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Post by dmether on Feb 17, 2012 19:20:46 GMT 8
Eugene C. Commander, after rescue from Cabanatuan. Attachments:
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Post by dmether on Feb 17, 2012 19:26:23 GMT 8
L to R, Navy gunners mate Clarance Hall, British Army Sgt. Robert Bell Burnley, Army Capt. Robert Duncan (in cart) after liberation from Cabanatuan. Attachments:
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Post by okla on Feb 17, 2012 22:27:21 GMT 8
He Dmether...I wonder how a Brit Army Sergeant made his way to Cabanatuan. Just curious. I know that American survivors of the USS Houston and some from a Texas National Guard outfit, who were unfortunate enough to be caught down in Java, wound up in prison pens mostly made up of UK POWs in Thailand,etc, but this lone British soldier in the Philippines intrigues me. Now I have another tidbit to drive me up the wall.Thanks for posting.
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Post by chadhill on Mar 30, 2012 7:34:48 GMT 8
Dmether, that text was very interesting. Great find! Unfortunately, I have not read much about the 1945 rescue, but here is something that struck me as unusual. Abie Abraham was a POW at Cabanatuan. In his 1971 book "Ghost of Bataan Speaks" (p. 132-133) he mentions that in January 1945 a US helicopter, with a P-38 flying CAP, flew over the camp and attempted to drop a pre-raid message to the POWs. However, the message was blown beyond the men's reach and was not recovered. I was not aware that US copters even saw overseas service during WW2. A search on the 'net revealed that the Sikorsky R-4 and R-6 saw limited service in the Pacific and China. Sikorsky R-4 Sikorsky R-6 (in China during 1945) Does anyone have any further information on this helicopter excursion to Cabanatuan in January 1945?
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Post by sherwino on Mar 30, 2012 13:53:54 GMT 8
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Post by dmether on Apr 1, 2012 19:20:04 GMT 8
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Post by sherwino on Apr 2, 2012 11:08:09 GMT 8
dmether, chad
I'm wondering if it's really a chopper that Abie saw. Could it be one of the P-61 black widows that flew too low across the prison camp? They were used to divert the guards' attention while the rescuers move in. He might have thought(thru his recollection years after the rescue) that it was a chopper because of it's unusual appearance. It would be detrimental to the rescue operation to drop some leaflets on the camp. The Japs would be alerted.
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Post by dmether on Apr 2, 2012 11:24:23 GMT 8
I agree, and not too healthy for the helicopter pilot to fly slow and low enough to drop a piece of paper, might get shot pretty quick. I've heard about the P-61 being used as a diversion, but never a helo.
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Post by okla on Apr 3, 2012 5:51:02 GMT 8
Hey Guys....I can well understand how a POW, penned up for nearly three years might mistake a twin boom, two engine fighter/fighter bomber for maybe a helicopter,etc. These guys hadn't seen anything of this design before. Somewhere, way back when, I read that some POWs (I don't recall the prison camp) thought the first GIs they saw were Germans because of the change in helmet style. No more Sergeant York, WW 1 types that they had discarded when the white flag was run up, but the rounded "steel pot" which was completely alien to these poor souls. I guess to them these new style helmets might resemble the German "coal bucket". Just thought I would throw this little tidbit out there. I am sure that three years behind the wire can screw up a prisoners mind in lots of different ways. Isolation with no info from the outside would, I am sure, play Hell with the mental angle. Cheers.
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Post by EXO on Apr 3, 2012 10:44:24 GMT 8
Not only helmets, Okla. Al McGrew impressed upon me how completely 'foreign' the new US Army was to the Army which surrendered him on Corregidor in 1942. New uniforms entirely, new vehicles, new weapons, new ways of supply, the cornucopia of rations and munitions, and new attitudes of confidence exuding from overwhelming energy and drive. Al, who liked to read Sci-Fi pulp fiction as a teen, likened it to meeting people so different, they were almost like from another planet.
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