The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-10-16
Wainwright Tells OfNear
Death Escapes On Bataan

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er Jap force infiltrated deep down
the gorge of the Cotar River, in
tent upon linking with the force
that pierced the Eleventh's line
and nocketinq a considerable num-
Der OF our men.
Instead, we pocketed the two
forces. The First Philippine Divi-
sion rounded up the smaller OF the
two Jap forces in about a week
of fighting. The larger Jap force,
the one that bit into the front OF
the Eleventh, was cornered by the
Eleventh itself, plus a battalion OF
the Second Philippine Constabu-
larry, two battalions OF the Ninety
First Division and battalion OF
the great Forty-Fifth Infantry
Scouts, under Lieut.. Col Lathrop.
Both trapped Jap outfits dug in
holes but a network of connecting
WE'LL constructing not only fox
tunnels. 1t took us IL days to wipe
them out, IL days Of bitter fight
ing during which our men up front
who had closed ranks after the
Japs burst through resisted a l
Jap efforts to rip through to the
pocketed Nips.
It was a savage ferreting job.
Rifle fire and machine-gun bursts
were of little use, for the Japs
were underground. We had so little
infantry mortar ammunition left
that we could not lob suitable
barrage into their holes.
ly breathe in the faces of the dug
So we had to 60 up and practical
in Japs. It was fighting that would
be considered Enthusiastically i'm
probable if seen on a movie
screen. Junior officers with sacks
of grenades drove up to the enemys
foxholes while sitting on the hoods
pegged the grenades right down
of our remaining tanks - and
the foxholes.
Whenever the answering fire was
too tough, we called for volunteers
among the Igorot men of the Elev-
enth Division. These incredible peo-
pie, the greatest guides I ever saw,
would ride the tops of tanks whose
matches were closed, and direct the
driver to the light foxhole by pond
ing with a club, first on one side
of the steel top Of the tank and
then on the other. These breath
taking performances were only
some of the improvisations we had
to adopt to stick on Bataan as
long as we did.
Toward the end of the grim fer
reting the four landings along the
China Sea to my rear were sue
cessfully repulsed and so on Feb.
ruary II I was able to report to
Macarthur that the First corps now
held every foot of ground it had
first occupied on arrival at the re-
serve battle position.
From Corregidor Macarthur sem
back message saying, "Wel done
First Corps
I told him, too, in subsequent
report, what I thought of the splen
did work Of several native officers
Brig. Gen Segundo, for one, anc
the extraordinary Brig. Gen. Vim
cente Linn, part Chinese command
er of the Forty-First Division. Gen
Lin was graduate of West Point
and of the Infantry School at For
Benning. He retired from our Ar
my as a major to join the Philip
pine Army and was made a gen
eral. It was his fate, 1 learned lat
er, to be murdered in the mos
pitiless way which Gen. Yamashit;
could contrive. Yamashita, was
told later, caused the execution o
Gen. Segundo and many other cou
rageous Philippine officers whe
fought for their land and ours.
Our losses were heavy during the
scattered fighting that reestablish
ed our positions, and the land we
held was not dotted with crude
crosses marking the last resting
places of our dead. The wounded
we're carried back to tented medi
cal stations, where heroic Medi
cal Corpsmen and nurses attend
ed them, and then were moved
farther back to our few hospitals
near Mariveles.
Malaria, another ruthless enemy
hung over us like black cloud
enveloping a land of men who's
bones were Jumping through theil
tightly-stretched skins.
Yet we knew that things woul,
get worse. Such portions of tn
winding Pilar-Bagac road as wer
within our lines began to come I'm
der the heavy fire of large artil
lery pieces the Japs were bringing
: south on the railway they nov
owned. A detachment of the -Four
: teenth Engineers, working feverisf
: ly, therefore cut a narrow an