|
Philippines - 1939 to 1945
E. D. Winstead - Fall 1994
Manuscript/Transcript of speech given probably to a local organization, such as the American Legion (of which he was a member) in Wilson, N. C.
I consider Treaties very dangerous, and should be used sparingly, if at all. Treaties are the supreme law and take precedent even over our constitution; a fact which is often ignored in our zeal to solve problems by treaty. Actions and especially treaties have very far reaching consequences many of which are unexpected. I did not surrender - I was surrendered; so the decision "to surrender or continue to the ultimate end" was made for me. Even now, I am not sure that I would have surrendered - and of course, my being here to talk to you is the result of someone else's decision. I was a victim - in many ways; a victim of the popular philosophy of national isolationism, the reluctance of the American people to fund adequately the National Defense, the weak, and misguided political regime of President Harding, and the Arms Limitation Treaty of 1921-22.
At the end of World War I, disarmament was a problem that desperately needed attention. The aggressiveness of Japan and its demands on China in 1915 alarmed many Americans and contributed to public agitation in America and brought about the headline-making Washington Disarmament Conference of 1921-22. Major powers agreed to curtail naval construction, outlaw poison gas, restrict submarine attack on merchantmen, and respect the integrity of China. The treaty scaled-down navies of America and Britain with Japan on the small end of a 5-5-3 ratio on Battleship tonnage. To placate the sensitive Japanese ambassador, the British and Americans both agreed, as an important concession, not to build additional fortifications in certain of their Far Eastern outposts, including the Philippines. And I was a victim of the Treaty, twenty years later, and I might add, due to my assignment to the Ordnance, an indirect beneficiary of the Treaty.
The Kellogg-Briand Pact or Treaty of 1928 which was signed by sixty-two nations "outlawed war as an instrument of national policy but still permitted a defensive war. Any aggressor can rig up the excuse of self-defense. Lulled into a false sense of security, imbued by an isolationist philosophy and restrained by a global depression, we and the League of Nations did nothing but bluster when Japan overran Manchuria, invaded China and sank an American Gunboat. In a broad sense World War II was born in the Far East with the Japanese aggressiveness and the lack of courage of the League of Nations and the United States to act.
Today we are "led" by a President of dubious character, one who has publicly stated a loathing for the military, who is inept in Foreign Affairs, and who has demonstrated his inability to select a knowledgeable and effective cabinet and staff. Current misguided decimation of the military will come back to haunt us and create other "victims" as surely as the Limitation of Arms Treaty of 1921-22.
On December 7, 1941 when the news announced that Pearl Harbor in Hawaii had been bombed, there were many people who did not know where Pearl Harbor was and many who did not know the location of Hawaii; even fewer people knew the location of Corregidor and the Philippine Islands. They were in fact, as the popular song goes - "Far Away Places With Strange Sounding Names." Actually, the Philippines are made up of about 7100 Islands, about 40% of which are named and only about 730 are inhabited; with a population of about 50 Million who have about 70 different dialects and languages. Most of the people live on eleven of the largest islands. The two largest islands are Luzon and Mindanao. The Philippines cover about 116,000 sq. miles which makes it slightly larger than the State of Nevada. The Philippines (Manila) are located approximately 5000 miles west of Hawaii, 1800 miles south of Tokyo, Japan and about 2000 miles north of Darwin, Australia. So much for the geography lesson.
Jo and I sailed from San Francisco, California for the Philippines in May 1939. We stopped overnight in Hawaii, and were scheduled for a brief stop in Guam, but going into the harbor at Guam the ship hit a reef and it took four days to get the ship off the reef. We reached Manila a little late but none the worst for wear.
Jo and I spent about two years on Corregidor. The duty was pleasant and the living gracious. But it came to an abrupt end when the dependents were ordered home. Jo left Manila on 6 May 1941 for New York by way of Hawaii and Panama and spent 36 days en route. I'm glad that Jo and the baby (3 months old) got out, but I resented then, and still do, having international politics played with my family. The war started on 7 December 1941 (8 December in the Philippines) and it was mostly downhill from there. I did manage to send a few letters to Jo during the war. Each time a Submarine put into Corregidor with supplies, I sent a letter to Jo. The only time I missed sending a letter was when General MacArthur left Corregidor 11 March 1942 on a PT Boat. His departure was a very top secret move. I could not very well give Mrs. MacArthur a letter and ask that she mail it when she arrived in Australia. The last letter that I sent to Jo during the war left Corregidor on 3 May 1942, just 3 days before the surrender.
The American Forces on Bataan surrendered on 9 April 1942 and the horror stories which you have heard are true. It is impossible to collect accurate numbers. General King surrendered about 76000 men, including 12000 Americans. Some escaped to Corregidor; some into the jungle. Other statistics give more "round" number estimates as 70000 captives starting the March to prison camps, 54000 of whom reached Camp O'Donnell. About 10000 died on the march, about 2500 of whom were Americans. Death along the march was the result of sickness, the inability to march 90 miles without food or water, beatings and executions. The Japanese did nothing to curb the brutality of their own soldiers. They were allowed to run amok. The Japanese soldiers were allowed to execute those in the march with impunity. It takes a very "brave" soldier to shoot or bayonet a defenseless prisoner - sarcasm intended. But some captives did make it to the camp where the conditions were very little better. Two water spigots for 54000 men. The burial details were busy with 75-100 burials each day.
About three weeks later, Corregidor fell. With the surrender on 6 May 1942 (one year after Jo was evacuated) we were herded into a small area and our "host" made no effort to supply any of the basic requirements - such as food. We were CAPTIVES and our living or dying were subject to the whims of individual Japanese soldiers with no accounting by them to anyone. On or about 23 May 1942 we were loaded onto ships anchored on the southside of Corregidor, sailed to Manila, off loaded onto landing barges and summarily dumped into waist-deep water just off Dewey Blvd. and we walked to Bilibid Prison - some five miles or so. After a very short stay in Bilibid, I took the train ride to Cabanatuan. We had 120 prisoners packed into a narrow gage rail box car which would be considered crowded with 40. At the town of Cabanatuan, we camped in a school yard and walked to the prison camp - about 15 miles - the next day. It soon became evident that I had not packed judiciously for the trip. I had no mosquito net, limited bedding and clothing.
After about a week at the camp I was shipped back to Manila and subjected to questioning by the Japanese Intelligence who were trying to collect evidence that we had violated the 1921-22 Limitations of Arms Treaty. I was shipped back to Corregidor and there the same line of questioning continued by a different group. At the end of the questioning, I remained on Corregidor as part of a salvage detail. Earlier I mentioned that in addition to my being a victim of the 1921-22 Treaty, I was in some respects a beneficiary. I was selected to be questioned because of my knowledge of the Ammunitions on Corregidor and remained on Corregidor for about 6 months. We were treated better on Corregidor than some prisoners on other work details and in addition, we continued to "find" caches of food and clothing which kept us in much better condition than most other prisoners. While 50 to 75 prisoners were dying every day at the Cabanatuan Prison Camp, we continued in relatively good physical condition.
On Corregidor I was directed to count, or to take an inventory of the ammunition on Corregidor. I could have completed a list at one sitting, but if the Japanese wanted me to count it, that was one way of passing time - and gave me unlimited access to the island. I was given a card which in effect was a pass to any place on the island and stated that I was on duty, without a guard, for the Japanese. The freedom of movement offered many opportunities for finding some caches of food, clean new clothes (I did no laundry until I went back to Cabanatuan) and to spot and know the location of weapons.
To draw a verbal picture of the daily existence or routine as a POW is difficult since the actions, reactions and emotions due to the situation would vary with each individual and the camp. The Japanese guards were a very real and present danger. To me, it was psychological warfare, boredom and planning, both for the immediate and future. There are many stories such as my convincing a Japanese guard to take me by boat down the coast to a barrio market to buy food. He did not know that I was using contraband Filipino silver pesos. There are other stories such as our totally dismantling a 60 inch searchlight, destroying good ammunition, my delivering a 45 caliber automatic pistol to a fellow prisoner, sabotaging the guard's radio and arranging a near boiling bath for the Japanese guard. I refused to take the TNT out of 155mm artillery shells and the explosive "D" out of the heavier shells, which is a relatively simple job. They wanted the steel shipped to Japan but without the explosive. I refused, and was sent back to Cabanatuan. I spent 1943 and until about November 1944 at Cabanatuan. In September 1944, it was a welcomed and glorious sight to see US Carrier Based planes come within sight of the camp on their way to bomb the Japanese ships in Manila harbor. The Japanese redoubled their efforts to get all POWs out of the Philippines and to Japan to be used as slave labor and really it was a "China Sea Death Cruise" on the Hell Ships.
The Japanese moved POWs on unmarked freighters. Beginning in 1944 the freighters were within range of more carrier based planes and more US Submarines. On 7 September 1944, the Shinyo Maru was torpedoed off Mindanao with 750 POWs on board and just 82 survived. On 24 October 1944 the Arisan Maru was torpedoed about 200 miles off the southeast China coast. Of the 1790 POWs on board, 5 reached shore and were rescued by the Chinese. On 15 December 1944 the Oryoku Maru was bombed in Subic Bay. Of the 1619 POWs on board those who survived were transhipped on the Enoura Maru on 28 December 1944 en route to Formosa. Many died en route from wounds, exposure, and other causes. On 9 January 1945 this ship was bombed in the harbor at Takao, Formosa and many more American POWs were killed and wounded. The Brazil Maru left Formosa on 12 January 1945 and reached Japan without further incident, but many prisoners died en route from wounds, exposure, and disease. The ship reached Japan 30 January 1945 and many of its prisoners died soon thereafter in prison camps. From September 1944 to January 1945 more than 4100 POWs were shipped from the Philippines and only about 350 survived the trip.
I was scheduled to sail on the Oryoku Maru on 15 December but came down with dysentery and was placed in isolation and taken off the manifest. Otherwise, I could have been a statistic of the Hell ships. As an interesting footnote toward the propensity for rewriting history, the curatorial staff of the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum proposed textual and visual thrust for the B-29 Enola Gay display that portrayed the American Veteran as "racist, fighting a war of vengeance" while the "Japanese were defending their unique culture against Western imperialism." The Smithsonian's NASM staff in its zeal to produce a politically correct script came across as misguided and ignorant of history. The factual story of the American POW of the Japanese should be a required study course for the NASM Staff.
The rescue from Bilibid is history. I was the recipient of many "breaks" or good fortune such as good military assignments prior to the war as well as being fortunate in being assigned to the camp on Corregidor for about 6 or 7 months by the Japanese; and even getting sick at the right time. The question often arises "Just how did you survive for that long?" And believe me, a thousand plus days as a POW is indeed a long time. The answer is that you live "one day at a time." A sense of humor and a degree of optimism help. We often talked of just how many of us would survive. My stock comment was that a dozen would survive - I just did not know who the other eleven were going to be. But I had more than that going for me. I did survive - and I think with integrity and honor. Two very important reasons - One of those was having a very lovely and loving wife to return to, and at that time, one child, and the other contributing factor was my absolute faith in my government and a belief that my government would do whatever it took to liberate me. I knew that the American troops would return to the Islands - I did not know whether or not I would be there alive to greet them. But the fact that I knew that they would come gave me hope which contributed to my survival. My love of family is intact, but my faith in my government has suffered some severe setbacks. I feel that if I were a POW today, my government would abandon me if it were politically expedient to do so. At heart I am still an optimist, but the actions of my government since 1950 convince me that this country which I love - and would gladly serve again if called upon, either in or out of uniform, - will not guarantee to me the protection which I think is due to any American citizen overseas.
It is easy for me to get involved in "Japanese Bashing." I trust none of them. In spite of General MacArthur's success in rebuilding and reshaping Japanese government, economics, and culture, I doubt that it is possible to change the basic character and culture of a nation in one generation. I condemn and do not forgive them for their behavior patterns after the surrender of the US forces in the Philippines. The official position of the Japanese government for treatment of POWs was one of slave labor, starvation, barbarism, sadism, and annihilation when expedient. What you have read and heard of the horror of the Bataan Death March in 1942, the Hell ships of 1944-45, and the massacre of 150 American POWs in Palawan, PI by gasoline fire and machine gun, are true and gruesome. The Pacific Ex-POW is truly an endangered species. Of the 27,465 Americans captured, only 9,167 or 33.4% were alive as of 1 January 1988 - that is almost 7 years ago. The number is much smaller as of today.
But let us end on a happier note. On Saturday, 31 March 1945 it was great to return to Wilson. I was honored with a band, a parade, greeted by a big crowd of friends in front of the Wilson County Court House with Lt. Col. J. J. Kruzee representing Seymour Johnson, a fly over of fighter aircraft and L. Y. (Stag) Ballentine, the Lieutenant Governor of North Carolina in attendance, and all of the festivities being broadcast over WGTM with Clint Farris as Master of Ceremonies. And I still have the "Key to the Heart of Wilson" which was given to me during the ceremonies by Mayor J. M. Fitzgerald.
Retyped by son Ray L. Winstead from original manuscript October 9, 2017.
Back to EDW's Autobiographical Narrative Contents Page
Back to Dr. Ray Winstead's Front Page