Evening star., 1945-10-17
Troops on Botoon Eat Lost Cavalry Horse
And Wainwright Orders Rotions Cut Again
Continued From First Pageo

or JETe6 small mlIi6SWG6pSTS, dI1u
few miscellaneous craft. The "ail
force" was down to one P-40, in bac
condition and hidden at field JUS
east of Mariveles.
Not long before we had raisee
our air force to four P-40s, thank
to aid from the south. They con,
tinued to be used essentially fol
reconnaissance, but one night they
more than reverted to type. Each
was fitted with makeshift bomb.
racks and took off with a total o.
1900 pounds of explosives-30t
pounds to each plane-swept ou
low over Shbic Bay and raised hel
with a concentration of Jap ships.
The Jap radio, with its customary
flair Tor exaggeration, said that the
ships were attacked by 27 Bits
and that IA of the four-engineo
Flying Fortresses had been shot
down by Jap gunners.
Only One P-40 Left.
We got laugh out of that, but
sthe laugh froze when three of tho
four P-40s cracked up on the land
ing back at Mariveles. So now there
was one.
On the =. morning of March IL
1912, I lined up all general ofdcers
of the Corps at my headquarters
and told them the news of Mac
Arthur's departure and of the new
command setup.
l watched their faces as I spoke.
They were all at first depressed by
the news that our great commander
had been forced, by order of Presi-
dent Roosevelt, the Commander in
Chief, to leave us. But I soon saw
that they understood, just as I un-
derstood. They realized as well as
I what the score was.
I then gave command of my old
I Corps to Brig. Gen. A. M. Jones
and hitched up my creaking trailer.
I moved my headquarters 90 miles
south to a clearing just east of
Mariveles, where Macarthur had
established what was called his
Advanced Headquarters on Bataan.
It was not an ideal setup. My
trailer, bad as it was, was the most
durable structure in the clearing.
The rest of my headquarters force
camped or the ground. There were
two or three pup tents, and we
gathered such telephone and radio
gear as we could muster.
The big problem staring me in
the face-at the start of what was
my short term as commander of the
Luzon forces-was, of course, sup
ply. Such as it was, I had no con-
troll over (which irked me a bit.
Macarthur had left the matter of
Bataan supplies in the hands of
Brig. Gen. Lewis Beebe, over on
Corregidor.
Rations Cut Again.
So on March Is I went over to
The Rock to see Beebe. 1t was, as
I knew it would be, fruitless visit.
I came back to Bataan with heart
made heavier by the fact that I now
had to tell my men that their ra-
tions-already cut to the starvation
quota of one-half of a Filipino ra-
ton per man-would now have to
be cut by another third in order for
us to exist until April TO-
That was the day the last of the
bony horses of the 26th Cavalry
were shot and cut up.
Between March Is and 20 I spent
much of my time with the men, then
using up the majority of what was
left of our artillery shells and doing
what they could to throw off balance
the impending Jap attack by means
of hit-and-run patrol action.
spent some time with Parker to
tell him what he instinctively knew:
That when the blow fell it would
fall hardest on his II Corps. The
shift of Jap troops TO Parker's side
of Bataan was gaining momentum
every day, my patrols reported.
Late on the night of March 20-21,
three days after the radio told us
that Macarthur had reached Aus
tralia safely, my phone rang. 1t
was Beebe calling. but the connec-
ton was very bad. I thought I
heard him say something like, I've
got a nice piece of news for you,
General" but that was too improb-
able under the circumstances.
Il can't hear you," I shouted into
the phone.
I heard his voice dimly again, so
I yelled across the clearing to John
ny Pugh to pick up his extension and
try to hear what Beebe was saying.
I heard Pugh pick up his phone
and say, Hello, what is it, Gen.
Beebe?"
Told of Third Star.
And then, as If from a thousand
miles away, I heard him say, Tell
Gen. Wainwright that he has
been promoted to lieutenant gen.
eral and s."
Whats that, Beebe2" cut in.
"A wire has just come In from the
War Department promoting you
y"
"Yes, yes go ahead"
promoting you to lieu
tenant general. The troops in the
Philippines are to be called here
after the United States Forces in
the Philippines, and you're desig-
mated as commander in chief. Can
you come over the first thing in the
morning? I'll send crash boat
for you"
I'll be on the dock at Mariveles
at 8 o'clock" I told him.
I did not sleep much that night
The next morning, March 81, !
got up early, took out a clean shirt
removed two stars off an old shirt
and pinned one on each shoulder
A soldier could wish for little more
ceremony when he gets another