The Waterbury Democrat. [volume] (Waterbury, Conn.) 1917-1946, 1942-04-20

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had known in Manila, came
ordered back from his improvised
front line hospital with q truckload
Of malaria patients.
Met for Last Time
They met there again for the last
time.
Bataan was no little Dunklrk.
Corregidor, o small besieged fort
ress, could receive only a small
number Of troops. The result was
that the privates Of q few An1eri-
can and Philippines scout regiments
were given priority over high rank
ing officers whose organizations
were not on the priority list.
All navy and marine personnel
were on the priority list.
Some of the staffs Of divisional
commanders worked for hours on
the Bataan shore to evacuate men
on the priority list, and then went
back to meet the Japanese.
Navy tugs, minesweepers and gun
boats, little freighters, yachts,
motorboats, rowboats, barges, helped
to take evacuees across the treach-
erouS five miles Of water.
At dawn April 0 the water was
still thick with boats and the Jap
anese planes started bombing and
machine cunning them. Not boat
was lost because Of the deadly fire
of anti-aircraft guns on Corregidor
and machine guns on the boats.
For weeks the japanese had been
trying to set fire to Bataan's well
camouflaged ordnance stores.
On the night Of April 8 the Am
orleans fired them. Explosions con-
tinued throughout the nigha, and
fires spreading through the forest
blazed bright.
The last troops evacuated mar
ched along O highway between
sheets Of flame not far away on
both sides.
Col. George w. Hirsch, Columbia
s. O., directed the destruction. His
mission completed, he and his small
crew caught one of the last boats
for Corregidor.
On the morning Of the 9th Gen
Jonathan M. Wainwright ordered
the evacuation to cease because the
white flag was being taken forward
and the truce might be endangered
and the hardships Of the sick, hun
cry men on the peninsula increased
From then on, only a handful OF
troops crossed to Corregidor, IN
leaky rowboats and native canoes,
on planke and logs, and swimming
took to O hospital q young prt-
vate who, though suffering from
Malaria, swan more than q mile.
II nearly drowned, mister" he
said. II wouldn't have made 1t, but
q roWboat picked me up"
He leaned heavily on me. He was
burning with fever.
Capt. Joseph 1acobucci, Cincin-
natl, Ohio, battled the choppy bay
waves until a Navy patrol boat
picked him up.
Second Lieut.. Frank Good, 7os
Main Street, Agawam, Mass.
reached the island because he was
given q last minute assignment tt
aid priority list men to get out.
First Lieut.. william K. Boyd
Amarillo, Tex, commanding a front
line air corps unit serving as in
fantry, caught a boat just before
the Japanese arrived.
Only one chaplain reached Cor
regidor. He was First Lieut.. Richard
Z. Carberry, who came as a priority
man with his scout regiment.
Quartermaster Capt. Joe Adams
Piatsburg, and Capt. Lee Stevens
Chicago, were last minute evacueeS
Stevens used to be one OF the
best dressed men In Manila. When
he arrived at Corregidor he wore 8
dirty, greasy set Of overalls and ne
had not shaved for days. But wher
saw him again next day he hao
bathed, shaved and had q new uni
form.
at still can't believe I'm alive" hi
said. But I've been assigned to Q
new job and I'm going to start worE
at once"
Some men were naked when they
arrived. A few wore white Navy
uniforms which Navy men hao
given them after fishing them ou'
Of the bay.
Col. c. H. Zines, San Francisco
as quartermaster commandment or
Corregidor assumed personal re-
sponsibility for huge stores OF equip
ment and food which he issued tc
the men who got away. He opencc
specialm eSs hall and kept 1t go
ing "a hours q day.
I saw many things which affec'
ted me in Bataan. saw the Cavite
Navy yard go up in flames, the de.
struction by fire Of Nichols Field
hangers and barracks and the dy-
namiting Of bridges and other key
structures and installations.
The great fires and explosions
are still vivid in my mind, but ]
remember most wildly the little
flashes Of light I saw on the Bataai1
shore on the night Of April 9 after
the surrender.
They came from soldiers hidden
on the shore, and were from flash
lights. They all repeated patiently,
- Nnrra0idOr fiua VILLAS aWay-