Evening star., 1944-09-28
Gen. Morquot, Macarthur Aide,
Tells of Last Days of Betsy
Artillery Officer
Hopes to Return
To Philippines
BY MURLIN SPENCER,

| hssOClated Press war Correspondent.
ALLIED HEADQUARTERS IN
THE SOUTHWEST PACIFIC.-
Betsy" was an 8-inch gun battery
the finest on Bataan, but it never
fred shot Men slaved over tha,
battery. fought for it, labored tc
create it under enemy fire but it was
hopeless.
The Japanese bombed and shelleo
1t time after time The last sand
bag had been laid in place when
Japanese artillery, guided by an OBJ
server less than so yards away
landed a shell squarely in the en-
trance and destroyed weeks of work
1t was like that in the Philippines
The men who labored to set ur
that battery were commanded by
Maj. Gen. William F. (BilD Mar
quat, one of the "old timers" on
Gen. Douglas MacArthur's staff. The
gun and its men were captured by
the japanese but Gen. Maruuat
escaped to fight again with Gen
Macarthur on the long road back.
is fOrmer NeWSpaperman.
The liberation of those men and a
chance to use once again the guns
With which they have now been we'll
supplied are two primary reasons
that Gen Marquat, former Seattle
Times newspaperman, hopes to re-
turn to the Philippines. He is we'll
qualified for the task as one of the
men with Macarthur r'-that small
group of experts who came out with
the general to form the nucleus Of a
force which may be assigned the
task Of going back.
Gen. Marquat, SO, initiated plans
for the organization of the lst
Philippine Army Antiaircraft Regi-
ment and the 1st Seacoast Artillery
batteries. He travelled extensively
throughout the islands, and all that
he learned while planning their de-
fense can well be utilized in plan
ming an offensive to liberate the
islands. He now holds the positions
of antiaircraft officer of general
headquarters in the Southwest Pa
clflc and commanding general of the
l4th Antiaircraft Command.
Born in st. Louis, Gen. Marquat
received his education in Seattle.
where prior to the World War he
was a reporter on the Times. He
went to France with the Washing
ton State National Guard and took
part in the St. Mihiel offensive as a
first lieutenant in a hoWitzer bat
terry. He was promoted to captain
and his unit was engaged in combat
with French forces at Verdun and
in the Argonne.
After the war Gen. Marquat re-
turned to the Seattle Times and
was automobile editor until he
entered the Regular Army in 1921.
He served in the Philippines as
plans and training officer of the
60th Coast Artillery Antiaircraft
Regiment at Corregidor in 1887, but
in 1910 returned to the United
States to attend the War College.
He went back to the Philippines
shortly afterwards and when the
War Department recalled Gen. Mac
Arthur from retirement and named
him commander in chief of the
United States Army Forces in the
Far East Gen. Marquat was made
G-l tpersonneD officer, but later
was relieved to become chief of staff
to Maj. Gen. George F. Moore. COM
manding the Philippines Coast Ar
tlllery Command.
Those first days of the war we're
hectic ones" Gen. Marquat recalled
The first job was setting up the
first antiaircraft defenses of Ma
Mia, job which we did within
36 hours after the first attack on
the city
Manila Declared Open City.
Then Manila was declared an
open city on Christmas Day. 194l,
and We took our guns away and
set them up to defend airfeld and
ground force operations on the
Luzon mainland and on Bataan.
Our antiaircyaft defenseS. although
short of ammunition and mainte-
nance parts, established an enviable
reputation during the campaign.
I'VE fought under extreme diff
Guilty, however. Take the case of