Founded December 22, 1933. Incorporated 1955. P.O. Box 3576, Salinas, CA 93912. (831) 757-8085.

The MontereyCounty Historical Society

News from

October 2004

It has been 50 years since the survivingmembers of Company C, 194th Tank Battalion,were liberated from Japanese prison camps. Inhonor of those indomitable men, I am writing athree-part history of the company in peace andwar. It is also a tribute to those fallen CompanyC tankers who died during World War II in theservice of their country; in combat and theirbrutal prisoner of war ordeal.

The Salinas company was organized asTroop C, Cavalry, National Guard of Californiaon August 5, 1895.It was the firstguard unit formedin the CentralCoast region andwas headquarteredin the new brick ar-mory at the cornerof Salinas and Al-isal Streets in Sali-nas, California. Thecommanding officerwas Capta inMichael J. Burke,assisted by 1st Lieu-tenant J.L. Mat-thews and 2nd

Lieutenant E.W. Winham. The armory wasdedicated on August 15, 1896 and housed thecompany’s equipment including supplies, am-munition and its single shot Springfield 45-70carbines left over from the Indian Wars.

Other than routine training with its horses,the troop wasn’t called into active duty untilApril 1906, after the San Francisco earthquake,when it was deployed to the city andbivouacked in Golden Gate Park. The troop fa-cilitated law and order in the devastated area for

A History of theSalinas National Guard Company

1895-1995by Burton Anderson

a month and one day. After the crisis was overthe troop returned to Salinas and resumed itsnormal operations.

On May 1, 1911 the National Guard ofCalifornia integrated Troop C into the 1stSquadron of California Cavalry; the othertroops in the squadron were A Bakersfield, BSacramento and D Los Angeles.

The next duty involving Troop C occurredas a result of Pancho Villa’s raid on Columbus,New Mexico, March 9, 1916. President Wilsonimmediately sent U.S. Regular troops intoMexico in pursuit of Villa. He later called75,000 National Guard troops into federal ser-vice, including the entire 1st Squadron of Cav-alry to patrol and secure the U.S. Mexican bor-der. On June 24, 1916 Troop C marched up

Main Street to the Southern Pacific depot toentrain for mobilization at Sacramento. Thetroop’s horses, wagons, and equipment wereloaded on a freight train leaving simultaneously.After assembly at Sacramento, Troop C wasshipped to Nogales, Arizona where it performedpatrol and guard duty. The troop didn’t en-counter any hostile action but in performing itsduties it endured many hardships, notably fromheat and fatigue while carrying out countlesshours of surveillance. After the punitive expe-dition terminated, Troop C was released fromfederal service and returned to Salinas onNovember 18, 1916, with just a few of itshorses.

The Troopers barely had time to resumetheir civilian occupations when the United

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Contents copyright 2004 by the Monterey County Historical Society.

Troop C in Santa Cruz, about 1908-1909.

States declared war on Germany, April 6, 1917.On August 12, Troop C was again inductedinto the army and entrained with its horses,wagons and equipment for assembly at Arcadia,California and then onto Camp Kearney, SanDiego County. At Kearney the cavalry was dis-mounted and converted to Company B, 145thMachine Gun battalion in the 40th Infantry(Sunrise) Division. The reason for the changewas that the introduction and use of machineguns on the Western Front had inflicted un-bearable slaughter on infantry and cavalry,thereby rendering horse cavalry obsolete anddrastically changing infantry tactics. The com-pany trained until August 1918 when theywere shipped to France with the 40th Division.The war was over before the 40th saw any ac-tion and it was returned to the U.S. in March1919. Company B was released from federalservice May 20, 1919 and returned to Salinasand deactivated.

In 1920 the U.S. Army underwent a reor-ganization and the National Guard became apermanent part of the Army Reserve. Due tothe success of tanks in World War I, the Armyorganized one tank company in each of the 18National Guard Infantry divisions scatteredacross the United States. Salinas was selected asthe site of one of these tank companies and onJune 18, 1924 the40th Tank Compa-ny was authorizedand equipped witheight light tanks ofFrench Renault-de-sign left over fromWorld War I. The40th became thefirst tank companyformulated in Cali-

fornia and recruited men from the surroundingcities and counties as far away as Watsonville,Hollister and King City.

The old armory was inadequate for a mecha-nized outfit and was vacated by the guard andconverted to other uses. In 1924 the new 40thTank company occupied the Lacey Building atthe corner of Market and Monterey Streets inSalinas. Later in the decade the 40th moved toanother building in the 100 block of MontereyStreet that eventually became the home of theSalinas Index Journal.

The need for a permanent armory becamecompelling and the city council and variouscommunity organizations launched a campaignto construct a new armory between SalinasStreet and Lincoln Avenue. Seeded by the city’spurchase of the land for $40,000 and $10,000in cash from the community, the federal gov-ernment and the state provided the balance offunds to construct the building at a total cost of$250,000. The tank company moved inNovember 1, 1932 and at that time consisted of65 officers and men commanded by CaptainFrank E. Heple; assisted by 1st Lieutenant Har-ry J. King, 1st Lieutenant L.E. Johnson, 2ndLieutenant Fred E. Moffitt. The 40th continuedto be equipped with the six-ton Renault tanks,three of which were in Salinas and five at Camp

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Postcard showingTroop C training atHunter Liggett(date unknown).

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San Luis Obispo where their annual two weektraining was carried out.

The next call to duty for the guard came inJuly, 1934 when the 40th Tank Company wasmobilized for duty during the Longshoreman’sstrike on the San Francisco waterfront. Thestrike had turned violent and Governor Rolphsent in the National Guard. The 40th spenteight days in San Francisco and was then imme-diately sent to Camp San Luis Obispo for theirannual two week field duty.

In 1937 the tank company received the newM2 A2 light tank which was to serve duringthe remainder of peace time and during trainingat Fort Lewis, after its induction into federalservice.

When Germany went to war in 1939, andits tanks overran Europe, the U.S. Army sud-denly woke up to the fact that horse cavalrywas no match for armor. Due to the lack oftanks in the regular army, on September 7,1940 a contingency plan ordered the formationof four National Guard Tank battalions fromthe 18 widely dispersed National Guard Com-panies. The 40th Tank company designationwas changed to Company C, 194th Tank bat-talion on September 9, 1940. The BattalionHeadquarters Company and Company A werefrom Brainerd, Minnesota and Company Bfrom St. Joseph, Missouri. The Battalion was

not called into service immediately, but therewere ominous signs that the battalion was goingto be called up in the near future.

The order came in January, and on Febru-ary 18, 1941 Company C was inducted into theArmy and entrained to Fort Lewis, Washingtonwith 103 officers and men. The men were toldthat they would be in federal service for only ayear until the regular Army had time to trainand field an armored force. As it turned out,February 18 was the last time some of the boyswould ever see Salinas.

At Fort Lewis Company C was brought upto full strength in April 1941 with draftees,and due to the fact that some of the CompanyC officers were too old in grade for field dutythey were left behind in Salinas and CaptainFred E. Moffitt assumed command of the Com-pany. Some of the other officers were assignedto the Headquarters Company of the 194th in-cluding Captain L. E. Johnson as G-2 (intelli-gence) and Lieutenant Ben F. Gwynn and TedSpaulding. Company C consisted of three pla-toons of five tanks each, with First Sergeant E.“Ben” Saccone the top enlisted man.

The regular Army officers, for the mostpart, did not have a very high opinion of theNational Guard, and the commanding generalat Fort Lewis made life difficult for the 194th.The battalion was short many essential items,

even adequate uni-forms. During theirtraining period,Company C and the194th were rotatedto Fort Knox, Ken-tucky—the base ofthe newly createdU.S. ArmoredForce. At Fort

Postcard showingTroop C training atHunter Liggett(date unknown).

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Knox the 194th was rated thebest tank outfit in the Army bythe Training command.

The gathering war cloudsin the Pacific caused the U.S.Government to begin reinforc-ing the Philippines in July1941 since it was assumedJapan would strike the Philip-pines first, in case of war withthe United States. A force of35 new B-17 bombers and 107P-40 fighters were flown orshipped to the islands, andwere based primarily at ClarkField. In addition, the Armydecided to reinforce groundtroops with two tank battal-ions.

Perhaps because the 194thwas the best available tank bat-talion, the order was given forthe 194th to embark for thePhilippines—the 194th wasmoved to San Francisco. OnSeptember 8, 1941 the battal-ion (Maj., later Lt. Col. E.B.Miller of Brainerd, Minnesota,commanding) was loaded onthe liner President Coolidge atFort Mason and sailed underthe Golden Gate Bridge at 9PM. In the hold of theCoolidge were 54 new M3(Stuart) 14-ton tanks, 19 half-tracks and other combat vehi-cles. There were three compa-nies of the 194th on board(Headquarters, A & C) sinceCompany B of St. Joseph, Mis-souri was detached at FortLewis and shipped to Alaska.

On September 26, 1941they arrived in Manila and hadthe distinction of being thefirst U.S. Armored Force de-

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The above photographs are courtesy of Frank Muther.

ployed overseas in what was to become WorldWar II. The battalion of 410 men was loadedon trucks, minus the tank crews, and was takento Fort Stotsenburg, 65 miles North of Manila.The tanks followed as soon as the turrets werereattached that had been removed in shipping.

At Fort Stotsenburg the 194th bivouackedin tents until November 15, when native-typebamboo barracks were completed. It was a timeof frustration for the tankers since there wasno gas to fuel their tanks, and parts and sup-plies were scarce due to snarls of peacetimeArmy red-tape. Even though supplies wereavailable in Manila, a request for spare parts of-ten took 30 days.

Company C spent the months of Octoberand November in dry-firing exercises (live am-munition wasn’t issued until December 2), re-connaissance and checking bridges to determineif they would support the weight of its tanks.The company studied the terrain, which wasdifficult since the only maps it had were At-lantic Richfield service station maps. The lackof live ammunition didn’t enable the companyto fire its 37 mm main gun and machine gunsuntil it was in combat against the Japanese.This fact underlined the lack of preparednessby Army brass, including General MacArthur,who didn’t believe war would come until April,1942.

The 194th finally got gasoline on Novem-ber 14, and made a training march to LingayenGulf, traveling 80 miles in five hours, a cred-itable achievement for an armored column.

During November the 192nd Tank Battal-ion arrived in Manila and the two battalionswere formed into a Provisional tank Group un-der the command of Col. R.N. Weaver. TheProvisional Tank Group was directly responsi-ble to only General MacArthur U.S. ArmyForces Far East, even though General JonathanWainwright was in command of the groundforces at Luzon. As far as tanks were con-cerned, the split command between MacArthurand Wainwright was to cause problems, later, inthe defense of Luzon.

One the eve of war there were only 10 un-

derstrength Filipino divisions available, plus thePhilippine Division (with one American regi-ment), the 26th Cavalry (American officers)and the Army, Air Force and Navy personnel.Americans in the defense of the Philippines to-taled about 25,000 men plus a few Americannurses.

On December 1, 1941 Company C alongwith the rest of the 194th moved into positionaround the perimeter of Clark Field which wasadjacent to Fort Stotsenburg. The mission ofthe battalion was to guard against saboteurs andto repel paratroopers. Clark Field was critical tothe defense of the Philippines since nearly theentire Far Eastern Force of B-17s and P-40swas based there. Company C remained in posi-tion at Clark Field for the remainder of the firstweek in December, completely unaware thatthe field was going to be the prime target forthe first strike by the Japanese in the Philip-pines.

The Pearl Harbor attack began a few min-utes before 8 AM, December 7, and in Manila,the corresponding time was 2 AM, Monday De-cember 8, since Manila is across the Interna-tional Date Line. There is evidence to supportthe fact that the Naval Base at Cavite copiedthe radio flash saying Pearl Harbor was underattack at 2:18 AM, and that GeneralMacArthur was awakened at 3:40 AM and in-formed of the attack. What followed was aparalysis of command even though the Japanesedidn’t bomb Clark Field until 10 hours later at12:15 PM. At that time the B-17s and P-40swere neatly parked and the crew was havinglunch. The result was that one-half of the FarEast Air Force was destroyed on the ground inthe first hour of the attack. The disaster atClark Field was to seal the fate of the Philip-pines in spite of the heroic battle the Americanand Filipino troops waged on Luzon and Bataanfor four months. Company C was heavily en-gaged in this battle from the first minutes of theattack until the surrender of U.S. and Philip-pine forces at Bataan, April 9.

When the Japanese struck Clark Field onDecember 8, 1941, Company C tankers were

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in defensive positions around the perimeter ofthe field. They had just finished lunch and werecleaning their mess kits when they heard theroar of airplane engines and saw an approachingformation of high flying bombers. They thoughtthe planes were U.S. reinforcements until thebombs started falling. The attacking force con-sisted of 53 bombers followed by 34 fighters.Ironically, the first bomb hit the mess hallwhere the pilots were having lunch causingheavy casualties. C Company soldiers ran totheir tanks and halftracks and commenced fir-ing in spite of the bombs falling all aroundthem. The enemy bombers smashed the neatrows of B-17s and P-40s lined up on the run-ways and then the fighters strafed everythingthat was left. At the end of the raid some 40minutes later one-half of the U.S. Far EasternAir Force was destroyed. In all 55 men killedand over 100 wounded but miraculously Com-pany C suffered no casualties even though theywere firing from exposed positions.

The fighters flew so low it seemed a shotguncould bring one down. At one point a “green”Lieutenant grabbed a PFC’s arm and yelled thatshooting at the planes would give away theirposition—as if it mattered at that point. TheGIs ignored him and blazed away with every-thing they had. Private Earl G. smith was cred-ited with downing one of the nine fighters shotdown that day.

Company C spent the night of December8th loading 30 cal. machine gunbelts from rifleammo clips since they had fired most of theirready machine gun ammo. The next day thecompany was ordered to bivouac two milesNorth East of Clark Field, except for the exec-utive officer’s tank which remained at the fieldto maintain radio contact with the company.On December 12th they were detached fromthe 194th Tank Battalion and ordered to jointhe South Luzon Force under the command ofBrig. Gen. Albert M. Jones. The mission of theSouth Luzon troops was to protect Manila froman invasion from the south. They left the vicin-ity of Clark Field and marched South during adark and stormy night, about 40 miles, to a bar-

rio near Manila. Then on the 13th they made adaylight dash to Muntinlupa and on the 14thmoved into a readiness position on 2000 footTagatay Ridge. The company remained in thisarea from December 15th to the 24th. Duringthis time they ran reconnaissance and patrolhunted presumed fifth columnists who wereflashing mirrors by day and setting off flares atnight near our ammo dumps. No one was evercaptured but after shooting up some suspectednative huts the suspicious activities ceased.

The Japanese landed 7000 troops at LamonBay at 2 AM on December 24th and they pro-ceeded inland in the direction of Lucban. Com-pany C moved into position to nearby SanPablo on Christmas Eve to assist the Filipino1st Infantry Regiment.

On the morning of December 25th, Brig.Gen. Jones, escorted by a Company C half-track, was reconnoitering near Piis, Luzon;when it came under fire from an enemy ad-vance guard. The half-track was manned bySgt. Keith D. Lewis, Sgt. Leon Elliott, PFC JimHicks, Pvt. William Hennessey, and Pvt. FredYeager. The half-track was hit but the crew,commanded by Sgt. Keith Lewis was able toback off and provided covering fire as they re-treated, enabling Gen. Jones and his driver toescape unharmed. For this action all of theabove men were recommended by Gen. Jonesfor the Distinguished Service Cross but nothingcame of it until after the war when Sgt. Lewisand his crew were finally awarded the SilverStar, but by then only Sgt. Leon Elliott was stillalive.

In the afternoon of the same day the 2ndplatoon was ordered to reconnoiter down a onetrack mountain trail near Lucban toward theenemy. A Filipino Major assured the platoonleader that the enemy only possessed smallarms. The tankers set out and promptly raninto an antitank gun and some concealed fieldpieces. The lead tank was hit, mortally wound-ing Lt. Needham and PFC Robert G. Bales.Staff Sgt. Emil S. Morello, in the second tank,drove around the disabled tank and ran overthe antitank gun. Sgt. Morello’s tank was also

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hit, wounding Private Eddie DiBenedetti, hit inthe neck by a flying rivet. (This incidentprompted the War Department to change fromriveted to welded doors in new tank produc-tion.) Another tank, commanded by Sgt. GlennBrokaw was hit and PFCs Jim Hicks, McLeod,and Seifort were killed and Brokaw seriouslywounded. (This was the second action that dayfor Jim Hicks, as he volunteered to driveBrokaw’s tank when the regular driver becameill.) In all, five tanks were hit and immobilizedby the time firing ceased. Sgt. Morello, Di-Benedetti and four wounded stayed buttonedup inside their tanks not daring to move sincethe Japanese tanks, unaware that anyone insidewas alive. In the morning the enemy left thearea and Sgt. Morello opened the hatch and be-gan tending the casualties. He gathered up fivewounded and they escaped through coconutgroves and rice paddies. Sgt. Morello, with thehelp of a Filipino guide they hired (from theirpooled resources) for 100 Pesos, showed up inManila five days later with all the wounded stillalive after fleeing through enemy infested terri-tory. He left DiBenedetti in a Catholic Hospitalin Manila and with the other wounded madetheir way by Banca to Corregidor. Later, duringFebruary, Sgt. Morello was able to rejoin thecompany at Lamao on Bataan. For this actionSgt. Morello was awarded the Silver Star.

The day before, December 25th, GeneralMacArthur had ordered the implementation ofOrange Plan-3 which provided for the with-drawal of all Philippine and US forces intoBataan as a last defensive position.

In compliance with the order Company Ccommenced withdrawing from South Luzon onDecember 29, acting as the rear guard for Brig.Gen. Jones troops. They moved to TagatayRidge and on the 31st, led by 1st Sgt. “Ben”Saccone, they made a sleepless 100 mile, nightdash to Bocaue in six hours where they re-joined the rest of the 194th Tank Battalion.

Manila had been declared an “Open City”on December 24th and troops heading Northwere to bypass it. However, Company C, onthe night of the 31st, was unsure of the route

around the city and decided to go through cen-tral Manila. In all the chaos it didn’t seem tomatter that the city was off limits. In the darkone of Company C’s tanks hit the Jose Rizallstatue while trying to avoid hordes of fleeingcivilians. The tank threw a track on impact andbent an idler. The crew worked all night tryingto fix it but by daylight they saw it was hope-less. They disabled the tank and tried to hitch aride with some Filipino troops in Bren GunCarriers. None would stop until the tankersleveled their 45 cal. sub-machine guns at theconvoy and they got a lift; they were the lastarmored troops out of Manila.

From Bocaue the company headed for theCalumpit Bridge over the Pampanga River onRoute 3. This was a vital structure since alltraffic fleeing Manila toward Bataan had to passover this bridge. It was here that the tankerswitnessed 100-150 empty Filipino trucks inheadlong flight from Manila, where there wereample supplies in the warehouses. Had thesesupplies been moved while there was still time(12/10-12/23) the U.S. and Filipino forcescould conceivably have held out longer onBataan and with far less suffering.

All the South Luzon forces were across theCalumpit by 2:30 am January 1st, followed byCompany C in the rear guard, and the bridgewas blown up. From there the tanks movedthrough San Fernando at the critical junctionof Route 3 and Route 7 from North Luzon.Again the tankers formed successive roadblocks, during the next 3 days, toward Guaguaon Route 7.

On the night of January 6th, Captain Mof-fitt leading two tanks and two half-tracks, as-sisted by four self-propelled 7 mm guns and the31st infantry, ambushed 750-800 enemytroops. Our forces inflicted 50% casualties onthe enemy and left the town of Lubao in flames.Had the Japanese not been stopped there ourretreat into Bataan would have been cut off.

Moving toward Bataan on January 7th an-other night battle took place near Remulus.Captain Moffitt’s half-track took a direct hitfrom an enemy shell that took off PFC William

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Hennessey’s left foot and wounded PFCMartella; he died within a few days due to gasgangrene and Hennessey died at Camp O’Don-nell after the surrender on Bataan. In the samebattle Sgt. Carl F. Abbott scored a direct hit onan enemy tank before his tank was hit and dis-abled, however he escaped injury and the tankwas retrieved the next day.

The withdrawal toward Bataan continuedand by the night of January 7th Company Cwas at the Culo River guarding the left flank ofthe Layac Bridge which was the gateway toBataan. As soon as all forces were across thetankers withdrew and the bridge blown up,temporarily sealing off the Bataan Peninsula.

The retreat into Bataan to a bivouac southof the Abucay Main Battle Line afforded thetroops a slight lull from battle. They had beenin action for 30 consecutive days and were ex-hausted. To add to their misery Maj. Gen.Wainwright ordered the food ration cut in halfto only 30 ounces per day per man.

In the first month of combat Company Chad lost seven tanks and six men killed in ac-tion. This necessitated reorganizing the compa-ny into three platoons of three tanks each (in-stead of four prewar strength) plus one com-mand tank. The remaining ranks were long pastthe 400 hour scheduled maintenance and hadbeen run so hard the rubber track plates wereworn down to the metal. Fortunately, some re-placement parts were available from the ServiceCommand area in Southern Bataan.

The next significant action involving a pla-toon of Company C was when Gen. Wain-wright sent three tanks to Bagac on the WestCoast of Bataan on January 15th. The follow-ing day they were ordered to advance north toreopen the coastal highway to Moron. Thetanks were moving in advance of the main lineand as they rounded a curve the lead tank(Staff Sgt. Frank Muther) was fired on at pointblank range by an antitank gun. Incredibly, theround were right over the turret and in return-ing fire the C tank knocked out the enemy gun.Two tanks following 600 yards back hit landmines placed by the Japanese after the lead tank

went by. This use of land mines was a favoritetactic used by the enemy. Muther’s tank wasable to turn around and withdraw past the dis-abled tanks and the platoon got out without anypersonnel casualties. The disabled tanks weretowed out the next day and used for spareparts. This incident was a case where a generalordered tanks out alone ahead of Infantry thatnearly became a suicide mission. Throughoutthe campaign tanks were not properly deployedby the generals who tended to regard them asmobile pill boxes. In reality tank crews havepoor external visibility and need to be support-ed by Infantry to defuse mines, knock outsnipers and act as lookouts for the buttoned uptanks.

By the middle of January the lack of foodand medicine caused malaria, dingue, (dingyfever) and dysentery to take a heavy toll on themalnourished troops. Especially critical was thelack of quinine to treat a virulent form ofmalaria prevalent on the Bataan Peninsula. Theconstant hordes of flies and mosquitoes madetheir problems worse, as well the fact thetroops had not received any mail since the warstarted. Occasionally they could get some newsvia short wave radio from San Francisco, butotherwise they listened to Tokyo Rose for en-tertainment.

On January 26th company C covered thewithdrawal from the Abucay Main Battle Linetoward the next defensive position at the Pilar-Bagac Road. (The only satisfactory road acrossBataan). As Company C was moving across anarea called Hacienda Flats the US Forces in-flicted at least 1500 casualties on the enemy.The Japanese retaliated by a heavy bombing at-tack during which a dud bomb went throughthe fender of Muther’s tank but didn’t explode.Another tank stalled on a bridge and had to bepushed over the side to prevent a roadblock.Captain Moffitt was wounded in the leg by aflying timber while crossing a bridge just as itwas blown up.

By February 8th the U.S. and Philippineforces had fought the enemy to a standstill inspite of their supply, disease and malnutrition

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problems. There was a lull in infantry actionbut the Japanese kept up the relentless shellingand bombing of our lines. Company C was onthe East coast of Bataan and used mainly forbeach defense to ward off any attempt by theJapanese to invade Bataan from Manila Bay.During early March the platoons of CompanyC were assigned to various positions, not neces-sarily together. The 3rd platoon under the com-mand of 1st Sgt. “Ben” Saccone defended abeach position around the Lamao on ManilaBay.

By the middle of March the food ration wascut again down to 15 ounces a day per man.The troops subsisted mainly on rice supple-mented by anything they could scrounge in-cluding worms, snakes, monkeys and an occa-sional native caribou. General Wainwright (anold cavalry man) had to order the slaughter of250 horses and 42 mules from his beloved 26thCavalry Regiment. In spite of the extra meatthe Bataan forces were in dire straits with one-fourth of the troops in the hospital with disabil-ities associated with disease and malnutrition.

Toward the end of March the Japanese re-sumed their offensive after being reinforced by“crack” Imperial Marines released after the fallof Singapore. On April 3rd the enemy began anall out offensive accompanied by constantbombing and shelling. To counter this offensiveMaj. Gen. Edward P. King (in command afterWainwright moved to Corregidor) made onelast effort to stop the enemy across SouthernBataan.

In an attempt to stop the Japanese on April7th, four tanks from C Co. 2nd platoon weresent from Lamao over the mountain trails tothe vicinity of Mount Samat in south and cen-tral Bataan. The tanks were to support thePhilippine 45th and 57th Infantry, PhilippineScouts, who were opposing the enemy comingdown Trail 20. On the morning of April 7th,the Filipinos were in head-long flight and thetanks moved down Trail 8 to try and stem thetide. At the junction of Trail 6 the lead tankencountered antitank fire which blasted it offthe trail knocking out the tank officer. PFC

Ray Peoples took over command of the tankand with the others covered the withdrawalunder intense enemy fire. The retreat wasmade more difficult by the hundreds of troopsand vehicles clogging the narrow trail. Thetanks managed to regain their starting pointwithout further casualties except Sgt. Morello’stank which suffered an engine lockup and hadto be towed to the shop at Cabcaben.

Meanwhile the 3rd platoon under the com-mand of 1st Sgt. “Ben” Saccone, with twotanks and two half-tracks was ordered to at-tempt an enveloping maneuver by moving tothe west coast of Bataan via the coast road toMariveles and on to the Pilar Bagac Road.They were in the vicinity of Mt. Samat whenthey encountered fierce resistance at an enemyroad block. (It was virtually impossible for thetanks to get off the trails because of the thickjungle and trees.) The platoon was out of radiocontact with the battalion headquarters andwere unable to assess the situation so they re-versed their march and made it back to Marive-les where they rejoined the rest of the Compa-ny.

These two actions were the last for Compa-ny C which by April 8th had been in combatfor 4 months, lost 10 tanks and had 6 menkilled in action.

Major General King, on April 8th, ac-knowledged that the situation was critical andthat further resistance would result in the mas-sacre of his troops including 6000 sick andwounded and 40,000 refugees. The troops stillon the line were less than 25% effective andcouldn’t last for more than a day. Consequent-ly he ordered the troops to cease fire and to de-stroy their equipment when the code word“Blast” was given. This occurred at 7 AMApril 9, 1942 and hostilities ceased.

As it turned out the US and Philippinetroops were doomed from the start of the warby the lack of air power, supplies and rein-forcements. However, due to the heroic effortsof units like company C, the Japanese advancewas critically slowed. General Homma had ex-pected to take the Philippines in three months

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and the U.S. gained precious time needed togo on the offensive in the Pacific.

After the order to cease fire on, April 9,1942, there was a 24-hour lull before theJapanese troops appeared. During this timeCompany C was ordered to destroy theirweapons, equipment and records. More salientto the starving troops the Quartermaster Corp.distributed their remaining food supplies toany men fortunate to be in the vicinity. Theywere completely unaware that as prisoners ofwar they would not be humanely treated. (TheJapanese warrior Bushido Code regarded sol-diers, who surrendered, as contemptible anddeserved to die.)

The Japanese commander arrived on horse-back, April 10th, and among other things wasamazed to learn how few tanks had been op-posing them. General Homma had estimatedU.S, tank strength at 600 to 900 and after-wards acknowledged that the tanks and ar-tillery were the primary reason that theJapanese offensive timetable was seriously de-layed.

The rumor was that the Japanese wouldload the prisoners into trucks and travel northto a prison camp on Luzon. This proved to bean ugly deceit as the men were looted of their

personal possessions and lined up in column offours and marched north from Mariveles,which is at the southern tip of Bataan. Alongthe way the Japanese picked up U.S. and Fil-ipino troops until by the time they reachedLamao April 11th, there were an estimated55,000 Filipinos and 10,000 Americans in thecolumn. The troops had not had any food orwater since April 10th and weren’t allowedanything to drink until the night of the 11th,in spite of the oppressive heat and humidity.anyone stepping out of line to try and drinkfrom roadside ditches was bayoneted, shot orhad his skull crushed by a rifle butt. FriendlyFilipinos tried to give food and water to themarching men but the guards quickly killedthe Filipino or the GI, and in some cases both;at the very least a severe beating was adminis-tered. Any hope of humane treatment as pris-oners of war vanished after these incidents. Inmany cases a wounded or ill soldier owed hislife to a buddy who would help him along,since stragglers were usually killed. Themarch took 10-13 days and covered 62-85miles, depending on where the soldiers wereforced into the column. As the march ap-proached San Fernando, Co. C Tech Sgt. DonLang was helping his sick and exhausted

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Front view of Ofuna,a questioning camp(1942). Buildings ofscrap wood, put to-gether in prefabricat-ed 3’ x 6’ sections.Thirty cells, 6’ x 9’each with woodenbarred window.Building braced bywires to stakes. Verycold and dirty whenwindy.

brother, Staff Sgt. Sid Lang, to remain withthe column. The guards executed Don Langon the spot for aiding a straggler, but somehowhis brother survived. This was the first execu-tion to a GI of Company C in a gruesome prac-tice that included three more executions at Ca-banatuan prison camp.

Accurate figures of the death toll duringthe march are unobtainable but it is estimatedthat about 10,000 Filipinos and 600-1000 USsoldiers died before the ordeal culminated atthe railroad depot in San Fernando.

At San Fernando the prisoners were loadedinto 6 x 18 foot boxcars, as many as 110 to acar and the doors locked. The heat and crowd-ing were unbearable and along with the factthat some men were terminally ill caused nearhysteria. Men died on the journey and sincethere was no way to dispose of the bodies thecorpses added to the terror of the situation.

The railroad cars were unloaded at Capasand the prisoners were marched 3.5 miles inthe blazing sun, again without water, to CampO’Donnell. The brutalizing and starvationcontinued at O’Donnell, and it quickly becameapparent that to remain there meant certaindeath. Ben Saccone flatly states that if he hadremained at O’Donnell he would have died.

When the Japanese called for volunteers togo on bridge and equipment repair details, Co.C GI’s seized upon the opportunity to getaway from O’Donnell. The lucky ones left inlate April and among them were Ben Saccone,Frank Muther, Joe and Richard Errington,John Anderson, Roy Diaz, William Braye,Dick Walker, Carl Abbott, Ray Peoples andMel Madero. They were taken back to the bat-tlefields and worked on bridges and equipmentrepair details from April to September. Someof the other C Company soldiers worked onthe prison farm where they temporarily, atleast, escaped the horrors of O’Donnell.

At O’Donnell, aside from beatings andshootings, the prisoners died from a variety ofcauses, including beri-beri wet and dry),malaria, dengue fever, amoebic dysentery,yaws, Guam blisters and malnutrition. Manyof these deaths could have been prevented ifthe Japanese had given the U.S. prison doctorseven the simplest of medicines, but all re-quests were denied.

A U.S. prisoner who worked in the campoffice at O’Donnell recorded the deaths of1600 U.S. soldiers, 49 U.S. sailors, 27,674Filipinos and 857 civilians in the period April11, 1942 to August 4, 1942.

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A view of the camp[Rokuroshi]. Polesfor fence and alsothose in foregroundwere carried byPOWs from hillforests on work pro-ject. PS. They alsomade an excellentfire after VJ day.

O’Donnell was closed down early in 1943and the prisoners transferred again by the mi-nuscule railroad cars, and then forced tomarch 10 miles to Cabanatuan camps 1 and 3.There they were joined by some soldiers thathad been in field hospitals on April 9th, andafter capture were taken to Bilibid Prison inManila at bayonet point past jeering Filipinosto the railroad station. (Sgt. Elliott who was inthis march suspects that the Japanese orderedthe Filipino civilians to humiliate the bedrag-gled Americans.)

At Cabanatuan new perils arose such aspellagra, scurvy, dobie itch, worms, pneumo-nia, TB, blindness, bacillary dysentery anddiphtheria.

To discourage prisoners from running awaythe guards formed the internees into groups often. If anyone escaped the remaining membersof the ten were executed and their heads im-paled on bamboo poles, as a gruesome re-minder of the consequences of an escape.

Various means of torture were applied forany real or imagined infraction of the camprules. Men were strung up by their thumbs inthe hot sun; forced to kneel with their handstied behind their backs to a 2 x 4 and water-tortured where water was forced into their

bodies. Sometimes these treatments resulted indeath but at the very least, the men sufferedsevere body damage. All these atrocities oc-curred in addition to the deliberate starvationand the ever present lice, fleas, mosquitoesand flies.

The brutal horrors of the prison camps aretoo many to detail here but the deaths andbeatings went on all during the time of incar-ceration. The dead were buried in shallowgraves dug by their fellow prisoners at O’Don-nell and Cabantuan. After the war the bodieswere exhumed and reinterred in the U.S. Na-tional Cemetery near Manila; many were nev-er identified and they repose in graves simplymarked “unknown.”

Beginning in September of 1942 theJapanese began moving prisoners to Japan forwork in mines and factories. Thus began thephase of captivity known as the “Hell Ships.”These ships were unmarked freighters andmen were packed into covered holds withoutany sanitary facilities and little or no food orwater. Again men suffered and some went in-sane from sheer terror and hardships in theholds where even dead bodies were notpromptly removed. Men became so desperatefor water they even drank urine in an effort to

Showing inside livingconditions at Yoko-hama (Tokyo POWcamp branch #2).This building hadbeen a warehouse.Damp, dirty anddusty. Each POWwore a number onthe back of a suit ofwork clothes givenhim by Mitsubishi.Fabric was of some“ersatz” material,flimsy and porous.

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stay alive.Another jeopardy presented itself when the

unmarked ships were targeted by U.S. planesand submarines. One ship, the Enoru Maruwas torpedoed in October 1944 between thePhilippines and Formosa. The Japanese shotthe desperate men as they tried to escape fromthe hold; of the 1800 men aboard only 9 sur-vived. Another freighter, the Oryoku Maruwas bombed in Olangapo Harbor on December13, 1944 and again on December 15. Therewere 1620 men on board and only 490 sur-vived.

The surviving members of Company Cwere scattered all over Japan, Korea and evenMukden, Manchuria where Sgt. Leon Elliottand Sgt. John N. Anderson were imprisoned.The remnants of the tank company were sur-vivors and by being able to work they at leastreceived enough food to stabilize their bodies.The ration for a workers was 500 grams (a lit-tle over one pound) of rice per day, while anon-worker received only 250 grams a day.

The prison routines continued all during1943 and 1944 when prisoners in a camp onKyushu witnessed an air raid by B-29s on July4, 1944. From that date on, the Japanese be-came apprehensive of an invasion. The in-

ternees were told in no uncertain terms that ifthe U.S. invaded Japan they would all be putto death immediately.

Upon the surrender of Japan and the liber-ation of the prisoners in August 1945 by U.S.and Russian armies, the men were gathered upand sent, in most cases, to the Philippines forpreliminary examinations, medical treatment,new uniforms and an attempt to straighten outpay records. By various means they were senthome to an Army Hospital nearest their hometown where they were eventually discharged.At stateside hospitals young U.S. Army doc-tors couldn’t believe the former prisoners sto-ries and had never heard of some of the ail-ments. The doctors kept asking for recordsand proof of their claims; in spite of the factthe men said their records had been lost in thePhilippines. It got so bad some of the formerprisoners were accused of being psycho andplaced in mental wards.

To some men, even after discharge, theirordeal still wasn’t over as they had difficultyin readjusting to civilian life. Depression, alco-holism and difficulty finding jobs caused a tollon survivors. Many a former prisoner owes hissuccessful recovery to a strong and under-standing woman.

At Zentsuji a “DeathWatch” was stood bytwo POWs over eachcorpse. This is anight scene in bath-house with cementtub and woodenbuckets in back-ground. In mostcamps the deathswere so frequent thatno such custom couldprevail. The largerat population wasanother reason forthis death watch.

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To further add to their problems the Veter-ans Administration, in the following decades,was not entirely sympathetic to the claims fordisability since all their documentation hadbeen lost and they couldn’t substantiate theirclaims. A host of problems weren’t resolveduntil the decade of the 90s. The resentment ofhaving some chair-bound bureaucrat tell a vet-eran he couldn’t prove his story and thereforewasn’t eligible for benefits still lingers in thesurviving veteran’s minds.

Company C, 194th Tank Battalion, wasofficially inactivated April 2, 1946 in thePhilippines and thus the chapter closed on aheroic outfit. The combat and prisoner of warordeal had taken a heavy toll on Company Cand out of 107 men who left Salinas on Febru-ary 18, 1941 only 47 returned. During thetime the company was in combat it earnedthree Presidential Unit Citations (Defense ofthe Philippines, Luzon, and the PhilippinePresidential Unit Citation) for service fromDecember 7, 1941 to May 10, 1942. In Com-pany C there were 6 Silver Stars awarded totankers and the entire company received theBronze Star. Unfortunately this didn’t happenuntil well after the war and by then somemedals were given posthumously. It took tire-

less effort by men such as 1st Sgt. Ben Sac-cone (later Chief Warrant Officer) to enablethese men to receive their well-meritedmedals.

Immediately after WW II Salinas waswithout a National Guard company until May27, 1947 when the local guard was reorga-nized as the new headquarters company of the1st Battalion 149th Armor. Its first command-ing officer was Lt. Col. L.E. Johnson, assistedby Staff Sgt. Jacob Gamboa and Staff Sgt.Warren Smith; all survivors. It is to the creditof these men that they were still physically fitenough to re-enlist and had the mentalstrength to volunteer after what they had beenthrough. Major Frank Heple rejoined the com-pany after having been forced to remainstatewide during WW II because of his age ingrade.

In the early 1950s, under a NationalGuard reorganization, four other companieswere formed as part of the 1st Battalion as fol-lows: Company A Monterey, Company B Wat-sonville, Company C Santa Cruz and Compa-ny D Hollister. The Salinas company retainedits function as Headquarters and HeadquartersCompany of the 1st Battalion 149th Armor.

Since the 1950s the local companies have

Lt. Turk Critchlow,USNR, a sack ofbones but he madeit.

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participated in various guard duty deploymentsbeginning with the Pajaro River flooding ofWatsonville in December 1955. The guardwas called out again for flood duty at MissionFields at the mouth of the Carmel River in1958. When floods on the Russian River in-undated Guerneville in January 1965 the localNational Guard went to the aid of the strickenarea. A different duty confronted the Battal-ion when they were sent to Watts during therace riots in August 1965. Within 24 hoursthere were 20,000 California National Guardtroops on the scene, including the entire149th Tank Battalion. When the CentralCoast experienced disastrous forest fires in1977, 1987 and 1989 the guard was there as-sisting the U.S. Forest Service and the Cali-fornia Division of Forestry, especially duringthe Marble Cone Fire. In May 1992 the guardwas again deployed to Watts to help quell an-other civil disorder. Another disaster relieftask came in October 1989 after the LomaPrieta earthquake. More recently the guardprovided assistance to Monterey and SantaCruz county authorities during the Salinas andPajaro River floods during January and March1995.

The Battalion is currently authorized to

field 57 M60A3 medium tanks which aremostly parked at Camp Roberts and Fort Ir-win in the Mojave Desert. Each company’sTable of Organization calls for a strength of 14tanks plus one for the company commander.

In conclusion, we can be proud of our localNational Guard units who are instantly avail-able in case of emergency as opposed to regu-lar U.S. Army troops who would have to bedeployed from bases far from the CentralCoast now that Fort Ord has been closed. Intime of war the National Guard units areamong the first called-up even though theArmy is often critical of the Guard. CompanyC and the 194th Battalion were practically theonly available armor in the US Army in early1941. When the 194th was sent to the Philip-pines in September 1941 it became the 1st ar-mor unit overseas in WW II and the first to bein combat. Another National Guard outfit, the34th Infantry Division (Minnesota, Iowa andNorth Dakota) was the 1st U.S. Army divi-sion to be sent abroad, arriving in Ireland inJanuary 1942.

These deployments of the National Guardunderline the critical importance of the citizensoldier available at any time for a call to armsand may we never forget that reality.

Waiting for eveningmuster at 7:30 PM.Blackout lights giv-ing a small cone oflight did little to dis-pel the gloom ofprison life atRokuroshi.

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The author wishes to thank Chief Warrant Of-ficer Ero “Ben” Saccone, Staff Sgt. Frank Muther,Sgt. Leon Elliott, Cpt. Stack, 149th TB CNG, Brig.Gen. Hayden Fields, and Command Sgt. Maj. An-drew Tyra Jr. for their input into this article.

A slightly different version of this article (with-out these illustrations) appeared in Coastal Groweras a three part series beginning Winter 1995.

194th Tank Battalion, Company C, Salinas UnitNames of the 58 dead listed on the memorial

plaque at the Garden of Memories on Abbott Street.Source: The Californian, December 13, 1991, DaveNordstrand, author.

First Lt. B.E. Gwynn, 2nd Lt. J.H. Hart, 2ndLt. A.H. Hook, M. Sgt. F.W. Bickmore, M. Sgt.W.G. Boyd, T. Sgt. A.D. Lang, S. Sgt. C.F. Abbott,S. Sgt. M.J. Bernard Jr., S. Sgt C.E. Emlay, Sgt.W.F. Anson, Sgt. F.E. Aram, Sgt. J.D. Brink, Sgt.H.E. Cunningham, Sgt. R.L. Errington, Sgt. V.L.Gosney, Sgt. E. D. Lewis, Sgt. H.E. Lee, Sgt. R.H.Mitchell, Sgt. G.W. Schlosser, Cpl. R. N. DeCloss.

Cpl. M.E. Dolk, Cpl. O.H. Eaton, Cpl. H.D. McDon-ald, Pfc. R.G. Bales, Pfc. F.F. Barretto, Pfc. M.A. Cahill, Pfc.D.E. Cederblom, Pfc. L.O. Cole, Pfc. A.W. Eckert, Pfc.R.E. Emlay, Pfc. J.H. Fleener, Pfc. E.M. Fontes, Pfc. J.Gillis, Pfc. C.M. Grayson, Pfc. N.C. Heard, Pfc. J.A.Hicks, Pfc. F.F. Marbach Jr., Pfc. J.T. McLeod, Pfc. S.J.Montero, Pfc. R.E. Overstreet, Pfc. E.E. Rawson, Pfc. D.J.Reilly.

Pfc. A.P. Smith, Pfc. E.G. Smith, Pfc. J.E. Will-rodt, Pfc. J.P. Zinani Jr., Pfc. E.P. Zingheim, Pvt.W.L. Casperson, Pvt. E.N. DiBenedetti, Pvt. D.W.Foshee, Pvt. W.M. Hennessey, Pvt. D.R. Jaramillo,Pvt. W.V. Martella, Pvt. R.L. Miller, Pvt. C.G.Stevens, Pvt. J.M. Thorp, Pvt. J.H. White, and Pvt.K.A. White.

Names of the 47 who survived, as listed on theplaque. (Many have since died.)

Maj. L.E. Johnson, Maj. F.C. Moffitt, Capt. T.J.Spaulding, M. Sgt. J.E. Aram, M. Sgt. C.H.Thomas, T. Sgt. A.F. Gillis, T. Sgt. S.G. Lang, T.Sgt. E.S. Morello, S. Sgt. E.R. Barnes, S. Sgt. W.E.Braye, S. Sgt. G.D. Brokaw, S. Sgt. F.T. Cabral Jr.,S. Sgt. E.C. DiGottarde.

S. Sgt. R.L. Diaz, S. Sgt. J.P. Errington, S. SgtJ.E. Frost, S. Sgt. J.S. Gamboa, S. Sgt. W.A. Garri-son, S. Sgt. W.L. Glenn Jr., S. Sgt. T.J. Hicks, S.Sgt. A.J. Holstein, S. Sgt. J.C. McKusick, S. Sgt.M.R. Madero.

S. Sgt. F.J. Orendain, S. Sgt. T.T. Paras, S. Sgt.J.H. Smith, S. Sgt. E.H. Stahl, S. Sgt. H.J. Vick, S.Sgt. C.R. Walker, S. Sgt. F.T. Wilson, Sgt. J.N. An-derson, Sgt. L.A. Elliott, Sgt. H.K. Fitzgibbons.

Sgt. W.F. Hall, 1st. Sgt. E. Saccone, Sgt. F.L.Muther, Sgt. R.J. Peoples Jr., Sgt. N.R. Rose, Sgt.W.B. Smith, Cpl. J.F. Alves Jr., Cpl. A. Cope, Cpl.M.G. Nevarez, Cpl. L.A. Rotharmel, Cpl. C.R.Sigala, Cpl. J.V. Speckens, Cpl. S.G. Suttie andCpl. J.M. Warnick.

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Galley scene atZentsuji. Large pots,some for rice andothers for soup.

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MEMORIALS

Donor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .In Memory OfNick G. Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Harold R. HullingerNick G. Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Lloyd “Pop” SlatonNick G. Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John LorisNick G. Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Chris LorisCarl Reich . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nona PanzieraGeorge Fontes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Adeline AgostiniGeorge Fontes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Nona PanzieraHarry & Barbara Rhodes . . . . . . . . . . . . .Miles HoladayWalter Wong . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelJoyce McBride . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelEvelyn Escolano . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelAmerican Takii, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelJoanne Nissen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelMarie Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelSanta Maria Seeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelMichael Malone & Associates, Inc. . . . . . . .John GudgelPatti Williams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelFilipino American National Historical

Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelBurton Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelComgro, Inc. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelMark E. Norris . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelFrank & Patricia Terry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelCharles Willis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelSusan Watson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelNick G. Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelLouie & Aggie Manzoni . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John GudgelNick G. Cominos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Jack NelsonBurton Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Betty IchikawaSophie C. Britton . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .John OstarelloBurton Anderson . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .Herb Hinrichs

BOARD MEMBERS FORFISCAL YEAR 2004-2005

OFFICERS

President ➜ Carol Alleyne

Vice President ➜ John Scourkes

2nd Vice President ➜ Gary Breschini

Treasurer ➜ Charles Ericson

Secretary ➜ Joyce McBride

DIRECTORS

James Bricker; Kathy Bricker; Barbara Brown;Douglas Chapin; Trudy Haversat; John DresserJoyce McBride; Gerald Dudley; Mark Norris;Meg Clovis; Jeffrey Eubanks.

MUSEUM UPDATE

The next phase for construction at theBoronda History Center will be installation ofasphalt access roads, the parking lot, handicapaccess, and a walkway around the Adobe, aswell as landscaping. We will also be installing aBataan Memorial (see the architectural drawingon the back cover). We are hoping to beginconstruction before winter, but this depends onwhen we receive our permits. It will be a wel-come change and allow easier access for allonce this step is completed.

WEBSITE

Gary Breschini continues to upgrade and toadd new material to the Society’s Website. Thesite has generated researchers, new membersand many donations of artifacts for our archivalvault. And we have a new website address (ourown personal domain, which hopefully is easierto remember). It is:

http://www.mchsmuseum.com

CONTRIBUTIONS TO THENEWSLETTER WELCOMED

The editors of the Newsletter are alwaysseeking photographs, historical recipes, articles,and other items for these pages. Please contactus if you have any appropriate materials.

WELCOME NEW MEMBERS

Thomas J. Sacco Stephen P. CollinsEdward H. Whalen LaVerne Wilcox

Jack Hunter George St. ClairMichael K. Hemp Dale EscobarFrank Pritchard John A. ElfordNelson J. Brown Irene Williams

John & Melba Futini Anny C. ReidKaren & Drew Pheiffer Delfina Diaz

Julianne Burton-Carvajal Jeff TobesJennifer Sue Thom Howard P. Strohn

Alexander & Kimberlee StruthersMrs. Vincent P. Whitney

Dick & Mary Zechentmayer