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Post by Bob Hudson on Sept 4, 2012 12:57:19 GMT 8
Please go to my photobucket page s972.photobucket.com/albums/ae207/BataanSon/Chick%20Parson%20Report%20to%20State%20Dept%20August%201942/ and read the Chick Parsons report to the State Dept in August 1942. It's 57 pages in length and gives a pretty thorough picture of the life in Manila shortly after the surrender. Parsons fooled the Japanese into believing he was the Consul to the Philippines from Panama even though he was an American. He spoke Spanish fluently. In this report, he lists the names of some 200 people, civilians and servicemen, including my father. He gives an in depth report on conditions at Santo Tomas. I know that the first public reports of the cruelty and horrors of the Death March are attributed to the Dyess group escape, but you can plainly read Parsons detailing the horror of the Death March and the high death counts at Camp O'Donnell. 8-1 being Filipino deaths. We can thank the Dyess group for eventually making the news public, but our government knew two years earlier of the atrocities on Bataan and Camp O'Donnell. It angers me to some extent that although my father was confirmed to be a POW in the Parsons report in 1942, my grandparents never knew until 1944 that my father was alive. There are many recognizable names in this list including Lt. Henry Lee, Brig, Gen. Pierce, Gen. Fidel Segundo, J.P Utinsky and Gen. Wainwright to mention a few. This is a compelling view of life under the direction of the Japanese shortly after their occupation of Manila and the surrender of Bataan and Corregidor.
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Post by chadhill on Sept 4, 2012 23:21:18 GMT 8
Bob, I read Parson's report at your site and it is an eye opener. Now it is apparent that Secretary of State Hull (and of course then FDR) knew about the Death March and the Camp O'Donnell deaths as early as August 1942. I have never heard of Parson's report before and IMHO this is a historic document that you posted. I wonder if the historians are aware of it.
Great work, Bob.
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Post by Bob Hudson on Sept 5, 2012 1:19:56 GMT 8
U.S. policy was Europe first and news of Philippine events would have created such an outcry that FDR may have been forced to do more in the Pacific. Yet I see no reason the families of the two hundred men on that list could not have been notified that they were alive and prisoners of war. I have not taken the time to ascertain, if even possible, the fate of each man on Parsons list. I only know that Lt. Henry Lee did not survive the war. This document was given to me by Fred Baldassarre a number of years ago because my fathers name was on it. I am unaware of its origin.
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Post by Bob Hudson on Sept 5, 2012 1:25:02 GMT 8
That last sentence sounded rather unintelligent. I know its origin of course but not how Baldassarre came to have his copy. I spoke with Peter Parsons last year in Manila about it but didn't think of asking him if he had sent it to Fred.
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Post by EXO on Sept 5, 2012 4:52:09 GMT 8
I was just skyping with Peter, and he was indeed the source of the document to Fred Baldassarre. The document had been posted on the Chick Parsons website, along with a cartload of other original and rare materials.
The materials are now a permanent part of the collection at the MacArthur Memorial, Norfolk VA.
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Post by chadhill on Sept 5, 2012 5:46:15 GMT 8
U.S. policy was Europe first and news of Philippine events would have created such an outcry that FDR may have been forced to do more in the Pacific. As John Lukacs related in his well researched book "Escape From Davao", when Ed Dyess returned to the USA the government didn't know what to do with him and his story, so they tried to shut him up by at first quarantining him at Ashford Hospital (formerly the Greenbrier Resort) in White Sulphur Springs, WV. He was placed under a gag order and faced possible criminal proceedings if he made unauthorized disclosures about his experiences. On 9 September 1943, FDR wrote a SECRET memorandum to SECWAR and SECNAV directing them to prevent the publication or circulation of any stories from escaped POWs until he personally authorized such. See Chapter 18, "Duty". In January 1991 I visited Mrs. Hallie Dyess (Ed's mother) in Albany, Texas. Although well into her 90s she was still very sharp. Among other things, she told me that when Ed Dyess visited Albany he was followed by government men, and that the phone at the Dyess' home was bugged. I passed this and other information on to Lukacs in 2006 (p. 294, p. 399 n).
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Post by okla on Sept 5, 2012 9:07:36 GMT 8
Hey Chad.....I find our government's actions pertaining to Ed Dyess's "furlough", etc in his Albany, Texas home town rather disturbing. To think that this former POW was "bird dogged" by his own government after what he had gone thru in the previous months hacks me off to say the least. Being a POW of the Japanese and then placed in what I regard as"house arrest" by your own government is, indeed, questionable behavior. They even threaten him with more time in a prison pen after being interned by the Emperor. He could have done that sentence standing on his head. I suppose I am just not "getting" the big picture here, but nevertheless this doesn't pass the "smell test" with me. Just my humble. Cheers. Postscript....I suppose one could say that I am with Admiral Ernest King in his view of the "Europe First" policy, but what do I know??? Some folks probably would say, "very damned little".
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Post by Karl Welteke on Sept 5, 2012 10:30:37 GMT 8
Chick Parson’s son Peter had a great web page called: (Secret War in the Pacific) but he took it down and turned things over to the MacArthur Museum. I’m real sorry that he did. It was a lot of material. Much of it I managed to download and save. The report to the State Dept. I don’t recall seeing but there was a report to Gen. MacArthur in June 1943. I got that and if possible will upload it sometime. Here are a few items from that webpage: The Home Page Picture: The Mini Bio part 1: The Mini Bio part 2: This picture was not labeled but I assume it is Chick Parsons as secretary with his boss the Philippine Island Territory Governor General Leonard Woods.
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Post by chadhill on Sept 5, 2012 11:13:22 GMT 8
After returning to the USA, Ed Dyess entered the high security wing of Ashford General Hospital on September 5, 1943. Lukacs found the following FDR memo at NARA, RG 208, BOX 2. * * * * * THE WHITE HOUSE WASHINGTON September 9, 1943 SECRET MEMORANDUM FOR: The Secretary of War The Secretary of the Navy Subject: Japanese Atrocities-Reports of by Escaped Prisoners 1. I agree with your opinion that any publication of Japanese atrocities at this time might complicate the present and future missions of the GRIPSHOLM and increase the mistreatment of prisoners now in Japanese hands. I request, therefore, that you take effective measures to prevent the publication or circulation of any stories emanating from escaped prisoners until I have authorized a release. 2. It might be well for the Joint Chiefs of Staff to make recommendation as to the moment when I should inform the country of the mistreatment of our nationals. signed/FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT Copy to: Admiral Leahy * * * * * I would suggest that by addressing both SECNAV (Frank Knox) and Admiral Leahy, FDR wanted to ensure that Commander Melvyn McCoy USN was muzzled. McCoy was the main brain behind the escape from Davao and, if I recall correctly, the senior officer in the group. Mrs. Dyess told me that Ed Dyess regarded him with some disfavor because he (McCoy) "pulled rank on him" at some point. The GRIPSHOLM was a Swedish merchant ship that would carry food and medical supplies for Allied POWs in the Pacific. As Bob has stated above, there was also a very real "Europe First" strategy that FDR, his Cabinet, and the Joint Chiefs wanted to remain intact, free from public demands for reprisals against the Japanese for war crimes. I would guess that is why FDR indicated he wanted the J-Cs to recommend to him when to allow the POW stories to be released. Lukacs presents a very strong case that "Europe First" was the real reason behind restraining the Death March, O'Donnell and Cabanatuan stories. As we now know, our government had apparently known of the atrocities long before the GRIPSHOLM became relevant. They had known about it since August 1942. Ok, I'm done preachin'
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Post by EXO on Sept 5, 2012 19:13:43 GMT 8
I have an "approval in principle" from Peter Parsons to resurrect the Chick Parsons website as a part of our little group.
Peter and I are hoping that this can be done from a backup copy made shortly prior to its closure. May the Great Gods of the computer give us favorable winds to sail by.
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