Evening star., 1944-10-07
|MacAthur's Intelligence Aide
rs Germon-Born WiIIoughby
Key Officer Also
Authority on Jups'
Method Of Fighting
BY MURLIN SPENCER,

Associated Press War Correspondent.
SOUTHWEST PACIFIC ALLIED
HEADQUARTERS. - Brig. Cen
Charles "A. Willoughby probably
knows as much about the japanese
Bushido code as any occidental. He
knows how the Japanese tight. He
knows how they plan campaigns and
he can give good guess as to what
they will do next.
Gen. Willoughby, one Of the key
ofiicers-the "men with Macarthur"
who came out Of the Philippines, is
Gen. MacArthur's assistant chief Of
staff in charge of intelligence. He
heads that highly important, highly
secret ca.
He has q large ONCE on the same
floor with the general. Even his Of
fee has an air of secretiveness, with
curtains drawn tight over large-scale
maps; clipboards hanging from the
wall hold fiinsy sheets of paper
marked Secret" in large letters.
Gen. Willoughby needs large Of
fice because he is a large man. He is
6 feet inches tall, in fighting trim
at 1876 pounds, although that Is 20
pounds over his weight when he left
the Philippines.
Born in Heidelberg.
Gen. Willoughby was born at
Heidelberg, Germany, March 8, 1892;
settled in the United States in 1910
and was naturalized at Gettysburg,
Pa, in 1918.
He entered Gettysburg College in
1918 as senior and from 1915 to
1916 was instructor Of modern Ian
guage at Howe School, Howe, Ind.
He began his Army career In 1916,
when he was commissioned second
lieutenant, and between that time
and 1928 he served as military at
tache in the American Legations in
Venezuela, Colombia and Ecuador
He was Gen. MacArthur's assistant
chief of staff in charge of intelligence
in the Philippines when the war
broke out.
The first complete file on jap
anese jungle warfare came from
Gen. Macarthur and his staff.
Aside from q few British garrisons
on the Burma front, they are the
only ones who have been in con-
slant contact with the Japanese
since the start of the Pacific war.
Visited Wainwright.
One hot January day in 1942 Gen.
Willoughby had left Corregidor to
visit 1t. Gen. Jonathan M. VAIN
wright on Bataan and was return
ing to the coast to catch a Cor
regidor- hound ferry.
Il was driving along when An
MP stopped me-" he recalls, land
told me the Japs had landed in
five places in strength. 1t was their
major effort to land behind VAIN
wright's force and destroy it.
Il decided to 60 on, humping over
the log roads through the woods.
Finally, I found myself in an all
Filipino defense sector commanded
by Col. M. N. Castaneda, an in
fantry officer who took a course at
Benning, Ga, in 1887 and who had
been one of my best pupils there.
II had picked up a quartermaster
officer along the road, a Maj.
Kalakua and a good man to have
along in a tight spot. The three
Of us split the line amongst us and
held 1t all day and way into the
night"
Fight Was Important.
In cold type it is difficult to fix
the importance Of a fight, but this
one was important. The Japanese
had landed reinforced battalions at
each of five points and If they had
broken through Bataan might have
been written of long before 1t was.
And those were the days when an
unprepared America was fighting
for time.
The citation awarding Gen. Will
loughby the Silver Star for this
action said only that this gallant
ofncer assisted in reorganizing