Appendix 2 - General Wainwright's Appeal

Appendix 2

General Wainwright's Appeal

This is General Wainwright speaking . . . General Wainwright is speaking. Message for General William F. Sharp, commanding Mindanao and Visayan forces . . . repeat . . . message for General Sharp commanding Visayan and Mindanao forces . . . By virtue of the authority vested in me by the President of the United States, I, as Commanding General of the United States forces in the Philippine Islands, hereby resume direct command of Major General Sharp, Commander of the Visayan and Mindanao force and of all other troops under his command. I repeat . . . For General Sharp. By virtue of the authority vested in me by the President of the United States, I, as Commanding General of the United States forces in the Philippine Islands, hereby resume command of Major General Sharp, Commander of the Visayan and Mindanao force and of all other troops under his command.

Further message for General Sharp . . . the following is the text of a letter which has been or will be delivered to you by a member of my staff . . . this letter has been or will be delivered to you by a member of my staff . Subject—Surrender . . . To Major General William F. Sharp, Jr., commanding the Visayan and Mindanao force . . . To put a stop to further useless sacrifice of human life on the fortified islands, on May 6 I tendered to Lieutenant-General Homma, Commander-in-Chief of the Imperial Japanese Forces in the Philippines, the surrender of the four harbor ports of Manila Bay. General Homma declined to accept my surrender unless it included the forces under your command. It became apparent that the garrison of these forts would be eventually destroyed by aerial and artillery bombardment and by infantry supported by tanks which had overwhelmed Corregidor. After leaving General Homma with no agreement between us, I decided to accept in the name of humanity his proposal and tendered at midnight, night 6-7 May, 1942, to the senior Japanese officer on Corregidor the formal surrender of all American and Philippine Army troops on the Philippine Islands. You will, therefore, be guided accordingly and will . . . repeat . . . will surrender all troops tinder your command, both in the Visayan islands and Mindanao to the proper Japanese officer. This decision on my part you will realize was forced on me by means entirely beyond my control.

Colonel Jesse T. Pressig, General Staff Corps, my Assistant Chief-of-Staff, General Beebe, will or has delivered this to you . . . who who will or has . . . who will or has delivered this to you, is fully empowered to act for me. You are hereby ordered by me as the senior American Army officer in the Philippine Islands to scrupulously carry out the provisions of this letter as well as such additional instructions as this staff officer may give you in my name. You will repeat the complete text of this letter and of such other instructions as Colonel Pressig may give you by radio to General McArthur. Let me emphasize that there must be on your part no thought whatever of disregarding these instructions ... Failure to fully and honestly carry them out can have only the most disastrous results.

Appendix 3

◄ READ ON ►

Return to Corregidor Under Siege Page