They Never Surrendered: A True Story of Resistance in World War II

350 Pages·1982·18.201 MB·English

by  Jesus A. Villamor, Gerald S. Snyder

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ATRUE STORY OF RESISTANCE IN WORLD WAR II
By Col. JESUS A. VILLAMOR
Cux> •
As told to Gerald S. Snyder
With an introduction by JOHN TOLAND
PUBLISHED BY
VERA-REYES, INC.
Quezon City, Philippines
NAT/OA'AL H/ST0R/EA1
W/Tl/n
LIBRARY
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Cover Design: Nik Ricio Design Studio
Photography: Nelson Rivera
Filmset and Printed: Vera-Reyes, Inc.
©Copyright 1982
All rights reserved No part of this book
may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval
system or transmitted in any form or by
any means without prior permission of the
author and publishers.
In tribute to those who never surrendered
>•
“The splendid aid we are receiving from guerrilla units throughout the
immediate objective area and adjacent islands causes me. . . to pay public
tribute to those great patriots both Filipino and American who. . . never
surrendered, who escaped from prison camps, or who were sent in to carry
out specific missions. . . Their names and their deeds shall ever be
enshrined in the hearts of our two peoples in whose darkest hours they have
waged relentless war against the forces of evil that sought, through ruthless
brutality, the enslavement of the Filipino people.”
- Douglas MacArthur
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book could not have been written without the encouragement and
support of Ferdinand E. Marcos, President of the Philippines; RobertoS.
Benedicto, former Philippine Ambassador to Japan; Victorino Yenko,
and Presidential Assistant Ileana A. Maramag. For their unstinting help
and steadfast faith, 1 will always be grateful.
For their generous financial assistance, without which this book also
could not have been written, I wish to thank, in addition to President
Marcos and Ambassador Benedicto: Elizalde and Company, Hans Men-
zi, Andres Soriano, Jr., and the late Gloria B. Tuason Wardyga.
Throughout the many years during which Colonel Villamor struggled, on
and off, to write this book, these friends provided a helping hand
whenever he needed it.
To John Toland, my dear friend and friend of Colonel Villamor, I
owe a special debt for inspiration and guidance, and for his poignant
Introduction.
I would like to express my appreciation to Generals Royal Reynolds,
Jr., and Herbert M. Jones, (Ret.) of the United States Army. In 1958 they
released the more than 2,000 pages of declassified messages which, along
with Colonel Villamor's rough, unfinished manuscript, formed the main
source of material for this book.
For the loan of their many books on the Philippines during World
War II, which contributed much background material, I wish to thank
Harriet Foy and James S. Wingo.
My special thanks go to Robert Ross Smith, Office of the Chief of
Military History, Washington, D. C., for giving his time in reading the
manuscript, and for his valuable criticism.
Assistance in my researching was provided by: Mae Yaplee of the
Library of Congress; Dr. Donn V. Hart, Director, Center for Southeast
Asian Studies, Northern Illinois University, de Kalb, Illinois; Captain
Robert H. Alexander, USN (Ret.), director of the MacArthur Memorial,
Norfolk, Virginia; the Washington National Records Center, Suitland,
Maryland; the National Archives, Washington, D. C.; the Albert F.
Simpson Historical Research Center of the Air University, Maxwell Air
Force Base, Alabama; the Office of Information, Department of the
Navy, Washington, D. C.; the Philippine National Library; and Emily
Ann Espiritu of the cultural office, Philippine Embassy, Washington, D.C.
This book has benefited much from interviews provided by Planet
Party members Lieutenant Commander Patricio Jorge and Rodolfo
Ignacio; Allied Intelligence Bureau member Enrique Torres, Jr.; Gene­
rals RaymundoTerruel and Jesus Z. Singson; Colonels Edmundo Navar-
viii
ro, Mariano Eraha, and the late Colonel Jose Sanson; and members of the
Sixth Pursuit Squadron Geronimo Aclan, Godofredo Juliano, Bartolome
Cabangbang and Urbano Caldoza.
I am grateful to Glen A. Gilbert, Robert T. Murphy, and Burton B.
Fagan for their advice; to Ylda and David Novik, Thais and George
Fisher, Ben Yaplee, Martha Gilbert, and Barbara and Harris Linder for
their warm interest; and to many others, including Celso Carunungan,
Mariano Yenko, Alejandro Melchor, Manuel J. C. Reyes, Major General
Edward Lansdale, Philippine Ambassador to the United States Eduardo
Z. Romualdez, Janet Patterson. Petra and Morton Netzorg, Col. Charles
Bohannan, Ruth Ober, Allen Linder, and all the others whom I may have
inadvertently left out but without whose help and moral support this job
would have been made more difficult.
For permission to use excerpts of copyrighted material I wish to
acknowledge the following:
Adaptation, with the permission of the publisher, of an
excerpt from pages 121-122 of the book ALLIED INTEL­
LIGENCE BUREAU, by Colonel Allison Ind —
Copyright(c) 1958 by Colonel Allison Ind; published by
David McKay Co., Inc.
Excerpt from Allison Ind’s BATAAN; THE JUDG­
MENT SEAT. Reprinted with the permission of his widow,
Mrs. Allison Ind.
Excerpt from the book REMINISCENCES, by General
of the Army Douglas MacArthur, published by McGraw-Hill
Book Co., (c) 1964 Time Inc. Reprinted with permission.
Pictures taken from Life Magazine, February 16, 1942
issue, showing Roll of Honor, Reprinted with the permission
of the publisher. Time, Inc.
Excerpt from a Drew Pearson “Merry-Go-Round” col­
umn of March 8, 1943. Reprinted with permission of North
American Alliance, Inc., February 11, 1976.
I thank Gerald S. Snyder for writing this story about those who never
surrendered, just the way I’m sure Colonel Villamor would have wanted
it written.
Finally, I am particularly grateful to my children, Rita, Diana, and
Antonio who, through the years since their father’s death, have shared
with me the commitment that this story, so close to his heart, be finished
and put into print.
Manette Manalang Villamor
ix

TABLE OF CONTENTS
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii
INTRODUCTION by John Toland xiii
PART ONE — RETURN
Chapter 1 Journey to Neptune 1
Chapter 2 “Zeros. . . Zeros. . . Zeros” 20
Chapter 3 The Battling Bastards 44
PART TWO — THE CAULDRON
Chapter 4 Contact! 73
Chapter 5 The Gathering of Chieftains . 100
Chapter 6 Morgan, Andrews, “Gatbiala” 130
Photographs 156
Chapter 7 Storm Over Mars 177
PART THREE — AGAINST ALL ODDS
Chapter 8 Quezon 203
Chapter 9 Death of the Planet Party 231
Chapter 10 Journey to Freedom .... 254
EPILOGUE 282
BIBLIOGRAPHY 295
INDEX 298
CHRONOLOGY INDEX 332