The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-11-17
Gen. Wainwright Concludes His Story
With Recount Of Surrender Ceren1on,

81 certainly would,' I said.
He called an officer to his side
and sketched the text of a radio
to be sent to the Commander Of the
U. S. Merchant Marine, recon-.
mending that my son be given a
sufficient leave.
In the remaining minutes before
the destroyer locked at Yokohama
Macarthur and I renewed the
broken threads of our long separa-
ton. He offered me command in
the Army of Occupation, if cared
to return to Japan, and reviewed
the plans which had been made for
me to fly back to the Philippines
to be present at the surrender the
next day of Yama shita at Baguio.
We said goodbye at the pier, and
I was taken in tow by Brig. Gen.
LeGrande A. Diller, in charge of
my trip to Baguio. By noon was
at the Yokohama airdrome again,
along with Gen. Percival, Beebe,
Pugh, Dooley, Carroll, Gen. Val
DEE, chief of staff Of the Philippine
Army; 1t. Gen. Styer, Western
Pacific area commander; Col. Ted
Deglin, public relations officer of
our forces in the Western Pacific,
and Howard lyle, of NBC.
The plan for the C-54 was to fly
back to Okinawa, gas up and fly
on to Manila. But a typhoon was
blowing around Okinawa. Instead,
we flew to Two Jima, reaching
that tiny spot just after dark, which
filled me with a new admiration
tor Capt. Perkins and his C-54
crew.
Hears Story
I had heard only dim1y of Two
lima because of the blackout on
news in prison camps, and because
of the hectic rush OF the past few
days. But while l chewed on a
sandwich and drank coffee, wait
ing for the C-54 to be refueled, a
Marine officer told me the story
Of the incredible toughness Of the
little island, the heavy casualties
suffered by the to Marine divisions
which secured it, and its vital role
in the aerial bornbardment of
Japan. was finally catching up
with the war.
We flew in over Manila at las
am. and I was impressed by the
scarcity OF lights in what had once
been brilliant aerial approach to
the city by night. We drove back
to the Admiral Apartments, slept
a short time and got up at am.
The weather to the north was so
bad that there was no hope of even
a small plane landing at Baguio.
AS an alternate, we got in a CAT
at Nelson airport and flew north
west over the land SO emotionally
familiar to me. The pilot dropped
low over the Naguillian field and
threw out a note, asking that cars
meet us at our alternate field at
Laguna, 20 miles away.
The cars were waiting. We drove
up to Gaguio over the winding
Naguillian Road, passing through
the land where some of the first
OF those long-distant retreats be-
gan. Baguio had been a modern
town with broad, well-kept streets
and good buildings. But now the
place was broken as if by some
giant hammer, and strangely sill
ent. Where a house of mine had
stood, when I commanded the old
Philippine Division, was now a
hole in the ground.
The surrender ceremony took
place in the High Commissioners
residence, only slightly damaged
by smelling but stripped of much
OF the fine furniture and all of the
irreplaceable library which Francis
Sayre had to leave behind him
when he escaped from the Philip
pines by submarine.
Maj. Gen. Edmund H. Leavey,
Continued On Page Five)