. Army in World War II: The War in the Pacific:
Strategy and Command: The First Two Years
(Washington, D.C.: Office of the Chief of Military History, Department of the Army, 1962), 99;
Time
, December 15, 1941.

11
Lieutenant Dyess, for example:
Wil iam H. Bartsch,
December 8, 1941:
MacArthur’s Pearl Harbor
(Col ege Station: Texas A&M University Press, 2003), 246–47.

11
There was hardly any engine coolant:
Ind,
Bataan
, 18.

11
“The inability of an enemy”:
Ibid., 193.

12
Imperial General Headquarters:
Ibid., 422.

12
An unidentified plane:
Ibid., 235–37.

12
Since the blips meshed:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 194.

12
MacArthur ordered his B-17s:
MacArthur,
Reminiscences
, 113. The B-17s that did fly 500

miles to the south on the island of Mindanao landed at Del Monte Field, which was original y a fairway of a golf course hacked from the vast pineapple fields of the Del Monte Corporation.

Karl C. Dod,
The Corps of Engineers: The War Against Japan
(Washington, D.C.: Official Center for Military History, 1966), 65.

12
a bustling, multicultural historical intersection:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 5, 35; Schultz,
Hero
of Bataan
, 45–46.

12
John Dyess, a Welshman:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 13.

12
a position he would hold:
Elizabeth Nel Denman, author’s interview.

12
Hallie and Richard Dyess:
E-mail correspondence from Elizabeth Nel Denman to the author, April 4, 2004.

12
Doc Holliday and Wyatt Earp: Texas Monthly
, June 2003, 92.

12
Father and son were inseparable:
Ibid.

13
a fascination with flight: Abilene Reporter-News
(Texas), September 9, 1956.

13
he worked several jobs:
Elizabeth Nel Denman, author’s interview.

13
Dyess was the school’s ranking:
Ibid;
J-Tac
, student publication of John Tarleton Agricultural Col ege, February 15, 1944.

13
intending to enroll in the law school:

Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 15–16; e-mail

correspondence from Elizabeth Nel Denman to the author, July 23, 2004.

13
“Son,” Judge Dyess promised:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 16.

13
A Presbyterian who had embraced:
E-mail correspondence from Elizabeth Nel Denman to the author, July 23, 2004.

13
“Mother,” he would reply:
Hal ie Dyess, quoted in
Abilene Reporter-News
(Texas), April 23, 1974.

13
he stood six foot one:
E-mail correspondence from Elizabeth Nel Denman to the author, October 15, 2005.

13
At Hamilton Field:
Letter from Ray Hunt to the Commander, American Defenders of Bataan and Corregidor, 1981.

13
“You look like”:
Ibid.

14
“He was intelligent”:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 7.

14
“PLUM”:
Ibid., 2.

14
Jack Donohoe:
Jack Donohoe, author’s interview.

14
At Pearl Harbor, the
Coolidge: Walter D. Edmonds,
They Fought with What They Had: The
Story of the Army Air Forces in the Southwest Pacific, 1941–1942

(Boston: Little, Brown, 1951), 49–50.

14
The Japanese, declared the officers:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 2;
Fortune
, February 1942, 53; Ind,
Bataan
, 3. The most famous manifestation of this national hubris, however, was the declaration of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox, who, while puffing on an after-dinner cigar just three days before the attack on Pearl Harbor, reportedly announced that a conflict with Japan “won’t take too

long … say about a six-months’ war.” See Bruce Catton,
The Warlords of Washington
(New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1948), 9.

15
He concluded with an estimate:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 27.

15
“I’ll bet you five pesos:”
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 2.

15
Grashio had just fallen back asleep:
Ibid., 3–4.

15
Four, in fact:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 29.

16
For the ABCD powers:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 77.

16
Word of the Pearl Harbor attack:
Ibid., 79–83.

16
It has been speculated:
Manchester,
American Caesar
, 230–35; Bartsch,
December 8,
1941
, 282.

16
Shortly after receiving:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 282–83.

16
At 1015 Formosa time:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 84.

17
At 1145:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 301.

17
“Tally ho, Clark Field!”:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 30.

17
While Dyess led:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 4–5.

17
Growing up, Grashio was competitive:
Devonia Grashio and Samuel E. Grashio, author’s interview.

17
“119 pounds of condensed dynamite”: Spokane Spokesman-Review
, date unknown.

18
Nevertheless, much like his father:
Devonia Grashio, author’s interview; Grashio,
Return to
Freedom
, 1.

18
“Ed … took me right under his wing”: Chicago Tribune
, January 29, 1944.

18
“as smooth as glass”:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 5.

18
until 1220 hours:
Ibid.

18
“All P-40s return to Clark Field”:
Ibid.

18
It was about 1230:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 318–20.

18
The Japanese bombardiers:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 86; Manchester,
American
Caesar
, 237–38; Saburo Sakai,
Samurai!
(New York: Bantam, 1978), 47.

19
“how utterly and abysmally wrong”:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 5–6.

19
In seconds, the hunters had become:
Ibid., 6; Sakai,
Samurai!
, 50.

20
“I was sure I was going to die:”
Sakai,
Samurai!,
6; Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 328.

20
“Never try to outmaneuver a Zero”: Sakai, Samurai!,
6.

20
When Grashio touched down:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 375.

20
“By God, they ain’t shootin’ spitballs”:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 30.

20
the order came in to abandon Nichols Field:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 393.

20
“eerie glow”:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 30.

20
“We got kicked in the teeth”:
Joe Moore, author’s interview.

20
Despite sufficient advance warning:
Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 409.

21
“Oh, God help us”:
Lt. Cmdr. Charles “Chick” Parsons, Oral History, U.S. Naval Institute, Annapolis, MD, 128. Surprisingly, there would be scarcely a murmur of inquiry from Washington regarding the disastrous events of December 8, 1941, on Luzon. Brereton received only a dressing-down from Arnold and Marshal refrained from discussing the calamity with MacArthur, though weeks later he did wonder aloud in the presence of a reporter: “I just don’t know how MacArthur happened to let his planes get caught on the ground.” Unlike what transpired fol owing the attack on Pearl Harbor, there would be no scapegoats, no official inquiries. Responsibility for the catastrophe would never be assigned. For a more detailed examination of these crucial events, see Bartsch,
December 8, 1941
, 410–24, and Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 88–90.

2. A LONG WAR

PAGE

22
“No time to falter or catch”:
Henry Lee, “Abucay Withdrawal (Pilar Bagac Road),”
Nothing
but Praise
, 15.

22
McCoy had graduated from Annapolis:
Col. Jack Hawkins, USMC (Ret.), author’s interview.

22
Through orders and scuttlebutt:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 161.

22
With no air force, no navy:
Ibid., 90–97; MacArthur,
Reminiscences
, 121–26.

23
The landing of Gen. Masaharu Homma’s 14th Army:
Morton,
The Fall of the Philippines
, 98–114.

23
Just barely ahead of them:
Ibid., 165–89; John Toland,
The Rising Sun: The Decline and
Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936–1945
, Volume 1 (New York: Random House, 1970), 314.