Evening star., 1943-06-21
CHAPTER xxi.

thur Wermuth of the 57th Filipino
Scouts and Corpl. "Jock" Yacob
who was Wermuth's partner. Wer.
muth was already a legend amonl
our forces by the time in earl,
February when I tracked him dowr
during those mopping-up opera
tions against the Japanese land.
ings on the west coast. A few days
before, in similar fighting. he hae
been shot through the chest, thu
bullet just missing his lung anC
coming out through his back. Jock
had been shot at the same time, bu
the 6-foot-2-inch corporal had pu
Wermuth on his back and carried
him out Of range of the Jap machine
guns.
Wermuth was tough and COM
petent, a veteran of life outdoors
All his life he had spurned con-
Ventions and looked for adventure
Many times his dislike of sitting
forms and customs had got him
into trouble, but now, in war, he
had come into his own. I had diff
f1culty getting him to tell me his
story, but when he finally did
checking his diary as he went along
and occasionally calling over one OF
his scouts to refresh his memory, ]
remarked, Art. I'm going to call
you our 'one-man army!'"
X X X
The scouts had followed Wermuth
on a score of epic feats of recon-
naissance: the burning of Samal;
an anti-sniper suicide" detail in
which the scouts cleaned out 300
Japs who had inflltrated our lines
and tied themselves in trees; a
scouting trip on which Wermuth
alone killed 80 Japs with his TOM
my gun and the scouts killed 40 OF
so more; several daring patrols be-
hind Jap lines where Wermuth cap
tured prisoners and brought them
back alive; an attack with hand
grenades on a hidden Jap machine
gun which had cut down three ma
rines who went to the front lines
with Wermuth in search of excite
ment.
To the scouts, Wermuth was a
symbol of American boldness and
resourcefulness. He told them re-
peatedly, and he believed himself
that help was coming; help in suf-
fcient quantities to turn the tide
and enable them to drive the Japs
from their homeland and return
to the families which, of necessity
they had left behind in Manila or
In their native villages, at the mer-
cy of the Japs.
AS we sat in the woods that night
and talked, Wermuth told me: "Yol
know, I've been lucky Three wounds
and still walking around. I wouldn't
mind being killed, but the one thing
I hate to think about is capture. I,
there is any way to avoid it 1 will
never be taken prisoner as long as
I can shoot"
Ten months later the name OF
Capt. Arthur Wermuth was on a
list OF prisoners published by the
Japs. Apparently, when the END
came In Bataan, he had nothing
left with which to shoot. Every
minute of imprisonment must be q
lifetime OF torture for him.
X x X
Another fighter like Wermuth
another one-man army, was 1t
Roland G. Saulnier of New Bed
ford, Mass. Everybody along this
sector OF the western Bataan front
knew LIT. Frenchy." Frenchy'
parents were French Canadians and
he spoke English like a character in
play on Canadians, When
the war started he was a private in
the Army at Manila, in charge of
pigeons. In the early fighting in
Bataan he suddenly found himself
the only American with a battalion
OF Filipino troops and he took COM
mand. For few days he was
scared stiff, but then he discovered
that he enjoyed fighting, had a
talent for it. He nursed his Filipino
youngsters along as mother pigeon
would her flock, slapping them on
the back, running to help in re-
sponse to their frantic cries of
"Frenchy! Those damn Japs are
attacking!" He stopped the Japs
cold along this sector of the front
fighting with machine guns, hand
grenades, pistol, rife and bayonet
And Frenchy, too, assured his young
Fllipinos that help was on the way
There were the boys of New
Mexico's 200th, whom I met the
second night of the war and whom
I visited on Bataan whenever posi-
BILE to swap yarns and stories
Of our experiences. They quickly
changed from green youngsters
to experienced, resourceful anti
aircraft experts. Their physical
appearance also changed shockingly
from the husky, healthy youngsters
Of Manila to thin, sickly men with
deep-lined faces. Just before I left
Bataan I went over to see Sergt
Joe Smith and the Davis brothers
and the other boys of Battery F
I wrote story about them and
months later, through an editorial
in their home town paper. learned
that to many people in the United
States, also, the Battle of Bataan
was not remote but highly intimate
and personal.
n
The editorial in the Carlsbad Cur
fent-Argus, written by Managing
Editor Kenneth L. Dixon and en-
titled Letter to Lee" said in part: