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No.4377
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HE PHILIPPINES, LYING IN THE WESTERN PACIFIC, WERE FIRST SETTLED BY EUROPEANS DURING THE SIXTEENTH CENTURY. THE ISLANDS WERE HANDED OVER TO THE UNITED STATES IN 1899. HOWEVER, THE NATIONALIST MOVEMENT WAS GROWING IN STRENGTH AND, IN 1935, THE TERRITORY WAS GRANTED COMMONWEALTH STATUS, THE FIRST STEP ON THE ROAD TO FULL INDEPENDENCE.
T
STORY FERG HANDLEY ART OLIVERA COVER JANEK MATYSIAK
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4 THE STRATEGICALLY-SITED ISLANDS WERE RICH IN NATURAL RESOURCES WHICH MADE THEM A VALUABLE PRIZE FOR THE JAPANESE. IN DECEMBER 1941, JUST DAYS AFTER THE ATTACK ON PEARL HARBOUR, IMPERIAL FORCES MOUNTED A FULL-SCALE INVASION...
FORWARDS! DEATH TO THE ENEMIES OF NIPPON! ...WHICH, WITH MASSIVE NAVAL AND AERIAL SUPPORT, SOON HAD THE AMERICANS AND THEIR FILIPINO ALLIES IN DISARRAY. CORPORAL EDDIE RYKER — A MEMBER OF BAKER COMPANY’S FIRST PLATOON — HAD BEEN STATIONED ON THE ISLAND OF LUZON SINCE 1935. A NEW YORKER, EDDIE WAS ALMOST THIRTY BY THE TIME OF THE INVASION AND HAD BEEN MAKING PLANS FOR CIVILIAN LIFE AFTER THE ARMY. YEP, I WAS ALL SET TO JOIN MY COUSIN’S DRY GOODS BUSINESS OUT IN QUEENS. GUESS THAT WON’T BE HAPPENING FOR A WHILE NOW.
DON’T LOOK LIKE IT, CORP.
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5 EDDIE WAS A TOUGH, HARD-BITTEN VETERAN BUT CONDITIONS WERE HARSH ON THE ISLAND AND, AFTER SIX YEARS, HE HAD HAD HIS FILL OF THE HEAT, BUGS AND TROPICAL FEVERS.
THE NIPS MUST BE CRAZY COMING HERE. THEN AGAIN, I GUESS THEY’RE USED TO IT.
THEY SURE ARE. LITTLE MAGGOTS, THEY CAN SURVIVE ANYWHERE.
HIS TIME OVERSEAS HADN’T BEEN ALL BAD, THOUGH. EDDIE HAD GROWN TO LIKE THE NATIVE FILIPINOS AND, OVER THE YEARS, HE HAD FORGED STRONG BONDS WITH THE MEN IN HIS SQUAD — INCLUDING HIS SERGEANT, JERRY NOVAK, WHO NOW ARRIVED WITH SOME COLD BEERS. HERE, BOYS. I WAS SAVING THESE FOR A SPECIAL OCCASION, BUT WE MIGHT AS WELL DRINK ‘EM NOW.
WAY TO GO, SARGE. MAN, THIS IS GONNA HIT THE SPOT!
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6 THE UNIT’S SECTOR WAS THE BATAAN PENINSULA, PART OF THE NORTHERN PHILIPPINES. AS THE JAPANESE ADVANCED FROM BOTH NORTH AND SOUTH, THE MEN GREW INCREASINGLY TENSE. I HATE ALL THIS WAITING AROUND. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE SOME ACTION?
GOOD QUESTION. AND I WONDER HOW WE’LL COPE WHEN IT HAPPENS?
FINALLY, BAKER COMPANY RECEIVED ORDERS TO MOVE OUT AND SET UP A DEFENSIVE CORDON SOME TWENTY MILES TO THE NORTH. PREPARATIONS GOT UNDER WAY AT ONCE.
ONLY TAKE WHAT YOU’RE GONNA NEED. THAT MEANS AMMO AND RATIONS, CALLAGHAN.
YOU GOT IT, SARGE.
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7 THEY HAD LORRIES FOR THE FIRST LEG OF THE JOURNEY THEN BEGAN A JUNGLE MARCH. THE RUMBLE OF ARTILLERY FIRE DRIFTED IN FROM THE DISTANCE. WHOA, SOUNDS LIKE SOMEONE’S TAKING A PASTING.
DARNED RIGHT, AND IT’LL BE OUR TURN SOON ENOUGH.
LATE THAT EVENING, THEY REACHED THEIR DESTINATION AND BEGAN DIGGING IN.
RECKON THIS IS DEEP ENOUGH, SARGE?
SURE, FOR A FIVE-YEAR-OLD. TAKE IT DOWN ANOTHER FOOT, JENNER.
THE NIGHT PASSED SLOWLY, WITH THE TROOPS EASING THE INCREASING TENSION WITH THEIR USUAL BANTER. THEN, SHORTLY AFTER DAWN, THE JAPANESE MOUNTED A FULL-SCALE INFANTRY ASSAULT.
HERE THEY COME! OPEN FIRE!
POUR IT INTO ‘EM, YOU GUYS!
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8 THE G.I.s FOUGHT HARD, BLAZING AWAY AT THE ADVANCING ENEMY WITH EVERYTHING THEY HAD. EDDIE WAS IN THE THICK OF IT, RATTLING OFF BURST AFTER BURST WITH HIS .45-inch THOMPSON SUBMACHINE GUN. THE HEAVY SLUGS HAD PLENTY OF STOPPING POWER. AAAARGH!
WAY TO GO, EDDIE!
DESPITE THE HAIL OF FIRE THEY SPRAYED AT THE ENEMY, AMERICAN LOSSES SOON BEGAN TO MOUNT FOR THE JAPANESE HAD SET AN ENTIRE BATTALION AGAINST THEM.
NAAARGH!
OH, MAN! HENDRY, OVER HERE — WE NEED ANOTHER GUNNER!
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9 THE PRESSURE WAS INTENSE AND EVENTUALLY, DESPITE THEIR BEST EFFORTS, THE COMPANY WAS FORCED TO PULL OUT IN A GENERAL RETREAT.
DARNED NIPS, ANOTHER FIFTY MEN AND WE’D HAVE SENT THEM PACKING.
YEP, NO QUESTION. THEY JUST HAD NUMBERS ON US.
THE WITHDRAWAL WAS DISORGANISED AND THE AMERICANS SOON BECAME ISOLATED IN SMALL GROUPS. AS EDDIE’S SQUAD HURRIED DOWN A TRAIL, WITHOUT WARNING GUNFIRE SCYTHED FROM THE TREES. HNG!
AMBUSH! THEY GOT THE SARGE!
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10 THE G.I.s TRIED TO FIGHT THEIR WAY OUT, BUT IT WAS IN VAIN, THE AMBUSH HAD BEEN TOO WELL SET. EDDIE EMPTIED HIS THOMSON THEN, AS HE RELOADED, HE WAS HIT. COME ON, COME ON... AAAARGH!
HIS SHOULDER SHREDDED, EDDIE COLLAPSED INTO SOME BUSHES. BARELY CONSCIOUS, HE WATCHED IN AGONY AS THE JAPANESE EXECUTED THE LAST OF HIS SQUAD.
THE SLAUGHTER OVER, THE JAPANESE MOVED ON, LAUGHING AND JOKING AS THEY DISAPPEARED BACK INTO THE TREES.
THOSE EVIL RATS.
AMERICAN DOG!
WHAT ARE THEY DOING?
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Not every confrontation
between United States Marines and the Imperial Japanese Army took place in the steamy jungles of the South Pacific. The battle for Manila in the Philippines was a house-to-house struggle, pure and simple. This didn’t bother Marine Eddie Novak. In the war’s early fighting he’d lost buddies and now he was out for revenge, no matter when — or where — he got the chance.
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