JUNE 1945

S

M

T

W

T

F

S

27 28 29 30 31 1 2
3 4 5 6 7 8 9
10 11 12 13 14 15 16
17 18 19 20 21 22 23
24 25 26 27 28 29 30
1 2 3 4 5 6 7
             
17 - 23 JUNE 1945

 

  

17 June 1945

 

 
PHASE X
17 June 1945

"0800 - G Company reinforced expected to Dumaguette in a few days. Will be supplied from Cebu City; looks like a nice deal." 

* * * *

No entry.  "D" Co will not have another entry until 7 July.

"Broke camp and moved out at 0930 hr for Talisay by shuttle movement. Set up camp in large house house 1 mile east of Talisay. Remained in bivouac to 6-20-45."

The short history version says:

"Company moved by truck to Talisay and bivouaced in a hacienda owned by the Sugar Central."   

"D" Co will not have another entry until June 20.

"No entry"

 

È

18 June 1945

 

"Second platoon with outposts in Fabrica left there to patrol Hinyon District SE of Fabrica. Only approach was by railroad. About five miles out, received report from civilians that seven Japs were eating in his home.

Patrol approached house & about 50 feet away were fired on by shotgun. Patrol assaulted house & after fire fight, counted six dead; however, the one that escaped took the shotgun with him."

About this time we were allowed to make some changes in the bridge guards. With all the new replacements the platoons were nearing full strength. The 1st platoon could now handle all the bridges. So Jim Bradley, 2d squad, 1st platoon got to remain on his bridge.

Among the new replacements was 1st Lt Norman Turpin. He had served in Europe for a short time before the war ended there.

   
 

19 June 1945

 

 

"Mixed patrol including Filipino regulars departed Fabrica at 2200 hr to approximately 10 miles SE of Fabrica. Japs told farmers they would surrender to American soldiers but not to civilians. Patrol reached farmer's house before daylight and surrounded the farm house. Farmer met patrol leader & informed him that the Japs had children in the house. The patrol leader elected to wait until daybreak before taking any action. The patrol leader instructed the farmer to tell the Japs to either surrender or release the children. The Japs freed the children & as soon as they cleared the house, opened up with a machine gun and aerial bombs. After the house had been assaulted, patrol found four dead & two wounded Japs. Buried the dead and brought the wounded in as prisoners."

   

There was a gulf between the Filipinos and the Japanese that was as wide a social-racial gulf as I had ever experienced.  The Filipinos, with three centuries of Spanish governance, and forty years of American-based universal public education, regarded themselves as Westerners, Occidentals.  The Japs were deeply offended that anyone who had been given the chance to become  proper Oriental members of the Japanese empire, had rejected that chance. They would teach the Filipinos the same way their own army  taught them everything - by pain and punishment.

Thus it was that the Filipinos had suffered greatly under their conquerors for their continuation  of even the most elementary, innocent western habits.  They had been subjected to beatings, imprisonment, and death for minor social infractions. They had been warned never to shake hands,  for it was Occidental and therefore not Oriental, and it must be prohibited. They were to bow. Violators were in danger of having their hand cut off.

The Filipinos were not without their own pride and prejudices, and the resentment at such treatment cut a deep gulf.  They did not like the Moslem Moros, whom they considered Oriental in origin. They had long been prejudiced against the Chinese, whom they considered shady merchants who bilked them out of their money for shoddy goods.  They had felt the same about the Japanese. I was told about Jap cotton clothing  which would not last much longer than one washing.  Shoddy goods was one thing, but the infliction of a regime that could only be described as evil, was something entirely different.

The Filipinos  saw the common Jap soldier as ill educated peasants,  even by their own standards.  They knew of Japanese soldiers who seized every wrist watch they saw and wore them on their arms, much like badges of superiority -  yet they saw that many of these common soldiers could not tell even tell the time and that none of the watches even ran.   The lessons from even the most inferior Japanese soldiers, accompanied often by a painful beating, buried a deep, violent racial resentment just under the social veneer of their enforced cower.

Thus we were set for a few very interesting confrontations.  While we were at Victorias, I do not recall the date, a large group of women and children who had been with the Japs in the hills surrendered. The women were mostly Filipino women who had married Japanese,  (not all the Japanese had been mean) and the children were mostly half Japanese. There may have even been  a few Japanese women.

We were on our guards due to the Filipinos intense hatred of the Japs, and we feared there might be trouble enroute, especially in Silay, the larger town we, had to pass through.  The women and children were packed into a deuce and a half truck.  Lt. Bailey told me to take a jeep with a .50 calibre pedestal mount machine gun, several men, and "get the truck through safely."

Sure enough, word of our coming had preceded us, and a large crowd had gathered in Silay, blocking the highway. We were moving at a pretty good clip, and I had no intention of stopping. I told the gunner to fire a warning burst over the heads of the crowd.  About that time some in the crowd started throwing rocks at the truck. The gunner fired a long burst just over the crowd, and they melted away rapidly. We went on to Fabrica without further incident.

We actually felt sorry for our pitiful cargo, Jap or not. The children and their mothers were starving and showed signs of severe malnutrition. An infant or young child with shrivelled, leathery buttocks , with skin covered bones, and large vacant staring eyes is a sad sight to see. We were in no mood to let a mob harm these unfortunate human beings. As for the Japs who had held their own families in the mountains until they were in this condition, we despised them even more. Our men were tough and  we could repay brutality with brutality whenever necessary, but never did we sink to the level of Japanese inhumanity.  To those who might excuse the common Japanese soldier as "only following orders", even when there was no one to force their hands , they treated the weak, the supine and defenceless with unremitting and unforgiving brutality. We knew what we were fighting against. It was evil, and there was no less a word for it.

 

20 June 1945

 

Packed and entrucked and moved to Fabrica, set up camp in buildings owned by Insular Lumber Co. Local patrols by 1st platt. Nil activity."

The short E Company History:

"Company moved by truck to Fabrica at north end of island, and set up camp in houses owned by Insular Lumber Company. We are being held here as security for the lumber mill which is being repaired by engineers."

 

21 June 1945

 

"Local patrols, one squad took mine detectors and cleared Fabrica Air Strip. Password Kelly-Long."

 
 

22 June 1945

 

"Patrols, motorized to Hacienda Canay, 13 Nips reported there. Nips had left for Camp Santiago (15.5-30.1). Returned 1630I. #5 patrol motorized to Tabaro. Found civilians had KIA four Nips with bolos. Nips armed with rifles and H.G. 1 POW brought in by civilians. Password Call-Willing."

 
 

23 June 1945

 

"Motorized and walk patrols. 1 Jap KIA at Mabini (15.5-32.05). Password Long-Island."