Evening star., 1942-11-08
BY CAPTS. WILLIAM LLOYD
OSBORN and DAMON CAUSE as
Told to LEE VAN Alta,
(Sirth Installment of Fourteen. }.

Told to LEE VAN Alta.
(Sirth Installment of Fourteen. J.
fCapt Damon Cause continues
his thrilling Narrative of the part
he played in the escape from the
Jnps. In the preceding INSTALL
, nte1t he told hoU he had eluded
capture on the Batadn Peninsula
and made his escape by sDi,n-
ming through shark infested
Manila Bay, determined to play a
part In the gallant last stand of
!. Corregidor).
, had never been on Corregidor
before. I found it to be natural
fortress about miles long and av-
eraging about l mile in width. 1t
had three defensive positions, called
by Navy terms Topside, Middleside
and Bottomside. The headquarters,
the hospital, the main storehouses
and the bomb shelters were in the
great underground Malinta tunnel,
located near the Middleside sector.
wondered as I walked from
headquarters to my new command
how any island or any group of men
could stand what Corregidor stood
although the worst was yet to come
The island had been bombed and
ehelled until there was nothing left
except skeletons of buildings, twisted
railroad irons and earth which
seemed to have craters literally
miles deep dug into It,
The whole external part of the
island had been burned to charred
mass OF ruin. I was assigned to a
unit, called for code purposes Bat
terry James," which faced Bataan
at distance of about $500 yards
directly across from the north. 1t
was one of the roughest spots on
Corregidor because it was directly
in the line of fire of the artillery
which the Japs had heavily spotted
throughout the Bataan Peninsula.
Lose Two Daily.
There were no tunnels and no
foxholes. What underground cover
there had been had completely dis
appeared under the continuous ar
tfllery onslaughts. Battery James
received three direct hits in one
big dugout during the first week
that I was on Corregidor and 43
men were killed. We lost an aver
age Of two men daily from that one
position, not counting the scores who
were wounded by augmentation
bombs and shells. The Japs had
us spotted and there wasn't much
doubt about that. Their uncanny
precision for hitting us at our most
vulnerable times and points was al
most eerie.
It reminded me of Pvt. Oestricher
In the early days of Bataan. For
example, each morning our battery
cook would light the fires for break
fast at certain hour. Somehow the
Japs discovered the precise minute
that our cook was working over our
makeshift stove. There would be a
roar from Bataan and a hail of
shells would rain down around the
mess kitchen. We lost three cooks
that way and then we learned what
was happening.
Outwitting. Jap Gunners.
During the night we dug a foxhole
about 10 feet from the spot. Next
morning cookie raced over, touched
a match to his fire and ran like
blazes for the protecting hole. He
hit it about the: same time the first
shell whamned down near the mess
kitchen. The barrage continued for
about five minutes and then it sud-
denly stopped. We knew their for
mula then and we knew what ours
should be. We always planned on
that f1ve-minute morning barrage
from then on, and we didn't lose
any more cooks.
Our food on Corregidor was good,
much better than we had on Bataan
because of the vast underground
storerooms. However, the food was
running low and I think every one
on the rock knew it. Down in Bat
terry James we had heard rumors
during my first days on Corregidor
Of supply ship on the way with
food and ammunition. It was due
within a month. About April IS I
ran into a quartermaster officer and
asked him point blank exactly how
much food was left. He gave me a
wary grin and said there was about
enough to last until the supply ship
arrived. Roughly, that should have
been about May 10-if it was coming
at all.
saw one of my best friends from
Nichols Field one day when was
caught topside during an air at
tack. His name was Capt. Melvin
Swenson of Minneapolis and he
had been sent to Corregidor in
command of an anti-aircraft unit
Swenson was having a field day
at it, too, having shot down q num-
Der of Jap planes and having gen.
orally raised Cain with their at
tacking formations. He was in the
No. / spot to hit them and in the
best spot to get hit by them. The
unit he led was one of the hottest
on Corregidor and about the best
unit Of polyglot troops have ever
seen.
Gen. Moore. commanding officer
Of Corregidor, came to visit our
battery in late April. He was just
as worried as 1t. Gen. Wainwright,
probably more so because Corregi-
dor was his special pet and he
seemed to think many of us there
were his special guests. He was
proud of everything on Corregidor
and more than proud of the men
who had been fighting with him
since the first artillery barrages and
bomb deluges began ripping the
island slowly apart.
Increasing Pounding.
The artillery fire from Bataan
was steadily increasing in intensity
as the Japs moved up new and
bigger cannon and our battery was
taking a big share of the fire. 1t
gave us all queer sensation to be
blasting at the peninsula we had
been defending so long and we
often prayed that none of our men
were still hiding out on Bataan,
--.> &hof the .1ans were keep.