Evening star., 1943-06-19
CHAPTER 20.

On one Of my many trips to
Bataan, I made arrangements to
go up to the front lines at night
to visit the 3lst Infantry.
I found my way to the advance
headquarters, located in a sand
bagged dugout on one of the side
streets of Pillar. The commander
was a major in the Army Reserve,
who told me he had been a Hous-
ton (Tex) school teacher before he
was called to active duty some
months before the war started.
About 10 pm. a young Filipino
officer pushed aside the burlap bags
at the entrance and came down the
steps into the dugout. He was rub
bing the sleep from his eyes.
Third 1t. Gonzales reporting for
duty, SIR" he said.
The major told him he was to
drive up to Abucay Hacienda and
was tc take a passenger along.
You probably won't get any shells, 4"
he said, "but watch out. Their
snipers have been working around
here this afternoon and all the
way up the road to the front They
are shooting from the treetops."
Gonzales stumbled out into the
darkness and I went after him,
tripping several times on the roots
of the big trees under which the
dugout was located. The lieutenant
found his car parked in an open
space between two nipa huts across
the street. He awakened the driv-
er, who was in civilian clothes
Gonzales explained to me that the
driver spoke a few words Of Eng
lish, few sentences in Spanish, and
for the rest talked to himself in
some obscure dialect.
We had trouble starting the an
cient Chevrolet sedan. Finally il
kicked over on three of its four CYL
inders, suffering like an erratic
machine gun. 1t had no muff1er
and the sound could be heard fol-
miles around The windows would
not close. I had no jacket over my
shirt and was shivering in the cold
| air.
We chug-chugged out onto the
main road and headed north to.
ward the front. We had no lights
but this driver could see perfectly
in the dark. He pulled up at the
side of the road to let some bis
trucks pass us in the opposite di.
rection. They were towing five OF
six l55 guns on trailers The coun.
try was fat and we could see thu
guns outlined against Manila Bay
which was lighter expanse agains
the darkness of the night. Of il
the distance between us and thu
front We could see the flicker O.
numerous fires alongside the road
Hey. What's up here?" 1 askec
Gonzales. Why are those guns go.
ing away from the front?"
They move every night" thu
lieutenant answered. That is tt
trick the Japs who have spottec
their positions the previous day
have never seen them back thi
far before. Maybe our front lin,
is moving back, or the Japanes,
have broken through"
Just at this minute there wa.
a tremendous sharp boom, which
seemed to break right over ou
heads. 1t was followed by anothe
and another We realized it wa
shells going over us, but We didn'
know if they were ours or Jap.
| We drove past the shadowy build
ings of Abucay to a point beyont
the school house and then turnet
of into narrow side road through
the fields. A short distance owe
to our right the sky was full O
tracer fire from machine guns. Som
OF them seemed to be hitting aroun
us. That is the front, sir" Con
zales said.
There was a line of low trees
ideal for snipers-along the road
which climbed gently uphill towar,
the distant, dim slope of Noun
Natib. 1t was pitch black, but tn
driver only slowed down a little
shifting to second. and kept on. W.
drove for about three miles up tn
slope and came to spot where tn
road leveled off.
We are almost there" said Con
zales.
Just as he said it there was a sud
den outburst of shellfre from some
where near by. After my baptism o
shelling the day before I didn't lik
the sound of it. We stopped the ca
and got out. ready to drop beside al
embankment along the roadside
The shells seemed to be burstin,
over ridge just up ahead of us
Finally we decided they weren'
aimed at the road, and drove OF
up for a few hundred yards.
This is where we start to walk
the lieutenant told me- Too ba,
you haven't got steel helmet"
We stumbled on up the road, no
daring to use even the lieutenant
blacked-out f1a.shlight, and felt ou
way alnog path which circled dow
through clump of trees. 1 kept m
hand on Gonzales shoulder so as no
to lose him. After we had inche
our way along for a couple of hun
dred yards we heard a challenge:
Halt! Who goes there?"
We identified ourselves and tn
sentry led us across woode
bridge, through a grassy clearin
and to tent pitched against tn
hillside 1 introduced myself t
Gen. Lough. U. S. A. and to Ger
Lin, the first Filipino to gradual
from West Point. Tracers wer
streaking across the sky above tn
hollow in the hills which sheltere
us, and the shells were still crack
ing near by.
You picked a hell OF time t
come up" Gen. Lough said. 90
knew you A. P. reporters got arounc
but I never expected to meet on
here" I could see that he was wear
ing baJhrobe over his uniform. H