The Wilmington morning star., 1945-10-23
Gen. Wainwright Tells of Evacuation
OfNurses, Civilians From Corregidor
BY GENERAL JONATHAN M.
WAINWRIGHT
Copyright 1875, King Features
Syndicate, Inc. Reproduction :.
In whole or in part Strictly
nrOhibited.)

Jap radio said-I got word that
the Navy rescue planes had reach
ed Lake Lanao and would fly up
to Corregidor that night.
I got in touch Immediately with
Capt. Kenneth Hoeffel, U. S. NJ,
the senior naval officer on Core
ssdor, and with him, chose the wa
ter between Corregidor and Fort
Hughes, on Cabalo Island, as the
most sheltered landing place for
the rescue planes.
At dark, Capt. Hoeffel directed
the ninesweepers Quail and Tan
gier to sweep the mines from the
water strip, and sank and lighted
two buoys to guide the approach
ing aircraft.
Just after dark they came, like
the messengers from another
world, which they were. They
came in low to make difficult tar
gets of Themselves.
Working as fast as possible, we
put so men and women in the two
planes: 30 nurses-I left the choos-
ing of them up to Col. Cooper, my
surgeon - and 20 others. Among
I. those 20 were Mrs. Bewley and
her daughter, Virginia, two fine
American women. Mrs. Bewley' S
husband was Manila doctor who
, chose to remain behind with his
patients rather than desert them
when the Japs moved into he city.
There was also a Naval officers
wife who somehow had remained
behind despite the ruling of the
previous Spring that all Deepen
dents of military personnel must
leave. And Mrs. Seals, wife OF
Brig. Gen. Carl Seals. Mrs. Seals
was suffering too badly from arth-
ritis to be moved out the previous
May.
Especially asked for by MacAr-
thur was Col. Stewart Wood, a
well-trained staff officer who was
nv assistant Chief Of Staff for in
telligence and who had a inc
knowledge Of japanese. Mac
Arthur also asked for, and got,
several PHOTOGRAPHERS. With them
/ sent half a dozen officers rang
ing from brigadier generals to lieu
tenant colonies, who were in no
physical condition to take captiv
ity.
I helped many of them into the
little boats that carried than from
the Corregidor dock o the nearby
planes, and babe each of hem
goodbye. 1t was hard on all of us
who helped with the loading, for
we all knew instinctively that if
the planes got away it would be
I eyer see them.
One of the last to get in was
1t. Juanita Redmond, fine and
beautiful girl from South Caro-
lima. She did a nice thing. She
! put her arms around me and
kissed me.
."oh, thank you, General" she
cried. /!
We stood there and watched the
: two seaplanes roar and take off,
and prayed that they would not
be hit. They were not. They sailed
right off the water beautifully,
pulled out over to the side of Ca
vite beyond the range of its anti
aircraft guns, and were enveloped
in the night.
Then we turned and walked back
to our jobs.
l went back to my quarters in
the Tunnel and after reporting to
Macarthur that the planes had
gone away I tried to get some
sleep. I had taken over MacAr-
thurs old quarters in the Tunnel,
as l have said, but added to the
natural congestion of the place by
putting folding cot in the living
ROOM for Col. Johnny Pugh, one
of my aides.
My dyas on Corregidor began
and ended in that little place,
which seemed so poor and shabby
and depressing at that time-but
which soon later would have been
like the Waldorf, compared to the
filth and terror of our captivity
cells.
My day. during most of the Bat
tie for Core gidor, started about
6 am, when I would get up, dress,
walk out either the east or west
end of the Tunnel for some air
and a view of the damage wrought
since I slept, then come back and
eat in the hospitals convalescent
mess.
After breakfast I would 90 to
my headquarters, also in the Tun-
mel, attend to the paper work at
hand. review the nights reports
and the expectations-increas ingly
dir1l-for he coming day. In the
middle of the morning I would join
Major Gen. George F. Moore and
sometimes tour the island either
by foot or in his light car, inspect
ing our ever-dissolving batteries.
At first Gen. Moore. and I did
this in semi-style. Macarthur had
left a Buick and Chrysler behind
him. But these were soon blown
to pieces by the Smelling and bomb
ing, so we dropped back into
Moore's Chevrolet, car which
saw and lived through consider.
able action.
=. More Paper Work
I would get back to the Tune
for lunch. usually bowl of soup
and then there would be more pa