Corregidor G. I

Corregidor

G. I.

by Staff Sergeant JEROME B. LEEK Former Member of Headquarters Battery, 60th C.A.C. (AA) Fort Mills, Corregidor, P.1.

o

1948

HIGHLAND PRESS CULVER CITY,

.

CALIFORNIA

Copyright applied for

by JEROME B. LEEK all rights reserved

"The material in this volume has been reviewed by the War Department Public Relations Division as eviden,ced by their stamp of 21 July, 1947, which reads as follows; 'No objection to publication on grounds of military security or policy. Review of material for military security does not imply War Department indorsement of factual accuracy or opinion.' " -

WAR

DEPARTMENT

PUBLIC

RELATIONS

DIVISION

A pprecia tion I wish to' express my thanks and mDst sincere appreciatiDn to' the fDllDwing fDr their whDle hearted cD-DperatiDn in my enterpri:se: the AssDciated P~ess, Time and Life Magazines, the United States Army Signal CDrps, and to Mr. Eddie Murphy, Df the San FranciscO' News, fDr pictures I have used thrDughDut . the manuscript; to Mr. ThDmas R. Lee, San MarinO', CalifDrnia, fDr the use Df his late sDn's (Lt. Henry G. Lee's) pDems; to' t he Saturday Evening PDSt whO' printed two Df Lt. Lee's pDems, 'Prison Camp Reverie' and 'An ExecutiDn' ; and to' Miss June Gallup, LincDln, CalifDrnia, and Mrs.. Chester SDldate, Jr., Petaluma, who typed my manuscript.

Before

Picture by Sunset Studio, Petaluma, California, m July, 1940. Weight then 2 I 0 pounds.

After RESCUED YANK CHECKS HIS GIFTS Sgt. J erom e B. L eek, Petaluma, California, sorts his Red Cross comfort items after reaching an Army hospital in Luzon, P. I., following his rescue from the Jap prison cam p at Cabanatuan.

Above picture a nd caption use d with the compliments of the Associated Press. My weight at the time was go pounds.

Dedication I want to dedicate this book to all the men and women who fought in the defense of the Philippine Islands, 8 December 1941 to 6 May 1942.

Preface In May, 1941, ten men left the 250th Coast Artillery regiment, then stationed at Camp McQuaide, California, for duty with the Regular Army in the Philippine Islands.

Three of those men arc alive today: Harvey Hunter of Staples, Minn., Thomas Hennessey of Tacoma, Wash., and 1.

Of seventy-two men who entered the 60th Coast Artillary regiment at Fort Mills, Corregidor, Phillipine Islands on 24 June 1941, I was the only one liberated at Cabanatuan, Nueva Ecija, Luzon, P.1. on 30 January 1945 by Lieutenant Colonel Henry J. Mucci and his gallant Sixth Rangers. It is my most sincere desire not to portray myself as a hero in this book. I did not make the Death March out of Bataan, and I did not go for a 'cruise' in a filthy slave ~hip to Japan. Men who survived either or both of those ordeals can tell of an experience much more strenuous then mine.

The following officers and enlisted men of myoId Corregidor battery are dead; Lieutenant Colonel Elvin Barr, Major Thomas K. MacNair, Captains Albert Darcy, Willis Scrivenor, Arthur Waid and Albert Wilcox, Second Lt. Jack Taylor, M j Sgt Herbert Andrews, F jSgts Kenneth Sietler and William Glaab, T j Sgt Thomas Howard, Sj Sgt Strother Nicely, Sgt Charles Hubbard, CpIs Bernard Brodsky, Richard Fallon, Edward O'Toole and Glen Rauhauser, and Privates Steve Bendes, James Brown, William Casto, Adam Cisanero, Howard Ekre, Fred Fleming, Henry Gallagher, Andrew Gibbs, Sammy Glover, Floyd Goode, James Haggerty, Willard Hansen, Herbert Head, Thomas Jobb, William Miller, Robert Patoile, Phillip Paul, Louis Polidoro, Chester Rea, Willard Seymour, Leon Skabicki, William Thatcher and Archie White. Those men died that freedom of democracy may survive tyranny and oppression. THEY ARE THE HEROES OF THIS BOOK. In Cabanatuan prison camp, the subject of conversa-

tion was continually the same, 'FOOD.' Thousands of recipes were invented; restaurants, cafes, hamburger stands etc. were bought, sold, and traded. Quite often, someone would remark, "When I get out of here and write a book about this etc." I did get out, thank God. I did not buy a restaurant, cafe or hamburger stand, but this is my attempt at 'a book about this.' I hope the reader likes this manuscript; I hope the survivors of the Phillipine Defense like it. It is my viewpoint as I saw it, and it is written by strictly an amateur. However, this is my effort on 'a book about this.'

:y:::u;:';:: I H F. R I T ,\ Co F.

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Roderick Hall CoIl. I 13596 D767.4L441948 Corregidor G. 1.1 by Staff Sergeant Jerome B. Leek

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