Escape From Davao (63 page)

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; Mil er,
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, eventual y serving on Bataan in a variety of noncombat capacities such as truck drivers and salvagers. Though citizens of a German protectorate and thus technical y Axis al ies under the auspices of the Tripartite Pact, the Japanese nevertheless confined the Czechs in Camp O’Donnel alongside the surrendered Americans and Filipinos.

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

80
Each night, as the searchlights:
Olson,
O’Donnell
, 95; Mario Tonel i, 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:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 116, 130; 84
Hello, darling:
Letter from Steve Mel nik 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:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 50–51, 3–4.

84
The ship carrying Tekla Mellnick:
Stephen M. Mel nik, “Personal History Info on Stephen M.

Mel nik” (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 Mel nik, Kirkpatrick interview; letter from Steve Mel nik 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, “Guerril a 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 Guerril as” (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 Kel ey, 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.

Mel nik, as told to Lt. Welbourn Kel ey, USNR
Ten Escape from Tojo
(New York: Farrar & Rinehart, 1944), 20–21; Mel nik,
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, “Guerril a 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, Smal wood interview; Whitcomb,
Escape from Corregidor
, 106–13.

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

89
A modern-day Jonah:
Mel nik,
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 Mel nik,
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; Wil iam 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:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary,
167; Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 69; McCoy and Mel nik,
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 Mel nik,
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:
Mel nik,
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; Mel nik,
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:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 170; Shofner, “Guerril a 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 Cowgil , author’s interview; Shofner, “Guerril a Diary,” 24.

99
Their Yankee humor and ingenuity:
Mel nik, 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 Mel nik,
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 Al ied and Operational and Occupation Headquarters, NARA, RG 331, Box 9525, 1; Kempei Yuki, Lt. Kempei Yuki, 1942–1944, Records of Al ied 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. Marcel o, and Richard L. Himmel,
With Only the Will to Live: Accounts of Americans in Japanese Prison
Camps
(Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1994), 21.

102
The guards beat the prisoners:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 79; Bert Bank, author’s interview; Mario Tonel i, 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 Al ied and Operational Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1290; Statement of Sgt.

Joseph R. Stanford, Records of Al ied 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 Al ied 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 Mel nik,
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; Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 172; Hawkins, film treatment, 80; Daws,
Prisoners of the Japanese
, 99–101; Office of the Commander, Nipponese Headquarters, Records of Al ied 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; Mel nik, EXPERIENCES, 4–5; Dobervich, DESCRIPTION, ENCLOSURE “B,” 1–2; Hawkins, film treatment, 79.