![\"My](\"https:\/\/fromabirdseyeview.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/01\/Kathleen-and-Alan-1941.jpg\")
<\/a>My husband and his mother, 1941<\/p><\/div>\n
Seventy years ago next week, on February 3, 1945, members of the First Cavalry<\/strong> burst through the gates of the prison camp of Santo Tomas <\/strong>in Manila, Philipines to rescue over 3700 Allied civilians<\/strong> held captive by the Japanese. \u00a0I am very familiar with this story, as my husband and his family were among those rescued. \u00a0My mother-in-law, Kathleen, kept a diary during their years of imprisonment that became the basis for my book, “In The Enemy’s Camp”<\/strong><\/em>. \u00a0Most of the internees were British and American businessmen and their families who were caught up in the war, unable to repatriate back to their home countries before Manila was bombed on December 8, 1941. \u00a0But this blog is not about them, it is about the brave soldiers who risked their lives, racing 100 miles to Manila to liberate the camp. \u00a0But first, a bit of background.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Men in Santo Tomas, 1945<\/p><\/div>\n The First Cavalry had already taken part in the liberation of Cabanatuan,<\/strong> the prison camp containing the survivors of the Bataan Death March<\/strong>. \u00a0Once the military POW’s were safely in American protection, General Douglas MacArthur<\/strong> ordered his troops to do whatever was necessary to get to Manila quickly<\/strong> and save the civilian prisoners. \u00a0The Japanese had made their intentions clear in August 1944 that all prisoners, military and civilian, were to be eradicated before the territory was overtaken by the Allies. \u00a0On Peleliu Island<\/strong>, Allied POW’s had been herded into an underground bunker and burned to death. \u00a0So no time was to be wasted in getting to Santo Tomas. \u00a0The prisoners were already dying at alarming rates<\/strong> from malnutrition and tropical diseases. \u00a0Each internee was allocated just 900 calories a day of rotting and insect-infested food. \u00a0Their fortitude was at a breaking point. \u00a0When the First Cavalry broke through the gates of the camp on the night of February 3, many of them fainted purely from\u00a0mental and physical exhaustion<\/strong>.<\/p>\n Bob Holland – 2003<\/p><\/div>\n There are\u00a0many great source materials from and about the internees’ experience. \u00a0Several people wrote books<\/strong> after the war and my in-laws owned most of them. \u00a0When I set about writing my book I was interested in learning about the rescue from the perspective of the men who did the rescuing<\/strong>. \u00a0So I placed an ad in “The Saber”<\/strong>,<\/em> the newsletter of the First Cavalry Division, seeking anyone who had either participated in the rescue or knew something about it. \u00a0I was lucky enough to find five men who took part in the mission – Chelly Mendoza, Claude Walker, John Yunker, Walter Pike and\u00a0Bob Holland. \u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>In a twist of fate, Bob Holland was also in the process of writing a book about the rescue and lived just 10 miles from me. \u00a0We were able to meet often and had the privilege of introducing him to my mother-in-law in 2003, their first meeting since he had crashed through the gates 58 years prior!<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 1st Cav tanks inside Santo Tomas<\/p><\/div>\n To a man they were typical of the WWII generation<\/strong> – none of them had spoken about the rescue since it occurred, not even to their families. \u00a0But in their letters to me it was evident that they were very proud of their mission<\/strong> and the happy end result. \u00a0 Most said that the rescue was the first time the war had made sense<\/strong> for them since they had begun serving in the Pacific Theater. \u00a0They had rescued Allied prisoners who, without their efforts, would surely have succumbed to either disease, starvation or worse. \u00a0In the movie, “The Great Raid”<\/em><\/strong>, Lt. Col. Henry Mucci<\/strong>, told his men that the pride they would feel if it was successful would not be just for that day, but something they would carry inside them for the rest of their lives<\/strong>. \u00a0I don’t know whether he really said that or it was the result of a screenwriter’s imagination. \u00a0But I do know that the sentiment was certainly evident in the five men I interviewed. \u00a0Regardless of what happened the rest of their lives, they all said that rescuing the prisoners at Santo Tomas was one of the proudest moments of their lives<\/strong>.<\/p>\n So next Tuesday, please raise a glass<\/strong> to the wonderful men, most now departed, who were the saviors of so many people. \u00a0I can say from first-hand experience that they were heroes in every sense of the word.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Suzanne Sparrow Watson Seventy years ago next week, on February 3, 1945, members of the First Cavalry burst through the gates of the prison camp of Santo Tomas in Manila, Philipines to rescue over 3700 Allied civilians held captive … read more<\/a><\/a><\/a>