Behind Japanese Lines (45 page)

7. Panlilio,
The Crucible
, pp. 249-54, 285; Ingham,
Rendezvous by Submarine
, p. 15.

8. Panlilio,
The Crucible
, p. 165.

9. Whitney himself describes this evolution in considerable detail in
MacArthur
, pp. 91, 132-43, 146-47. That he does not exaggerate his own role is indicated by similar though briefer descriptions by James,
The Years of MacArthur
, pp. 509-10; and Beth Day,
The Philippines
, p. 104. Neither writer is a partisan of Whitney. Willoughby,
Guerrilla Resistance Movement
, p. 194, and Robert Ross-Smith,
Triumph in the Philippines
, pp. 26-27, also describe Whitney's accomplishments.

10. Blackburn describes all the trouble early guerrillas had trying to rig up some kind of transmitter that would work even part of the time. Their single most persistent problem was keeping batteries charged. Harkins,
Blackburn's Headhunters
, pp. 142-45, 151-63, 170-71.

11. Blackburn says this was a misapprehension that arose, possibly, from the consideration that most of Volckmann's guerrillas were not former soldiers but ex-stevedores, litter bearers, guards, informers, and supply carriers, all men who might routinely carry bolos. Harkins,
Blackburn's Headhunters
, p. 251. Blackburn also says that, when Volckmann first tried to organize all the north Luzon guerrillas under his command in November 1943, the move was welcomed by all save Capt. Ralph Praeger (ibid., p. 189). Since Lapham did resist such an effort, and since Praeger had been captured by the Japanese in August 1943, Blackburn's memory is clearly faulty on this point. It is yet another example of how difficult it is even to reconstruct events accurately in the wartime Philippines, much less interpret everyone's actions and motives fairly.

12. Baclagon,
Philippine Campaigns
, p. 237.

13. Donald Blackburn, personal communication to the author (B.N.).

14. Villamor,
They Never Surrendered
, p. 183.

15. Harkins,
Blackburn's Headhunters
, pp. 1-15.

16. Ibid., pp. 166-68, 172.

17. Volckmann,
We Remained
, p. 118.

18.
Intelligence Activities
, appendix 5.

19. Whitney,
MacArthur
, p. 147.

20. Arnold,
A Rock and a Fortress
, pp. 194-95.

21. Wolfert,
American Guerrilla
, p. 278.

22. Activities of this sort were undertaken at the same time by Volckmann's guerrillas farther to the north. See Volckmann,
We Remained
, pp. 168-75; Whitney,
MacArthur
, pp. 183-84.

23. Conner, “We Fought Fear,” p. 86; Frank Gyovai, personal communication to the author (B.N.); Panlilio,
The Crucible
, pp. 258-59.

1. Potter,
Life and Death
, describes Yamashita's plans. See especially pp. 61, 69, 106, 126, 129, 141.

2.
Intelligence Activities
, no page given.

3. Conner acknowledged similar awkwardness on both sides after he and several of his men ran into American soldiers after three years in the jungle. “We Fought Fear,” p. 87.

4. Samuel Grashio experienced comparable inability to write to his wife in circumstances not unlike mine. Grashio and Norling,
Return to Freedom
, p. 140.

5. A lengthy description of plans for liberating the prisoners, and all the problems and misgivings involved, are in Forrest Bryant Johnson,
Hour of Redemption
, especially pp. 139-40, 163, 208-10, 227, 255-56.

6. Ibid., p. 346.

7. Albert C. Hendrickson, personal communication to the author (B.N.).

8. James,
The Years of MacArthur
, pp. 642-43.

9. That I am not exaggerating the contribution of the guerrillas to the success of the raid is indicated by the remark of a Filipino historian: “In this rescue the guerrillas covered themselves with well deserved glory.” Buenafe,
Wartime Philippines
, p. 253.

10. Johnson,
Hour of Redemption
, pp. 210, 337-38.

11. Lapham recalls General Krueger's attitude, typical of so many Americans at all times, that all that mattered was defeating the enemy quickly and that anyone who would fight the Japanese was to be welcomed. Lapham discussed the Huk menace with Philippine President Sergio Osmeña and with Carlos Romulo, but they felt powerless to interfere with Allied military operations. Robert Lapham, personal communication to the author (B.N.).

1. I am grateful to Tom Chengay for writing a moving commendation of me to General MacArthur. Tom stayed in the Philippine army long after the war. I lost contact with him for many years and rediscovered his address only in 1983. I wrote to him then and looked forward keenly to seeing him once more, or at least corresponding with him, only to receive from his wife the disheartening news that he had become completely incapacitated. He died April 17, 1984.

2. One of the lessons the Huks learned from the war was the defensive strength of these mountain fastnesses in northern Luzon. The present (1986) headquarters of the reconstituted Hukbalahap movement is in this wild region.

3. John M. Carlisle,
Red Arrow Men
, pp. 34-35.

4. Carlisle gives vivid descriptions of road construction under these conditions. Ibid., pp. 77-81, 108-11.

5. H. W. Blakeley,
The 32nd Infantry Division in World War II
, p. 248.

6. William de Jarnette Rutherfoord,
165 Days: The 25th Division on Luzon
, p. 137.

7. Ibid., pp. 113-14.

8. Carlisle,
Red Arrow Men
, p. 144. General Blakeley covers the whole subject of combat problems and how they were overcome along the Villa Verde Trail, briefly but capably and in a measured tone, in
The 32nd Division in World War II
, pp. 220-49. Carlisle, a war correspondent for the
Detroit News
, writes in a fashion at once thickly patriotic and reminiscent of the famous war correspondent Ernie Pyle. The 32nd Division is “the best in the
world”; all the officers are fearless and inspire their troops by staying in the front lines; all the enlisted men are “great guys,” well-trained Gary Cooper types, even braver than usual if wounded; they write sticky letters to Super Girls back home; et cetera. Even so, Carlisle provides much specific information about the struggle for north Luzon in the spring of 1945. Rutherfoord's book,
25th Division on Luzon
, is essentially a collection of drawings, accompanied by a brief running commentary, by an infantryman who fought along the Villa Verde Trail. It is both more informative and more analytical than one would expect.

9. Rutherfoord,
25th Division on Luzon
, p. 118.

10. Ross-Smith,
Triumph in the Philippines
, pp. 394, 398, 503-4, 511.

11. An apt characterization by Rutherfoord,
25th Division on Luzon
, p. 106.

12. Though I did not actually see this, Carlisle mentions a number of such instances. See
Red Arrow Men
, pp. 27, 57-60.

13. Rutherfoord,
25th Division on Luzon
, p. 159.

14. As in so many instances during guerrilla life in the Philippines, Donald Blackburn's experiences and thoughts about them were remarkably similar to my own. See Harkins,
Blackburn's Headhunters
, pp. 312-13.

15. On this point Rutherfoord offers one of his typically pithy aphorisms: “You cannot realize the cost of war until you start collecting your own dead.”
25th Division on Luzon
, p. 46.

16. Once more Blackburn was struck by the same thought as I. One day in December 1941 when everything connected with the war was going catastrophically for the Allies, he watched the Japanese cruise in a leisurely, arrogant way along the Luzon coast, and move men and equipment ashore, while planes rose unhurriedly from carriers. “The scene [he said] had a contradictory quality of beauty, the ugly beauty of naval power massed for a death blow.” Harkins,
Blackburn's Headhunters
, p. 19.

1. Volckmann,
We Remained
, p. 226.

2. Liddell Hart,
Strategy
, pp. 379-82.

3. These instances are discussed by Laqueur,
Guerrilla
, pp. 41, 48-49.

4. Ibid., p. 230.

5. Kenworthy,
The Tiger of Malaya
, pp. 20-21. Agoncillo offers some thoughtful estimates of the importance and limitations of the Philippine guerrillas, as seen by a professional historian twenty years after the event.
The Fateful Years
, 2: 760-61, 775-77.

6. Trevor N. Dupuy,
Asian and Axis Resistance Movements
, p. 32.

7. See Ross-Smith,
Triumph in the Philippines
, pp. 421-22, 458-78, 540-78; James,
The Years of MacArthur
, pp. 683-90; Whitney,
MacArthur
, pp. 183-84.

8. Volckmann,
We Remained
, pp. 175-97.

9. Ibid., p. 216.

10. Ross-Smith,
Triumph in the Philippines
, pp. 573-78.

11. James,
The Years of MacArthur
, p. 690.

12. Volckmann,
We Remained
, p. 197.

13. Manchester,
American Caesar
, p. 430.

14. Potter,
Life and Death
, p. 152.

15. Ross-Smith,
Triumph in the Philippines
, pp. 421-22.

16. Whitney,
MacArthur
, p. 184.

17. Rodriguez,
Bad Guerrillas
, names names and specifies offenses. See pp. 115-42, 185.

18. Arnold,
A Rock and a Fortress
, pp. 209-10, 216.

19. Harkins,
Blackburn's Headhunters
, pp. 223-24.

20. Ibid., pp. 178-93.

21. Ibid., pp. 206-7.

22. Ibid., p. 278.

23. Estrada,
Historical Survey
, p. 55.

24. Ibid., p. 50.

25. Such fears were not imaginary. One major kept a diary in which were the names of all those who had harbored him. When the Japanese captured him, they also got the diary and proceeded to kill all the kind-hearted people listed in it. Monaghan,
Under The Red Sun
, p. 142.

26. Leon O. Beck, who travelled about among several guerrilla bands on Luzon, says it was common for guerrilla leaders to keep records but that these were usually buried in bottles to prevent their seizure by possible Japanese raiders. Beck, personal communication to the author (B.N.). Perhaps some others did this, though I doubt it; certainly I (R.H.) never did. Hendrickson says he kept
some
rosters. Albert C. Hendrickson, personal communication to the author (B.N.).

27. For a more detailed consideration of the matter see Estrada,
Historical Survey
, p. 37; and Johnson,
Hour of Redemption
, pp. 350-54.

28. Many a Filipino guerrilla wanted to buy U.S. war bonds with the pittance he was paid intermittently during the war. Ingham,
Rendezvous by Submarine
, p. 170.

29. Leon O. Beck and James P. Boyd, personal communications to the author (B.N.).

30. Robert Lapham, personal communication to the author (B.N.). Things weren't much different elsewhere. War correspondent Clark Lee relates that shortly after the war he asked someone he knew in Bangkok how many Siamese guerrillas there had been. The man answered that he estimated 10,000 at the end of the war but that he expected to see at least 25,000 in a parade the following Tuesday. Lee,
One Last Look Around
, p. 196.

31. Lichauco,
“Dear Mother Putnam,”
pp. 11-12.

32. Ibid., pp. 80-81.

33. These conditions and the circumstances that gave rise to them have been dissected by many writers. The following are a sampling. Lichauco,
“Dear Mother Putnam,”
pp. 11-12, 105, 148, 153, 169-70, 192-94; Day,
The Philippines
, pp. 123, 223-24; Monaghan,
Under the Red Sun
, pp. 271-79; Agoncillo,
The Fateful Years
, 2: 545-91, 759, 853, 886; Castillo and Castillo,
Saga
, pp. 224-26, 298-99; Taylor,
The Philippines and the United States
, pp. 119-20; Eliseo Quirino,
A Day to Remember
, pp. 130-49.

34. Lichauco,
“Dear Mother Putnam,”
p. 23. The passage was written in his diary February 7, 1942.

35. Robert Lapham, personal communication to the author (B.N.). Villamor,
They Never Surrendered
, p. 286, delivers the scathing characterization. Villamor had become acidly anti-American by the time he got around to writing his memoirs, a generation after the war.

36. Molina,
Philippines
, p. 377.

37. Bernardo M. Morada to Ray Hunt, October 14, 1983;
Manila Courier
, August 7, 1983, p. 5.

38. Utinsky,
Miss U.
, p. 92.

Abaya, Hernando J.
Betrayal in the Philippines.
New York: A.A. Wyn, 1946.

Agoncillo, Teodoro A.
The Fateful Years: Japan's Adventure in the Philippines.
2 vols., Quezon City: R.P. Garcia, 1965.

Agoncillo, Teodoro A., and Oscar M. Alfonso.
A Short History of the Filipino People.
Manila: Univ. of the Philippines Press, 1960.

Alip, Eufronio M.
Political and Cultural History of the Philippines.
2 vols. Manila: Alip & Sons, 1958.

Archer, Jules.
The Philippines' Fight for Freedom
. New York: Macmillan, 1970.

Arnold, Robert H.
A Rock and a Fortress
. Sarasota, Fla.: Blue Horizon Press, 1979.

Baclagon, Uldarico S.
Philippine Campaigns
. Manila: Graphic House, 1952.

Bank, Bert.
Back from the Living Dead
. Tuscaloosa, Ala.: privately printed, 1945.

Bertram, James.
Beneath the Shadow
. New York: John Day, 1947.