Author: Lt.-Comm. Melvyn H. McCoy Publisher: Pickle Partners Publishing ISBN: 1839742003 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 101
Book Description
Escape on Mindanao is U.S. Navy Lieutenant Commander Melvyn H McCoy's account of his wartime experiences in the Philippines: the defense and fall of Corregidor Island, the Bataan Death March, his internment in Camp Cabanatuan, his transfer to Bilibid Prison in Manila, and finally being sent to the Davao Penal Colony on Mindanao. From the Davao camp, McCoy escaped and led nine other servicemen and two Filipinos on a hazardous journey to a rendezvous with an American submarine which would take them to freedom and safety in Australia. His daily log provides an insight into the dangers the escapees faced, the difficulties in travelling in the jungles and swamps of Mindanao, harrowing encounters with Japanese patrols, and heartwarming accounts of the generosity and assistance of Filipino citizens and guerrillas along the way. For his service, McCoy was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The commendation read as follows: The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918, takes pleasure in presenting the Distinguished Service Cross to Commander [then Lieutenant Commander] Melvyn Harvey McCoy, United States Navy, for extraordinary heroism in action in the Philippine Islands, from 4 April to 9 July 1943. After eleven months as a Prisoner of War, and in weakened physical condition, Commander McCoy outwitted the Japanese guards on 4 April 1943, escaped from a prison camp, eluding pursuing patrols, and made his way on foot and by small boat from the vicinity of Davao to northern Mindanao. Hearing of a United States force in Misamis Occidental he contrived to reach its headquarters on foot and by launch. Arrangements for his evacuation having been made, he continued on foot through enemy-occupied territory. By using mountain trails, he avoided capture by numerous Japanese patrols and arrived at the rendezvous. Commander McCoy's courage in the face of great danger and his fortitude despite his physical weakness enabled him to escape and to rejoin the United States forces with information of great military value.
Author: John D. Lukacs Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1439180431 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 450
Book Description
On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the story of one of the most remarkable incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.
Author: Russ Long Publisher: iUniverse ISBN: 0595272878 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 244
Book Description
Tim McClellan was kidnapped for the second time by Moro Separatist on Mindanao Island. His fellow employees tracked his captors through the jungles and commandeered a dhow to deliver a death-dealing explosion on their way to Zamboanga.
Author: Ross E. Hofmann Publisher: McFarland ISBN: 1476665680 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 227
Book Description
U.S. Navy Supply Corps Ensign Ross Hofmann had no idea what was in store for him when he arrived at Cavite Naval Base in October 1941. Two months later, Japanese forces struck the Philippines, destroying the base and forcing U.S. personnel to retreat to Bataan. There, Hofmann joined a makeshift unit of Army Aircorps ground personnel, U.S. Marines, U.S. sailors, U.S. Naval ground battalions and Filipinos to fight a Japanese force that landed nearby. In March 1942, with the fall of Bataan imminent, he traveled to Cebu to run supplies through the blockade of Bataan and Corregidor. Soon after his arrival, the Japanese landed on Cebu, forcing the Americans to retreat again. Hiking through jungles and crossing dangerous waters in barely seaworthy vessels, Hofmann avoided capture and reached an American base in Mindanao. He received orders to establish a seaplane base on Lake Lanao. As Japanese troops landed nearby, two seaplanes returning from Corregidor stopped to refuel, one of them hitting a submerged rock on take-off. In a harrowing race against the enemy advance, Hofmann and others worked feverishly to fix the plane and escape before the Japanese converged on Lake Lanao. This memoir recounts Hofmann's experiences in vivid detail. Instructors considering this book for use in a course may request an examination copy here.
Author: John D. Lukacs Publisher: Simon and Schuster ISBN: 1668021331 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 448
Book Description
The “riveting” (John Wukovits, author of Admiral “Bull” Halsey) and all-but-unknown account of ten American prisoners of war who escaped from a Japanese prison during World War II. On April 4, 1943, ten American prisoners of war and two Filipino convicts executed a daring escape from one of Japan’s most notorious prison camps. The prisoners were survivors of the infamous Bataan Death March and the Fall of Corregidor, and the prison from which they escaped was surrounded by an impenetrable swamp and reputedly escape-proof. Theirs was the only successful group escape from a Japanese POW camp during the Pacific war. Escape from Davao is the “remarkable” (Bill Sloan, author of Brotherhood of Heroes) story of one of the most extraordinary incidents in the Second World War and of what happened when the Americans returned home to tell the world what they had witnessed. Davao Penal Colony, on the southern Philippine island of Mindanao, was a prison plantation where thousands of American POWs toiled alongside Filipino criminals and suffered from tropical diseases and malnutrition, as well as the cruelty of their captors. The American servicemen were rotting in a hellhole from which escape was considered impossible, but ten of them, realizing that inaction meant certain death, planned to escape. Their bold plan succeeded with the help of Filipino allies, both patriots and the guerrillas who fought the Japanese sent to recapture them. Their trek to freedom repeatedly put the Americans in jeopardy, yet they eventually succeeded in returning home to the United States to fulfill their self-appointed mission: to tell Americans about Japanese atrocities and to rally the country to the plight of their comrades still in captivity. But the government and the military had a different timetable for the liberation of the Philippines and ordered the men to remain silent. Their testimony, when it finally emerged, galvanized the nation behind the Pacific war effort and made the men celebrities. Over the decades this remarkable story, called the “greatest story of the war in the Pacific” by the War Department in 1944, has faded away. Because of wartime censorship, the full story has never been told until now. John D. Lukacs spent years researching this heroic event, interviewing survivors, reading their letters, searching archival documents, and traveling to the decaying prison camp and its surroundings. His dramatic, gripping account of the escape brings this remarkable tale back to life, where a new generation can admire the resourcefulness and patriotism of the men who fought the Pacific war.
Author: Sarah Halvorsen Publisher: AuthorHouse ISBN: 1477224831 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 132
Book Description
Meet Pilar, a captivating, feisty sixteen-year-old Filipina girl, who watches as war steadily creeps across her beloved island. When Japanese soldiers unexpectedly storm the village, Pilar escapes by hiding in a prickly pineapple plant. After witnessing the atrocities from her hiding place, she feels emotionally shattered, yet she discovers an inner strength and depth of courage she hadnt realized she possessed. Pilar flees into the highland jungle carrying her baby sister, the only survivor she can find after the deadly attack. Despite her harrowing experiences, Pilar boldly determines that shell work for the resistance. She falls in love with an American soldier aiding the Filipino guerilla forces. Will her newfound love be enough to bring the emotional healing Pilar so desperately needs? And will Pilar ever resolve her struggles with her faith, sparked when God seems so conspicuously absent in this time of war?
Author: D. W. Chambers Publisher: Trafford Publishing ISBN: 1426928807 Category : Fiction Languages : en Pages : 386
Book Description
During the Second World War, the Japanese took control of the Philippines, driving the United States forces from the islands. While in control the Japanese confiscated and stockpiled immense amounts of gold and other treasures and hid the plunder in caves, vaults, and private homes throughout the Philippines while awaiting shipment to Japan. Most of that treasure never reached Japan. In the sixty-five years since then, many treasure hunters have roamed the islands searching for the bounty. Although some of the riches has been found, the majority still remains hidden throughout the islands. Mindanao Gold is the story of a group of treasure hunters in search of that hidden treasure. The adventure takes two energetic young miners from the safe confines of Elko, Nevada, to the treacherous jungles on the island of Mindanao. Follow them as they attempt to find and retrieve the gold and escape dangerous Muslim bandits. What price will they pay in their quest for the gold?
Author: Frank Ephraim Publisher: University of Illinois Press ISBN: 0252091116 Category : History Languages : en Pages : 250
Book Description
A harrowing account of Jewish refugees in the Philippines With the rise of Nazism in the 1930s more than a thousand European Jews sought refuge in the Philippines, joining the small Jewish population of Manila. When the Japanese invaded the islands in 1941, the peaceful existence of the barely settled Jews filled with the kinds of uncertainties and oppression they thought they had left behind. In this book Frank Ephraim, who fled to Manila with his parents, gathers the testimonies of thirty-six refugees, who describe the difficult journey to Manila, the lives they built there upon their arrival, and the events surrounding the Japanese invasion. Combining these accounts with historical and archival records, Manila newspapers, and U.S. government documents, Ephraim constructs a detailed account of this little-known chapter of world history.
Author: Lt.-Comm. Melvyn H. McCoy
Author: John D. Lukacs
Author: Russ Long
Author: Lawrence Cortesi
Author: Ross E. Hofmann
Author: John D. Lukacs
Author: Antonio Reyes Enriquez
Author: Sarah Halvorsen
Author: D. W. Chambers
Author: Frank Ephraim