The Naked Soldier Maj. Jesse M. Baltazar, USAF (Ret)
First Edition Design Publishing Sarasota, Florida, USA
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The Naked Soldier Copyright ©2016 Jesse M. Baltazer ISBN 978-1506-901-66-4 PRINT ISBN 978-1506-901-67-1 EBOOK LCCN 2016934308 February 2016 Published and Distributed by First Edition Design Publishing, Inc. P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217 www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com
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ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. No part of this book publication may be reproduced, stored in a rerrieval system, or transmirred in any form or by any means - electronic, mechanical, photo-copy, recording, or any other - except brief quotation in reviews, without the prior permission of the author or publisher.
This book is dedicated to my family To all the American and Filipino members of the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) and recognized guerrillas, living and dead, who participated in the defense of the Philippines and The Free World. And to all the brave men and women everywhere who are fighting for the universal ideals of justice, peace and freedom.
FOREWORD History books and literatures have taught us the countless heroic stories of decorated soldiers who fought for freedom in the fight against the Imperial Japanese Army during World War II. In pursuit of liberation, armed forces from the United States of America, the Philippines and other countries formed alliances and battled hand-in-hand to combat the radical enemy. The war had resulted to thousands of casualties and ravaged properties, but it also left us a life lesson that is worth remembering and learning from. Major Jesse Mallares Baltazar, USAF (Ret) depicted in this book, "The Naked Soldier", his personal quest in defending the lands, both the USA and the Philippines, he 'swore to protect. As a retired major of the United States Air Force (USAF) of Philippine ancestry and a survivor of the infamous Philippine Bataan Death March during World War II, Major Baltazar reminds us of the sacrifice and gallantry of all the Filipino, American and other Allied soldiers, as well as civilians, who paid the ultimate price in the fight for freedom. The book tells an inspiring story of how the author and his fellow brave soldiers fought the brutal war in a seemingly endless battle against the hostile forces. Major Baltazar remembered the bravery and heroism of the Filipino and American soldiers who, most especially, walked the infamous Death March in April of 1942. He witnessed the cruelty and injustice displayed during the crucial time and he has laid his stories of this terrible treatment in this book, from his own personal experience, as a survivor of this violent event in history. To strongly portray the reality of the past war, the "Naked Soldier" is divided into two parts. The first part entails the experiences of Major Baltazar in the Pacific Theatre of Operations as a Staff Sergeant in the 71st Division of the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE) under General Douglas MacArthur. His struggle for survival against the war and his miraculous escape from Bataan Death March was accounted in the first half. Likewise, the second part of the book tells the gripping account of Major Baltazar as he finds himself in the middle of the Cold War, the French uprising and the endgame in South Vietnam. Today, Major Baltazar is 93 years of age and a paradox of a man who went through several wars yet lives as a man of peace. He is typical of his generation who never talked about their heroism in the war but never fails to attend the annual ceremony of the Bataan Day of Valor in the
MAJ. JESSE M. BALTAZAR, USAF (RET)
Philippines to commemorate the inequitable gallantry of his contemporaries and the rest of our esteemed war veterans. Indeed, it is laudable that the personal involvement and first-hand information documented in this book are to be shared to the current generation, not only to immortalize the lives lost from the gallant soldiers and innocent civilians during the war, but also to instill into the minds of the current and future generation a story before it becomes a history. Major Baltazar even said it himself the reasons for writing this book One reason, however, stands out among the rest: "The lesson of any war is clear: The world can forgive, and should. But it should never, ever forget injustice-or history, at a terrible cost to human lives and the ideals of democracy-will repeat itself." May the life lessons of "The Naked Soldier" bear in our hearts and inculcate a memory that we shall never forget.
LTGEN ERNESTO G. CAROLINA AFP (RET) Administrator Philippine Veterans Affairs Office Department of National Defense
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The Naked Soldier Maj. Jesse M. Baltazar, USAF (Ret)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
PROLOGUE ...................................................................................................... i
CHAPTER 1 Escape from Bataan Death March: How $20 Saved My Life ........ 1 CHAPTER 2 'PEARL HARBOR ATTACKED BY JAPANESE PLANES!' .... 13 CHAPTER 3 Life in Hospital No.2 ................................................................ 23 CHAPTER 4 Bataan Death March .................................................................. 33 CHAPTER 5 Peace Time - And America Beckons .......................................... 43 CHAPTER 6 Korean War, Counterintelligence Work..................................... 55 CHAPTER 7 Berlin during the Cold War ....................................................... 65 CHAPTER 8 Tension in Paris, Joy in Manila .................................................. 99 CHAPTER 9 Meeting JFK, Joining USAID .................................................. III CHAPTER 10 A Welcome Break .................................................................. 123 CHAPTER 11 Danger Zone in Vietnam ....................................................... 133 CHAPTER 12 Investigation and Security Service .......................................... 143 CHAPTER 13 More Adventures in Foreign Lands ........................................ 151 CHAPTER 14 Japanese WWlI Atrocities: Never Again ................................. 161 CHAPTER 15 One Soldier's Hopes .............................................................. 167
Acknowledgment ........................................................................................... 173 About The Author .......................................................................... ............... 175 APPENDICES .............................................................................................. 177 BIBLIOGRAPHy.......................................................................................... 243
PROLOGUE The Philippines was an American Commonwealth when Japan bombed Pearl Harbor. During the Pacific War, the Philippine Commonwealth Army served under the United States Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE). Countless books and memoirs have been written about the European Theater of Operations during the Second World War. This book endeavors to add to the few volumes out there on the contribution of Filipinos during the Pacific Campaign. In March 1942, with the deterioration of the Allied defense, USAFFE Commander General Douglas MacArthur moved to Australia on the orders of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. For the next three years, we were left on our own. As we said then, "We are the Battling Bastards of Bataan. No mama, no papa, no Uncle Sam, and nobody gives a damn!" But we never gave up as we declared, "We are The Fighting Filipinos. We will always fight for freedom. Even with no nanay (mother), no tatay (father), no Uncle Sam, and nobody gives a damn!" When Bataan fell, some 80,000 Filipinos and Americans walked the infamous Death March in April of 1942. I was one of them. I witnessed and experienced terrible things no human being should ever have to go through. In this shameful treatment of Allied Prisoners of War (POWs) as well as civilians, approximately 10,000 men and women lost their lives. The injustice to Filipino fighters in 1946 with the war won likewise motivated me to write this book. On July 26, 1941 President Roosevelt issued a Military Order, anticipating the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. In it he declared "Under and by virtue of the authority vested in me ... as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, I hereby call and order into the service of the Armed Forces of the United States for the period of the existing emergency ... all of the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines." This Military Order was never rescinded. The Rescission Act of 1946 retroactively denied official recognition of our military service when the Philippines was a U.S. Commonwealth and Filipinos were considered American nationals; it therefore denied us the benefits that we deserve. This law, now Title 38, Section 107 of the U.s. Code, has never been repealed. Full text of this law follows: "Service before July 1, 1946, in the organized military forces of the Government of the Commonwealth of the Philippines, while such forces were in the service of the Armed Forces of
MAJ. JESSE M. SALTAZAR, USAF (RET)
the United States pursuant to the Military Order of the President dated July 26, 1941, including among such military forces organized guerrilla forces under commanders appointed, designated, or subsequently recognized by the Commander in Chief, Southwest Pacific Area, or other competent authority in the Army of the United States, shall not be
deemed to have been active military, naval, or air service for the purposes of any law of the United States conferring rights, privileges, or benefits upon any person by reason of the service of such person or the service of any other person in the Armed Forces." (Emphasis supplied.)
The Philippines was the only country in Asia which mounted sustained resistance against the Imperial Japanese Army during the Second World War. Some 120,000 Philippine Commonwealth Army soldiers with resistance units fought valiantly alongside Allied forces. Doubtless we served as courageously as our American counterparts. Our contributions helped to disrupt the Japanese timetable in 1942, at a point when the Japanese were expanding unchecked through the Western Pacific. It is also well documented that for 90 days, Philippine Commonwealth Army and American soldiers - despite disease, shortage of food, lack of ammunition, obsolete and malfunctioning military hardware, and hostile jungle terrain had battled a well-supplied invading Japanese Army. We were naked soldiers who fought against all odds and never gave up on our path to victory. To be sure, without Filipino troops and resistance units that continued to fight long after the Fall of Bataan on April 9, 1 ~42, the liberation of the Philippine Islands would have taken much longer; it would have resulted in greater American casualties and heavier financial burden on the U.S. President Harry S. Truman recognized this fact. In his May 18, 1946 letter to the President of the Senate and to the Speaker of the House, he noted, "The records of the Philippine soldiers for bravery and loyalty is second to none." He added, "There can be no question but that the Philippine veteran is entitled to benefits in reasonable relation to those received by the American veteran with whom he fought side by side." Likewise, he sharply criticized the language of the Rescission Act in a letter to Congress dated May 26, 1947. He said he considered it "a moral obligation of the United States" to look after the welfare of the Filipino veterans. I am outraged that we were not treated right. One day we were serving under the U.S. flag, and after July 4, 1946, our services were not recognized. A great many of my Filipino comrades who fought valiantly in the war but did not suffer any battle-related mishaps have not received ii
THE NAKED SOLDIER
full veteran benefits, compared with those of us with service-related injury or ailment. I am not ungrateful. I am grateful that America, a beacon of freedom and justice, has endeavored to address this issue over the years. There are laws that now grant medical and burial benefits to non-serviceconnected Filipino veterans and expand benefits to their serviceconnected counterparts. The u.s. Congress passed legislation granting surviving Filipino and Filipino American veterans equity pension. President Barack Obama signed it into law on February 17, 2009. I am grateful that I survived the Bataan Death March even with an infected left leg. This is largely due to my crucial treatment in an American field hospital and later, to the abundance of medicinal trees and herbs in the Philippines that I used to treat my wound. I believe in democracy. I believe in America, which has always stood on the right side of history and sought to address omissions of the past. I view The Rescission Act of 1946 as a political issue, particularly as President Truman, the American Legion, the American Veterans, and the National Association for Uniformed Services strongly opposed it. Be that as it may, I harbor hope that the Rescission Act of 1946 (Title 38, Section 107 of the U.S. Code) will one day be repealed in this greatest nation on earth. I have been asked many times, "Do you hate the Japanese? My answer has always been, "NO." War is terrible. In war, men, women and children will die. But the massacre inflicted by the Japanese officers and enlisted men on innocent civilians ... men, women and children ... cannot be forgotten. The lesson of any war is clear: The world can forgive, and should. But it should never, ever forget injustice or history - at a terrible cost to human lives and the ideals of democracy - will repeat itself.
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The Naked Soldier Jesse M. Baltazar
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