Escape From Davao (64 page)

105
The inconsistency:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 80–81; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 7; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Mario Tonel i, author’s interview; Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Richard Gordon, author’s interview.

106
It was so dark:
Mario Tonel i, author’s interview; Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 173–74; Hawkins, film treatment, 97–99; McCoy, ESCAPE, 12–13.

106
The next morning, Hawkins:
Hawkins, film treatment, 100–105; Grashio,
Return to
Freedom
, 81; Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 132–36; Richard Gordon, author’s interview.

108
Twenty-four hours would pass:
McCoy, ESCAPE, 14; Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 136; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 14.

108
After the storm of the preceding week:
Shofner, “Guerril a Diary,” 16–17; Hawkins, film treatment, 108–9; Jack Hawkins,
Never Say Die
(Philadelphia: Dorrance, 1961), 12; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.

109
Steve Mellnik waited:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 175; Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 148; Sam Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 96; Bert Bank, author’s interview.

109
Examining the manifest:
Hawkins, film treatment, 111; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; McCoy and Mel nik,
Ten Escape from Tojo
, 72.

8. THE
ERIE MARU

PAGE

110
“Death is a quiet room”:
Henry Lee, “TO—(CAUSE OF DEATH—

INANITION),”
Nothing but Praise
, 42.

110
They had converged into Cabanatuan:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 96; Hawkins,
Never
Say Die
, 13.

110
Under a steady gray drizzle:
Hawkins, film treatment, 113; 110
The movement was:
Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 116–17.

111
Prodded into the port area:
Grashio, EXPERIENCES, 9.

111
Sam Grashio had not expected:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 97.

111
There were several catches:
Ibid., 97; Mel nik, EXPERIENCES, 7; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 12.

111
The environment belowdecks:
Shofner, “Diary: 1941–1943,” 134.

112
While most prisoners were forced to remain:
Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 20–22; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.

113
The
Erie Maru
certainly:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 176; McCoy, ESCAPE, 15; Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 98.

113
The generous portions:
Hawkins, film treatment, 126.

113
Other than the guards:
The POW was Alan McCracken,
Very Soon Now, Joe
, 39–41.

113
This officer regained use:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 152.

114
The three Marines:
Hawkins, film treatment, 132–35; Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 24; Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 152–53, Grashio,
Return to Freedom,
99.

115
Much to the prisoners’ dismay:
Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Bert Bank, author’s interview; Jack Hawkins, film treatment, 136; Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 176.

116
The announcement came:
Jack Donohoe, author’s interview; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 28.

116
After several hours:
McCoy and Mel nik,
Ten Escape from Tojo
, 73.

116
The light of civilization dimmed:
Hawkins,
Never Say Die,
28–29; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Ed Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 153.

116
A brief pelting of raindrops:
Grashio, EXPERIENCES, 11; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Shofner, “Diary: 1941–1943,” 134; Grashio;
Return to Freedom
, 100; Brig. Gen.

John Hugh McGee, U.S. Army (Ret.)
Rice and Salt: A History of the Defense and Occupation
of Mindanao During World War II
(San Antonio: Naylor, 1962), 72; Hawkins, film treatment, 146–50.

9. A CHRISTMAS DREAM

PAGE

119
“Across one brutal, endless year”:
Lee, “To Our Country (Given to Chaplain Talbot, Christmas, 1942),
Nothing but Praise
, 36.

119
Though more than six months:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 101.

119
Not Maj. Kazuo Maeda:
McCoy and Mel nik,
Ten Escape from Tojo
, 74–75; McCoy, ESCAPE, 15–16, Hawkins, film treatment, 153–55.

119
The welcome:
Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 102; Mel nik,
Philippine Diary,
180; Carl Nordin, author’s interview; Yuki, AFFIDAVIT, 2–3; McCracken,
Very Soon Now, Joe,
45; Betty B. Jones,
The December Ship: A Story of Lt. Col. Arden R. Boellner’s Capture in the
Philippines, Imprisonment, and Death on a World

War II Japanese Hellship
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 1992), 77; Victor Mapes,
The Butchers,
the Baker: The World War II War Memoir of a United States Air Corps Soldier Captured by
the Japanese in the Philippines
(Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2000), 174.

122
Only a man who had been through:
Boelens, “Diary,” 26, 34, 37.

122
The benefits of hewing: A Brief History of the Philippine Prison System
, Republic of the Philippines, Department of Justice, Bureau of Corrections, 19; Ernesto Corcino, author’s interview; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview.

123
Much of the colony’s substantial acreage:
Heisinger,
Father Found
, 314; Austin RECORD OF EVENTS AS A JAPANESE PRISONER OF WAR: 6 May, 1942 to 4 April, 1943, ENCLOSURE “A,” MCHC, 7; Ernesto Corcino, author’s interview; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; Carl Nordin,
We Were Next to Nothing: An American POW’s
Account of Japanese Prison Camps and Deliverance in World War II
(Jefferson, NC, McFarland, 1997), 74; Knox,
Death March
, 251.

123
The war, however, brought about:
Ernesto Corcino, author’s interview; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; Juan Acenas,
Silver Jubilee Book—1957
, Philippines Bureau of Corrections, 32–33;
A Brief History of the Philippine Prison System
, 20.

123
Forcing POWs to labor: Record of Proceedings of the International Military
Tribunal for the Far East, 1946–1948
(The Tribunal, 1948), 73, 1076–77.

124
There was perhaps no better place:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 176.

124
And yet, despite Dapecol’s seclusion:
Hawkins, film treatment, 151–52, McGee,
Rice and
Salt
, 73.

124
Dapecol was an open:
Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 167–69; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; Nordin,
We Were Next to Nothing
, 75.

125
Conditions were spartan:
Grashio, EXPERIENCES, 11; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; McGee,
Rice and Salt
, 72; Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 33–34.

125
“How ya doin?”:
Hawkins, film treatment, 156–58.

126
Before dawn, brassy bugle calls:
Ibid., 158–59; McCoy, ESCAPE, 16; Dyess, EXPERIENCES, 12.

126
Once a detail reached:
Shofner, Smal wood interview; Shofner, “Guerril a Diary,” 19; McCoy, ESCAPE, 16; Mel nik, EXPERIENCES, 8; McGee,
Rice and Salt
, 80; Hawkins, film treatment, 158–61; Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Jones,
The December Ship
, 79; Knox,
Death March
, 253–60.

127
Just beyond Mactan:
Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 36–39, Jack Hawkins, author’s interview.

127
The prisoners, in turn, exploited:
Hawkins, film treatment, 162–66.

128
Relationships with the Filipinos:
McCracken,
Very Soon Now, Joe
, 50, Dyess,
The Dyess
Story
, 156–57.

128
Though all civilians:
Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview, McGee,
Rice and Salt
, 83.

128
Not all of the aid:
Hawkins, film treatment, 178–79.

129
Their itinerant labors:
John J. Morrett,
Soldier-Priest
(Roswel , GA: Old Rugged Cross Press, 1993), 80–82.

129
The prisoners rarely saw Major Maeda:
Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Statement of Cpl. Michael B. Scopa, Records of Al ied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, Prisoner of War File, RG 331, Box 1104, PERSONAL DATA SHEET RE

ACCUSED, K. Maeda, Case Docket 232, Records of Al ied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, NARA, RG 331, Box 9696; AFFIDAVIT of Austin J. Montgomery, Lt. Col, QMC: Names, descriptions, and personal history of the Japanese Staff at Davao Penal Colony, P.I., from 10 December 1942 until 3 June 1944, Records of Al ied Operational and Occupation Headquarters, World War II, NARA, RG 331, Box 1911, 1; Carl Nordin, author’s interview; Statement of Sgt. Robert J. Endres, World War II, NARA, Prisoner of War File, RG 331, Box 1891.

129
Maeda’s nefarious subordinate, Hozumi:
McCoy and Mel nik,
Ten Escape from Tojo
, 76; Hawkins,
Never Say Die
, 14; Grashio,
Return to Freedom
, 104–5; Heisinger,
Father Found
, 324.

129
Some Formosans shared:
Hawkins, film treatment, 175–77; La Forte et al.,
With Only the
Will to Live
, 53; Heisinger,
Father Found
, 324.

130
The only way the prisoners:
McCoy and Mel nik,
Ten Escape from Tojo
, 76; McGee,
Rice
and Salt
, 87–88; Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 165; AFFIDAVIT of Austin J. Montgomery, NARA, RG 331, Box 1911, 1–8; Carl Nordin, author’s interview; Nordin,
We Were Next to Nothing
, 78.

130
But the guards:
Dyess,
The Dyess Story
, 156; Heisinger,
Father Found
, 356; McCracken,
Very Soon Now, Joe
, 46–47.

131
To put their consumption:
Daws,
Prisoners of the Japanese
, 111; Shiraji (Lt), 1945–1947, NARA, P-201, Perpetrators and Suspected War Criminals, RG 331, Box 1083.

131
They had lived with hunger:
McGee,
Rice and Salt
, 77; Bank,
Return from the Living
Dead
, 72–73.

131
As the battle of nutritional attrition:
Mel nik, EXPERIENCES, 8; Davao Penal Colony, Records of the Office of the Provost Marshal General, American Prisoner of War Information Bureau (ca. 1942—09/18/1947), NARA, RG 389, Box 2135, 112.

131
Unsanitary living conditions:
Nordin,
We Were Next to Nothing
, 81; McCoy and Mel nik,
Ten Escape from Tojo
, 77; Mario Tonel i, author’s interview.

131
Some men awoke to find:
Bert Bank, author’s interview; Bank,
Return from the Living
Dead
, 75–76; La Forte et al.,
With Only the Will to Live
, 182–83; Davao Penal Colony, NARA, RG 389, Box 2135, 115.

132
Such a policy looked to spell:
Bert Bank, author’s interview; McCracken,
Very Soon Now,
Joe
, 50–51; Knox,
Death March
, 262.

132
Melvyn McCoy angrily plunged:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 180–82.

133
It would not take long:
Ibid., 183–84.

134
Getting close to Abrina:
Ibid., 184.

134
In reality, the fifty-five-year-old Abrina:
E-mail correspondence from Angelica Abrina to the author, January 12 and January 15, 2007; Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 184.

134
Each day brought McCoy: Mellnik, Philippine Diary,
185.

135
One morning after the rice harvest:
Ibid., 186–89.

136
This time, it was Paul Marshall:
Ibid., 190.

136
It began on Corregidor:
Paul Marshal , author’s interview; Robert Spielman, author’s interview.

136
Case in point:
Paul Marshal , Smal wood interview; Paul Marshal , author’s interview.

137
A static life was no life:
Paul Marshal , Smal wood interview.

137
Bob Spielman had enlisted:
Robert Spielman, Smal wood interview.

138
In Manila, while working:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 24; Paul Marshal , Smal wood interview.

138
In Cabanatuan, when:
Paul Marshal , author’s interview.

138
Though no stranger to rackets:
Robert Spielman, Smal wood interview.

139
After the brief reunion:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 190–91.

139
“You can trust Bob and Paul”:
Ibid., 191–92.

139
They practiced their roles:
Ibid., 192–93.

140
Unlike superintendent Pascual Robin:
McCoy, ESCAPE, 18; Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 193–94.

140
Back in the compound:
Mel nik,
Philippine Diary
, 194–95.

141
To celebrate the Christmas season:
Jack Hawkins, author’s interview; Hawkins, film treatment, 192–97; Fely Yap, author’s interview; Fé Campo, author’s interview; McCracken,
Very Soon Now, Joe
, 53–54.

142
“The difference between friend and foe:”
Maria Virginia Yap Morales,
Diary of the War:
WWII Memoirs of Lt. Col. Anastacio Campo
(Manila, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila Press, 2006), 120; Fely Yap, author’s interview.