Evening star., 1945-11-05

1t. Gen. A. E. Percival (lef
forces at Singapore, is shown W
wright shortly before the Japan
the Missouri in Tokyo Bay.
chaplain. Two or three officers had
copies of the Episcopal prayer book
with them and they would alter
nate in conducting services. We
held such meetings near the parade
grounds After Gen. Beckwith-
Smith joined us, and we learned
that he was more than familiar with
the prayer book, we asked him to
conduct service.
It rained hard that October morn
ing, and after some deliberation the
Japs permitted us to hold our
service In the barracks, in a room
which apparently had been used
for classroom work for the Jap
military.
Gen. .Beckwith Smith used
Church Of England prayer book that
morning, borrowed from another
British officer. All went well for q
time, but then we began to read
prayer asking Gods blessing on our
loved ones and friends. In the
middle of the prayer, with all its
unbearable visions Of home, his
voice suddenly broke and softly,
helplessly, he began to cry. He
could not stop it, nor could we. He
turned his back to us for long
time, and when he could control
himself he turned again, and con-
tinded. Q
It was shortly thereafter that our
fears began to be realized.
SIaps British General.
Beckwith- Smith passed Jap
private near the parade ground the
following week. The British general
gave the sneering man good Brit
ish salute, but the Jap did not like
it. He chased after the general,
wheeled him around roughly and
hit him twice in the face with
clenched fists. 1t was SO outrage
ously unfair that it made all OF us
boil with anger. Beckwith-Smith
staggered back but did not fall.
And, as furious as he was, he had
the presence of mind not to strike
back-or he most certainly would
have been killed.
Gen. Percival and 1 went 10 my
room Immediately and we wrote out
letter to Capt. Imamura, the camp
commander, objecting to such
treatment. We then asked the
guard to take us to the commander.
Instead, he took us before young
Jap lieutenant named Nakashima,
a surly, muscular fellow whom We
had nicknamed Boots" because Of
the way he walked in his ill-fitting
riding boots. He glanced through
the letter rapidly and few into
rage. He shouted that we would
not see the camp commander and
that If we wrote another such letter
of protest he would personally see
to 1t that we were dealt with
severely.
A day or two later Domei CORE
spondent visited the camp and asked
me If I thought I would be court
martialed if I ever returned to the
United States.
"'Court-martialed?'" I asked.
"Why?"
For surrendering," he answered,
as if I should have known.
I told him that I did not think
so: that I had the authority of my
commander in chief to act in accord
ance with my own jpdgment-which
astounded the Jap-and that we
we're a reasoning Nation not given
to communicating officers who
issued reasonable orders.
Wrote Message to Wife.
He could not fathom any of this,
and started to leave. But I detained
him. I took long chance and scrib-
bled out message to my wife and
asked him to wire or cable it to
Mrs. Wainwright. I had not been
able to tell her since the fall OF
Corregidor that I was still alive. The
Jap reporter accepted the message
with some misgivings. and left.
But what he had said about my
surrender did work on my mind
To surrender is, indeed, dreadful
thing to be forced to do, and the
act was never far from my con-
sciousness-even after all the in
tervening months.
So I got out my diary, sat down
and wrote:
II will probably be asked why
surrendered Corregidor without a
1ast-ditch' stand. The answer will
be found in my notes In the front OF
this book, plus these additional
facts:
"(a) Enemy could and would have
taken the island in a day or two, OF
less, by piling up on it many more
troops from Bataan. He was actually
doing so while I was negotiating
with Gen. Homma at Cabcaben.
"(b) A few days longer would
make no difference, as no help was
in sight. The only difference lay In
the fact that had we all been
killed on the island it could have
been said What brave men they
werep Many, however, would have
called me fool or perhaps GRIM
inal for sacrificing all my troops
without any possible chance OF good
coming from so doing"
(c) I was afraid that If the as
sault was allowed to reach the
Tunnel. as 1t would have that night
a terrible massacre would occur II
the darkness, and that tanks and
Ihame-throwers in there would finish
every one of. for no good, including
1000 sick and wounded and l2s
nurses And more wounded were
coming in every minute. The womer
were grave consideration.
Outnumbered 2 to l.
.(d) The beach defense troops
Marines. plus al mixed detach-