USAFFE THE LOYAL AMERICANS AND FAITHFUL FILIPINOS A Saga of Atrocities Perpetrated During the Fall of the Philippines, the Bataan Death March, and Japanese Imprisonment and Survival
by
Alvin C. Poweleit, M.D. Major, U.S. Army Medical Corps. (Ret.) CopyrIght 1975
CONTENTS Dedication . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . iii Foreword . . . ... . . .. ............ . . . ... ... .. . . .... ............... iv Author's Note . . .... .............. ........ .... .. ............ . .. . vi
Chapter I Chapter II Chapter III Chapter IV ChapterV Chapter VI ChapterVII Chapter VIII ChapterlX ChapterX Chapter XI
- Maneuvers - Philippines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - War - Invasion - Withdrawal . . . . ........... ... . 15 -Bataan .......... . .... ... .. .. .............. 29 - Death March ................... . . .. .. .. . ... 47 - Camp O 'Donnell ......... ..... ... . . ... ..... 61 - Cabanatuan - Bongabon . . . . ................. 89 - Hell Ships ... . ................ . ... .. ...... . 107 - Japanese Prisoner of War Camps . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 127 - The Palawan Massacre . .... ... . ............. 137 - Tenbatsu (Retribution) . . ..... . ......... ... . . 145 - Provisional Tank Group Defenders of Luzon and Bataan . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 159
Acknowledgments ....... . ....... .. ...... . ... ....... . ..... ... .. 180
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DEDICATED TO THE PROVISIONAL TANK GROUP (United States Army Forces in the Far East) Headquarters and Headquarters Detachment; 192d General Headquarters Tank Battalion (Light); 194th General Headquarters Tank Battalion (Light) (less detachments) 17th Ordnance Company (Armored) To the Tank Officers and enlisted personnel. And to the men and women of the United States and the Philippines, who served our Country. And finally, to the memory of those who have given their lives in their country's defense, so that others may live in Health, Wealth and Luxury.
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FOREWORD On April 9, 1942, Major General Edward P. King, Jr., the American commander on Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines, surrendered 78,000 U.S. and Filipino troops to the Japanese Fourteenth Army. Among the nearly 12,000 Americans in King's command was Dr. Alvin C. Poweleit, a young medical officer serving as Surgeon of the Provisional Tank Group. Like most of his compatriots, Dr. Poweleit had arrived in the Philippines on the eve of war's outbreak, had participated in the difficult and bitter defense of Luzon Island, and was now doomed to nearly three and one-half years of cruel, agonizing captivity. General King's surrender was the inevitable result of years of American unpreparedness and of a sudden attack launched by a ruthless and determined foe. After devastating initial air strikes, Japanese forces had poured ashore on Luzon in December 1941, swiftly captured the capital city of Manila, and forced the American and Filipino defenders back into the mountains and jungles of Bataan Peninsula. By the beginning of April 1942, the weary and battered defenders were on their final defensive line. Starving after three months on half-rations or less, crippled by debilitating disease, and shocked by the strain of combat and the obvious hopelessness of their plight, they were incapable of halting the final Japanese offensive. After days of ceaseless air and artillery bombardment, they succumbed to the crushing force of Japanese tanks and infantry. On April 9, in order to prevent the complete annihilation of his command, General King was forced to surrender unconditionally. The end of the fighting did not, however, bring an end to the suffering of the tenacious Bataan defenders. Instead of finding respite and rehabilitation, the American and Filipino prisoners were assailed, humiliated, denied sustenance and medicine, and in many cases wantonly murdered by their savage captors. Their bitter trek to a POW camp has since become known as the Bataan Death March, a searing tragedy far worse than the harsh military struggle that preceded it. The Death March grew out of a ghastly combination of circumstances: the incredibly poor physical condition of the sick, starving men when they were captured; the disorganized, incompetent, and irresponsible Japanese procedures for taking care of the defeated troops; the cruelty and callousness of the individual Japanese soldier; and the failure of Japanese leadership to ameliorate the plight of the prisoners. The result was a shocking, horrifying, all-but-incredible tragedy. The arrival of the captives at Camp O'Donnell, the former U.S. Army post in central Luzon where the Japanese chose to imprison them, brought to a close the tragic exodus from Bataan. But the ordeal of the stricken men was far from over. The horrors of prison camp were as bitter as those of the Death March, and they would not cease until the final day of liberation in 1945. They, too, were the produce of a harsh alien system that denied POW's the balm of mercy and the charity of forgiveness. iv
Those who survived this bitter experience would live with it always. Even if their bodies managed to recover -- and many did not -- they could never erase from their minds the memory of their long agony. A number of these men have written accounts of memoirs of their captivity. The pages that follow, by Alvin C. Poweleit, are among the most moving I have read. Based on a diary that he wrote during that tragic period -- and that he carefully kept hidden from his captors -- they describe his long odyssey: from the day in December 1940 when he was ordered to active duty, through his service in the Philippines, his survival of the Death March, his years of captivity, his voyage to Taiwan on a Japanese prison ship under attack by American planes, and his final liberation and return home nearly five years later. Dr. Poweleit's diary reveals him as a brave and resourceful man. It is quite clear that his survival -- and that of many sick and wounded men who depended on him -- was the direct result of his foresight, self-discipline, intelligence, and courage. En route to the Philippines he began a study of the Japanese language and of the flora and fauna of the islands. His determined pursuit of this study enabled him to communicate quickly and easily with his captors, and, when combined with his medical knowledge, to supplement his inadequate diet with nourishment from plants and animals. This ability obviously preserved not only his own life but also the lives of many others with whom he served on Bataan and who shared his long imprisonment. During the fight for Luzon, Dr. Poweleit distinguished himself by several acts of bravery. He ,vas the first American medical officer of an armored unit to be cited for heroism in W orld War II. He was also wounded in the course of the retreat to Bataan. Above all, he demonstrated a selfless dedication to duty, a willingness to expose himself to great danger in order to treat the stricken men around him, and a steadfast adherence to the highest tenets of the medical profession. These outstanding qualities, so clearly manifest during the defense of Bataan, were no less obvious during Dr. Poweleit's subsequent years of captivity. Dr. Poweleit's memoir is a moving and dramatic story. His words offer us a sense of biting immediacy. Through them we feel the poignancy of defeat and captivity, the stirring quality of courage under privation and torture, and the fierce emotions of men debased and oppressed but rarely broken. They are a tribute to those who did not survive -- and equally to Alvin Poweleit himself. Stanley L. Falk
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AUTHOR'S NOTE
A friend of mine many times had asked me to write a sketch of my experiences as a Japanese prisoner of war. I finally agreed to do this and began looking over my Diary which I kept when I was on maneuvers with the Army in Louisiana in 1941, during the trip across the Pacific, for the two weeks before the Japanese invasion of the Philippines, during the war, the Bataan Death March, the Prison" Hell Ships", and the Japanese prison camps. I had much difficulty deciphering the coded portion of my notes. In addition, one note pad consisting of some key names and numbers was misplaced. More important to history, dates in my diary sometimes differed with the dates of certain actions reported in other publications. However, my diary was kept from day to day and was based on information provided by Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Wickord and Colonel E.B. Miller, and from memorandums written by General Jonathan Wainwright. Also I kept record of the movements of other officers including General W.E. Brougher, Brigadier General Mateo Capinpin, Brigadier Luther Stevens, Brigadier Clinton A. Pierce, Lieutenant Colonel V.N. Bonnett and Major Arthur Noble. Lieutenant Colonel Wickord gave a very good record of the 192nd Tank Battalion's campaign, part of which I held for a time and later gave to Major Morley during our imprisonment at Camp O'Donnell. Major Morley later lost his life with the sinking of the Oroyko Maru in December, 1944. These campaign notes went down with him. Unless the feats of Colonel E.B. Miller's 194th Tank Battalion strategy in western, middle and south Luzon and Bataan are included, there could not be any real dedication to the Provisional Tank Group, In the fight and retreat, the companies of the 192nd and the 194th battalions were used interchangeably. A chapter will include excerpts of Colonel Miller's book, Bataan Uncensored, graciously permitted by his wife. This report will give the reader a medical man's perspective in contrast to a soldier's view. My wife, Loretta, reviewing the manuscript written from my diary, suggested that it be put in book form. She said that every week we had read about the horrors of Dachau and Buchenwald, but there was so little about the Japanese atrocities against the Filipinos and the Americans--the Death March which took the lives of thousands of Americans and 9,000 Filipinos; Camp O'Donnell where 2,000 Americans and 35,000 Filipinos died; Cabanatuan where another 2,000 Americans died, and the "Hell Ships" that carried human cargo, 5,000 to 6,000 dying or drowning. Or the countless number who died on work details, or were shot making it seem as if Americans were expendable. USAFFE is written as it was taken from the Diary without embellishment or superlatives. Routine or daily routine or humdrum of prison camp life was vi
purposely omitted. Only factual information or incidents which pertained to the personnel of our Provisional Tank Group is included. Certain incidents involving men of our group were deliberately left out because they might prove offensive to survivors. Those diaries were permitted and not confiscated by the Japanese due to a special stamp placed on them at Camp O'Donnell. The Provisional Tank Group, part of the Armored Force, had a rather unique distinction of having four firsts in World War II: Sergeant Z.R. Bardowski - B Company - 192nd Tank Battalion - brought down first Japanese plane at Clark Field, December 8, 1941. Lieutenant William Gentry - C Company - 192nd Tank Battalion, engaged the Japanese Tanks at Baliuag, December 31, 1941. The Americans were victorious. Private Robert Brooks' - D Company - 194th Tank Battalion, killed December 8, 1941 at Clark Field (Brooks Air Strip at Ft. Knox is named in honor of this man). Captain Alvin C. Poweleit, 192nd Tank Battalion Surgeon - first medical officer decorated for rescuing two enlisted men from an overturned Brenn Gun Carrier in the middle of a river.
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. Roderick Hall CoIl. 13878 I 0781.4 .P68 1975 11 E R I TAG E USAFFE. the loyal Americans and faithful Filipinos: a saga I. 1 H K A K Y
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