Reporter finds wife among 3,700 rescued in Jap camp at Manila
Allied civilians cry hysterical welcome to liberating U.S. soldiers
By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer
MANILA, Philippines (Feb. 3, delayed) – Some 3,700 thin, hungry Allied civilians, 2,500 of them Americans, cried a hysterical welcome to liberating American troops at the Santo Tomas University internment camp tonight.
Among them was my wife, Virginia, from whom I parted on New Year’s Eve of 1942 to go to Bataan with Gen. Douglas MacArthur. She had insisted on staying behind in Manila as a nurse in Santa Catalina Hospital.
I found her there today, recovering from a nervous breakdown. Doctors said she would be fully recovered now if she had had sufficient good food. Though never a big girl, her weight has dropped to 80 pounds. But I found her in excellent spirits.
Routed quickly
The Japs were routed quickly from most of the buildings in the camp area, but were still holding out in the former education building of Santo Tomas University late tonight with nearly 300 American, Dutch and British internees as semi-hostages.
Troops of Brig. Gen. William C. Chase’s mechanized flying column surrounded the building, but hesitated to use machine guns or other automatic weapons for fear of hitting the civilians.
Shout engagement
The civilians, nonetheless, shouted encouragement and advice from the windows of the besieged building. They included many women and children.
Hewlett, in a later dispatch, said a truce was arranged under which the 221 internees were released unharmed and the Jap force of 65 men under Col. Hayashi was permitted to leave the university area unmolested.
The internees were so overjoyed at the arrival of the American troops that they insisted on lifting them to their thin, emaciated shoulders and carrying the soldiers through the buildings.
Conditions ‘pitiful’
Robert Crabb, another member of the former United Press staff in Manila, his wife and two children were among those set free.
Gen. Chase, after a personal inspection of the concentration camp, described conditions as “most pitiful.” Most of the internees, he said, were suffering from malnutrition and were “practically skin and bones.”
“It would break your heart to look at them,” he said.
Relief convoy waiting
He urged that first priority should be given food and medical supplies for the internees.
A broadcast from Luzon said great motor convoys with doctors, Red Cross staff men and enough equipment to build a large hospital were waiting north of Manila to enter the city as soon as bridges were restored. They were also bringing 12,000 letters and other messages to the internees, the broadcast said.
Gen. Chase’s flying column, consisting of a small force of tanks, jeeps and troop-laden trucks, shoved off at 1:00 this morning on a reckless dash over a seldom-used, rough road into Manila from the northeast. The toughest fight of the day came at Novaliches, 10 miles from the capital, but brushes with the enemy were frequent all along the route.
Bypass Japs
Lt. Col. Haskett Conner Jr. of Wakeman, Indiana, led this special force which undertook the mercy errand on special orders from Gen. MacArthur, who ordered them to take any risks to get through to Santo Tomas, liberate the civilians and then protect them until stronger forces could be brought up.
Col. Conner bypassed several pockets of Jap resistance without slowing down. Our force exchanged fire with the Japs, then roared on by.
Four former Manila residents – Phil Dunn of CBS; Carl Mydans of Life; Dean Schedler of Associated Press and I – made the trip together in one vehicle. Snipers and machine guns firing on both sides of the road had us ducking most of the afternoon.
Opposition weakens
Strangely, the nearer we came to Manila, the lighter the opposition was. As we passed each kilometer, someone would remark: “Hell’s going to bust loose any minute now.”
But as we reached Grace Park airdrome, which is littered with wrecked Jap aircraft, the sniper fire was lessening. We sped past Del Norte, Manila’s greatest cemetery, then into Avenue Rizal.
We moved down Avenue Rizal several blocks, then the columns split with half of it taking up perimeter positions and the remainder moving on to Santo Tomas.
Vehicles mobbed
Civilians moved our vehicle, cheering and offering us portions of their meager food supplies. They passed out iced water, beer and liquor. The women were weeping while the men saluted and children squealed in delight.
But the Santo Tomas reception was even more delirious.
A grenade hurled from the Jap guardhouse at the entrance to the prison camp delayed us until tanks were brought up under the orders of Maj. James Gearhart of Sante Fe, New Mexico, a range officer who says he knew personally almost every New Mexico National Guardsman taken prisoner on Bataan.
Told to hold fire
Maj. Gearhart led his men into the 55-scre university grounds, warning them to hold their fire and not endanger the lives of the internees. Creeping along the buildings for what seemed an eternity Mr. Mydans and myself reached the main building where the windows were filed with excited faces. The internees were yelling so loudly we couldn’t distinguish anything they were saying.
We entered the building and were mobbed. The women kissed us and then these thin, starved people lifted us on their shoulders – an honor that should have been reserved for Col. Conner and his men. But Col. Conner’s forces were still busy outside killing Japs.
Wife at hospital
I found a little girl who could answer the question which was foremost in my mind. She told me where I could find my wife and kindly offered to accompany me to the hospital where Mrs. Hewlett was held.
It was a reunion after years about which I do not want to think.
The Americans here have suffered terribly since last June when the Japs forbade them to purchase food from the outside. Conditions have been especially bad in the last two months. The ration has not been more than 700 calories a day.
The rescue was the second mass release of Allied prisoners in five nights. Last Tuesday night, American Rangers and Filipino guerillas released more than 500 American and other Allied war prisoners at the Cabanatuan concentration camp north of Manila.
