Evening star., 1944-12-16
Letters to The Star
Gen. Ansell Remembers Leyte
AS 1t Was When He Saw 1t
To the Editor of The star:


To the Editor of The star:
Leyte Is in the lmelight
am induced to reminisce by letter
just received from one Of my corporals
who says, Who'd have thought when
we were hiking all over Leyte that 1t
would be the scene of such a battle?"
Forty-four years ago the regiment to
which belonged occupied that island.
I Company, 18th United States Infan-
try, which I commanded, sludged all
over it,
The old Spanish maps showed little
more than coastline, for the Spaniards
had not ventured far inland. My COM
pany, helping to suppress the insurrec-
ton, explored large part Of the south
ern half of this island. The terrain was
terrific: deep, steep mountain clefts
and gorges frequently negotiated only
by climbing ropes and vines in impene-
trable jungles, deep sticky mud and
waist-deep marshes infested by mos
quitoes and producing leeches.
The climate, characterized by intense
heat and floods, had few redeeming fea-
lures.
Left on Their Own.
Officers and men of the Regular Army
Of that day were tough but effective.
Engaged in conquering fighting people,
they had tough job, with inadequate
home support They had to operate on
the root hog or die" principle Supplies
were delivered irregularly or not at all.
My company, operating in inaccessible
territory, went months with no fresh
beef and little else except water-soaked
hardtack and bacon Necessarily we
"requisitioned" from the natives what
ever we could find and killed young
carabao for fresh meat. After one ex-
pedition my company appeared at
muster about like this: Arms and am
munition in good condition; campaign
hats supplemented by some sort of ma
tive straws; faded and patched blue
shirts; many bare legs due to shortage
OF trousers; issue shoes, in those days
never any good, made somewhat service
able by an impressed Chinese cobbler.
A modern map indicates incredible
improvement in Leyte since that day.
Then the cities" or ports" now figur-
ing in MacArthurs dispatches mostly
were native villages of nipa shacks.
thus see Ormoc; Tanauan (now appar-
emily MacArthur's headquarters, then
our regimental headquarters); Tacloban
(now the provincial capital and then
the brigade headquarters of Hell Roar
ing" Jakey Smith; and, just across San
Juanico Straits, now made famous by
the Navy, was Basey with the soldierly
Bookmillers company Of the Ninth In
fantry. My company, with headquar-
ters at Sogod at the head of Malitbog
Bay. had rowing mission over the ter
ritory back of the coastline beginning
at Burgos and thence running around
Malitbog Bay, Cabalian Bay, and we'll
up the east coast, with frequent raids
across open water in little outrigger
boats on nearby Banaon and distant
Dinagat.
War and the Soldier.
Political authorities seemed to think
that they could haten the wars end
and appease possible dissenters at home
by the usual mumbo- Jumbo So. we
had some premature civil government.
Shortly thereafter came the massacre
Of c Company, Ninth Infantry, at Ba-
langiga, where in surprise attack by
a horde of friendly" natives all the
company officers and nearly all the
men perished. Widespread insurrection
IN iy,o
own municipal mayors" were "liqui-
dated"
The war of conquest in the Philip
pines was not altogether popular. Our
people seemed to be not so certain that
they wanted an imperial America. They
certainly didn't want to shout about it.
Apparently even at this late day we
duck the term. Regular Army soldiers
returned without acclaim. and even the
splendid U. S. Volunteers got little. In
deed, one might have supposed that the
soldiers who fought the war were re-
sponsible for it. But I think that no
American military force ever faced a
worse job or did better one. OF course,
1t was guerrilla warfare, but of the most
savage sort. Both sides demonstrated
Sherman,s dictum, no less true in that
little war than in this global one. The
size of the war makes little difference
in the impact upon the individual SOL
dier. 1t is, and will continue to be,
about the same in all wars: Endure
desperate hardship and kill or be killed.
In this war happily everything possible
seems done for the soldier.
SAMUEL T. ANSELL.