The Wilmington morning star. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1909-1990, 1945-10-13
CONTINUED from Page One)

ore lap tanks. My dusty Packard
N adsn would have offered small
ec;stance to them if I had en-
.conntered them head-on. on the
main road.
cot into the village aware that
1east some elements of the enc.
a. we're now between me and
n [n' but could not find Gen
eolieck Nor could I find my Sew.
oantv.First Division troops.
Gu" put the Twenty-Sixth Cavalry
as there, with little Col. Pierce
No" ,an+ out in the thick of furious
Ugh aa,bat with the vanguard Of the
eO Jap force. The Twenty-Sixth
n li. been in action since daylight.
Il aotecting the retreat Of the Sew.
pa+tv.First to the Agno. By the
t e 7 reached it, the Twenty-Sixth
s. reduced to not more than $50
men.
ordered Pierce to get his truck
.rain and his wounded men out az
quickly as possible and hold his
aosi+ion as long as he safely could
pud still be able to withdraw his
renaining men. When the time
aare to withdraw, he would back
~ to the Agno, IS miles below
him. cross the bridge, destroy il
. nnd hold the south side Of the
river.
Against Odds
Pierce held that position at Bina.
1onan against overwhelming odds
until $3.50 on the afternoon of De-
canber "a, by which time he had
forced the Japs to deploy the ad.
vance guard of their main column
and to begin the deployment OF
tbe whole main assault body.
Here was true cavalry delaying
action. fit to make a mans heart
sing. Pierce that day upheld the
hest traditions Of the cavalry ser.
vice and his action led to his
being raised to the rank Of briga-
der general.
stayed at Binalonan with him
for two or three hours and then
returned to my Alcala headquar.
ters. En- route I passed along the
south bank of the Agno and as ]
crossed the main north-south high.
way at Carmen I noted that Jap
planes had bombed the mile-long
bridge over the Agno between Car.
men and Villasis. They had de-
stroyed the south span of the vital
bridge, blowing it off its abutment.
II was a time for cursing our
luck, because the Eleventh Divi-
sion would have to cross that
bridge on the night of December
24-25 in its withdrawal south
ward.
But while I was standing there,
viewing the damage, Col. Sherry,
my engineer chief, doomed out Of
nowhere He was already making
plans for temporary repair of the
bridge. At the same time he was
having charges placed under the
unchanged part Of the bridge so
he would be ready to blow it as
soon as the Eleventh got across, or
blow II Ii the Japs got to the river
before the Eleventh did.
From hat point I got in touch
with my Alcala headquarters and
ordered it moved back to Bamban,
a short distance south Of Fort
Stotsenburg. I told my operations
officer, my signal officer and 4
few enlisted men to wait at Alcala
for me.
Christmas Eve
reached Alcala on the evening
Of December "a. Christmas Eve
always was something of an event
around our home in the good days,
and now l found my mind going
back over those memories of .
Christmas tree, the arrangement
Of our boys toys, the carefully
wrapped packages for my wife,
and all the things that 60 with a
family on that night.
So I got in touch with Necker
at RCA in Manila. He was closing
up. The city had been declared an
open one. But he was kind enough
to get through a message to Adele.
! remember it because it was
the last time I was able to wire
less her directly for three awful
years.
l was hot, dirty and hungry
from the days fighting, worrying
and travelling. But the food which
my headquarters commandment
was supposed to send up from
Bamban upon his arrival there
failed to come. We went, to bed
that night without dinner.
On Christmas morning, 194l, a
tank officer came past my skele'
tonized headquarters and gave us
a Christmas present. It was a can
Of beans. Our little force, .includ'
Ing Coils. Frank Nelson and josh
Stansell, split it up. It was Christ
mas breakfast, lunch and dinner,