POW World War II - Palawan Memoirs -
Only 11 survived out of 150 American POW’s massacred prior to the Palawan invasion.
(A True Story) Palawan Memoirs of Ernest J. Koblos, who survived the Massacre when 139 American POWs were burned or otherwise, killed by their Japanese Guards. 11 of the group Survived! Ernest gave this account of the massacre to the press on Aug 28, 1944. He was one of 11, WW II survivors who by law of averages should not be enjoying the freedom and pleasures of their homeland, the love of home and family. For Koblos, who formerly lived in Chicago, and his ten living buddies, are the sole survivors of the infamous Palawan massacre in which
139 out of a total of 150 American POWs were executed in one of the most dastardly deeds ever to be conceived in the minds of so-called civilized men, according to a special dispatch to the Daily Calumet (a Chicago Paper), from General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) in Tokyo, Japan. As if being watched over by some omnipotent power, these boys reached safety in probably the most miraculous and spectacular escape yet recorded in the history of WW II. Sixteen
Japanese who are charged with the responsibility for the massacre will face a Yokohama 8th Army Military commission this month. Alva C. Carpenter, Chief of SCAP's legal section, first learned of this new addition to the already overflowing volume of Pacific war crimes while serving with the American forces that re-occupied Mindoro in the Philippines. He knew that it was a major atrocity, that justice and America demanded that the perpetrators be found and made to answer for this diabolical crime, and so, during the past three years he has concentrated his every effort on bringing to the bar of justice those responsible for the Palawan massacre. In a recent interview Carpenter declared, "at the close of the Pacific war I pledged myself to fulfill the solemn promises made to the people of the United States and the Allied Nations at Potsdam that stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, especially those who have
visited cruelties upon our POWS". To me these were no idle words spoken to appease outraged peoples; they were a mandate which I determined to thoroughly discharge and three years of investigative research have expended to this end". Just two months prior to the occupation of Palawan Island by the American troops the mass destruction of American POWs had been perpetrated--with the exception of the 11 escapees, a complete POW camp had been "annihilated" when it became evident that the victorious forces would make a landing in the vicinity of Palawan, possibly on the island itself. Conceived in hate and born in an atmosphere of frustration, the decision to kill the American prisoners was no instantaneous burst of passion. It was a fulfillment of a premeditated plan to "DISPOSE" of the gallant defenders of Bataan and Corregidor at the time of the enemy landing. The method of disposition was the off-spring of moral depravity unsurpassed in the annals of Pacific war crimes...the individual acts of heroism displayed by the few survivors are unequaled. In October 1944,there were remaining at Puerta Princesa POW camp at Palawan Island in the P.I., 150 American POWs. They had been sent there by the Japanese to build an airstrip--a military project designed to further the Japanese war effort against the Allied Forces. Conditions at this camp were similar to those existing in most Japanese POW camps--too little of every necessity of life, too much of mistreatment, abuse and manual labor. All the hardships that had been suffered during two years and a half were of little consequence, however, to these prisoners on 19 October1944. They could not forget the past, but the future looked brighter as they watched the first B-24 that they had ever seen raid the airstrip they had laboriously built, for the most part with hand tools, during long, arduous hours in the relentless tropical sun. It was easy for them to be lighthearted now--it would only be a matter of a short time before they would be liberated, and, as their morale soared, so that of the
Japanese forces dropped to a new low. From now on, daily air raids became a part of "living" at Puerta Princesa, and so it was not unusual to hear the air raid siren at noon on 15 December 1944. What was unusual, however, was the fact that the Japanese called all the Americans back to the compound from the airfield on which they were still working, filling in bomb craters now, when heretofore their captors had shown no concern for the prisoners' safety, compelling them to work on the strip even during actual raids. "We knew something was the matter but couldn't figure out what", stated Koblos. Inside the POW compound, there were three large air raid shelters, having a narrow entrance at each and a cover over the top. The Japanese specifications had permitted only one entrance but after much persuasion the Americans were allowed to make two entrances. The shelters would accommodate, very uncomfortably, approximately 40--50 men each, and in addition there were several small shelters with a capacity of from one to four men each. The area was completely surrounded by a double barb-wired fence and the camp was built on a cliff overlooking the Puerta Princesa Bay. On this fateful day of 14 Dec. l944, the Japanese herded every prisoner into these shelters, saying that there were "hundreds" of American planes coming. The Page 2 - only evidence of an air raid was a lone Japanese seaplane, which circled the camp area and the field a few times as if in response to the call of the false air raid alarm for some showing. Many of the boys were hesitant to go into the shelters—these were "helped" by prodding with bayonets and threats of being killed if they did not obey the orders to go underground. No sooner was the last man "safely" hidden from the dangers of an American air raid then two companies of Japanese soldiers, armed with buckets of gasoline, torches, rifles, machine guns, fixed bayonets and hand grenades, entered the compound and proceeded to carry into effect the plan for the annihilation of every single POW. The bestial savagery of the perpetrators was unleashed as the assault began, running, screaming and laughing; they attacked each shelter, wherein the unsuspecting and helpless
prisoners were trapped throwing in buckets of gasoline and igniting it with torches. Some of the men did manage to get out of the raging infernos only to be beheaded, bayoneted, clubbed to death, shot with rifles or dropped by machine gun fire. In some cases men were slowly tortured with bayonets, then gasoline was poured on first one foot and then the other, ignited, and their whole bodies set aflame. Some few were able to escape into the water by tearing barehanded through the barb-wire fences and jumping down a 50-foot cliff only to be drowned in the water when they were shot at either from the shore or from a small boat that patrolled the foreshore of the bay watching out for escapees. Men walking walls of flame, ran out of the shelters begging for mercy and for the Japanese "to use some sense" only to be shot down...others, knowing fully their fate, grabbed onto Japanese guards causing them to burn up together. Still others, bodies afire, grappled with their assailants, and were able to wrest a bayonet from one or two of the Japanese and kill them before they themselves were bayoneted to death from behind. The 11 prisoners who succeeded in escaping found temporary refuge in the caves on the beach. It was not long, however, before roving parties of Japanese began scanning every nook and corner for possible survivors--the plan being to kill every single American and so forever hide the truth of this murderous crime. Several times during the ensuing four or five hours it seemed inevitable that the hiding places of this small band would be discovered, but somehow, thorough as the search was, they were overlooked. Their ordeal was not over, however. Possibly they would find help and safety if they could reach the opposite side of the bay--a distance of about five miles through shark-infested waters, and two or three of the men could not swim...but it was their only chance and they all took it. After dark that same evening some of the escapees began to swim across--10 days later the last one to reach the opposite side was found caught in a fish trap by friendly Filipinos coming out in the early morning to gather in the previous night's catch! They escorted him, as they had done the others, to Brooke's Point where an American PBY (a US made two engine Amphibian sea plane) evacuated them to the American lines. All that remained of the 139 victims when the American forces landed were incomplete skeletons, scattered at random in the area of the camp, piles of bones in the air raid shelters, dog-tags and other identifying data--mute evidence of the sordid gruesomeness, the bestial depravity of the perpetrators and sponsors of this outrageous crime. During the past three years a staff of investigators have been tireless in their efforts to find those Japanese responsible for this atrocity. The entire islands of Japan and the Philippines have been combed and hundreds of interrogations conducted, as a result of which 16 Japanese ranging in rank from former Lt. Generals to a Private First Class will face a
military commission in Yokohama to be judged for their part in this planned and premeditated execution of innocent and helpless American prisoners of war. "Unfortunately", stated Carpenter, "most of the actual participants in this crime have never been captured despite a maximum of effort to locate them, and there is every reason to believe they were killed when Palawan island was taken by the American forces. However we do have those people who, by their acts of commission or omission or both, allowed this heinous crime to be perpetrated and we are determined that they shall answer for their actions before the bar of justice". This story published with permission from Irene Koblos, the widow of Sgt Koblos, who died 1990, he enlisted in the Regular Army 1939, served in the 59th Coast Artillery in the Philippines. He returned home to US-1945- spent considerable time in Letterman Gen. Hosp. and Garner Gen. Hospital in Chicago, as the result of his ordeal in Japanese hands. He married Irene; August 1945 they have a son John. Irene now resides in California." (End)
Only 11 survived out of 150 American POW’s massacred prior to the Palawan invasion.
(A True Story) Palawan Memoirs of Ernest J. Koblos, who survived the Massacre when 139 American POWs were burned or otherwise, killed by their Japanese Guards. 11 of the group Survived! Ernest gave this account of the massacre to the press on Aug 28, 1944. He was one of 11, WW II survivors who by law of averages should not be enjoying the freedom and pleasures of their homeland, the love of home and family. For Koblos, who formerly lived in Chicago, and his ten living buddies, are the sole survivors of the infamous Palawan massacre in which
139 out of a total of 150 American POWs were executed in one of the most dastardly deeds ever to be conceived in the minds of so-called civilized men, according to a special dispatch to the Daily Calumet (a Chicago Paper), from General Headquarters of the Supreme Commander for the Allied Powers (SCAP) in Tokyo, Japan. As if being watched over by some omnipotent power, these boys reached safety in probably the most miraculous and spectacular escape yet recorded in the history of WW II. Sixteen
Japanese who are charged with the responsibility for the massacre will face a Yokohama 8th Army Military commission this month. Alva C. Carpenter, Chief of SCAP's legal section, first learned of this new addition to the already overflowing volume of Pacific war crimes while serving with the American forces that re-occupied Mindoro in the Philippines. He knew that it was a major atrocity, that justice and America demanded that the perpetrators be found and made to answer for this diabolical crime, and so, during the past three years he has concentrated his every effort on bringing to the bar of justice those responsible for the Palawan massacre. In a recent interview Carpenter declared, "at the close of the Pacific war I pledged myself to fulfill the solemn promises made to the people of the United States and the Allied Nations at Potsdam that stern justice shall be meted out to all war criminals, especially those who have
visited cruelties upon our POWS". To me these were no idle words spoken to appease outraged peoples; they were a mandate which I determined to thoroughly discharge and three years of investigative research have expended to this end". Just two months prior to the occupation of Palawan Island by the American troops the mass destruction of American POWs had been perpetrated--with the exception of the 11 escapees, a complete POW camp had been "annihilated" when it became evident that the victorious forces would make a landing in the vicinity of Palawan, possibly on the island itself. Conceived in hate and born in an atmosphere of frustration, the decision to kill the American prisoners was no instantaneous burst of passion. It was a fulfillment of a premeditated plan to "DISPOSE" of the gallant defenders of Bataan and Corregidor at the time of the enemy landing. The method of disposition was the off-spring of moral depravity unsurpassed in the annals of Pacific war crimes...the individual acts of heroism displayed by the few survivors are unequaled. In October 1944,there were remaining at Puerta Princesa POW camp at Palawan Island in the P.I., 150 American POWs. They had been sent there by the Japanese to build an airstrip--a military project designed to further the Japanese war effort against the Allied Forces. Conditions at this camp were similar to those existing in most Japanese POW camps--too little of every necessity of life, too much of mistreatment, abuse and manual labor. All the hardships that had been suffered during two years and a half were of little consequence, however, to these prisoners on 19 October1944. They could not forget the past, but the future looked brighter as they watched the first B-24 that they had ever seen raid the airstrip they had laboriously built, for the most part with hand tools, during long, arduous hours in the relentless tropical sun. It was easy for them to be lighthearted now--it would only be a matter of a short time before they would be liberated, and, as their morale soared, so that of the
Japanese forces dropped to a new low. From now on, daily air raids became a part of "living" at Puerta Princesa, and so it was not unusual to hear the air raid siren at noon on 15 December 1944. What was unusual, however, was the fact that the Japanese called all the Americans back to the compound from the airfield on which they were still working, filling in bomb craters now, when heretofore their captors had shown no concern for the prisoners' safety, compelling them to work on the strip even during actual raids. "We knew something was the matter but couldn't figure out what", stated Koblos. Inside the POW compound, there were three large air raid shelters, having a narrow entrance at each and a cover over the top. The Japanese specifications had permitted only one entrance but after much persuasion the Americans were allowed to make two entrances. The shelters would accommodate, very uncomfortably, approximately 40--50 men each, and in addition there were several small shelters with a capacity of from one to four men each. The area was completely surrounded by a double barb-wired fence and the camp was built on a cliff overlooking the Puerta Princesa Bay. On this fateful day of 14 Dec. l944, the Japanese herded every prisoner into these shelters, saying that there were "hundreds" of American planes coming. The Page 2 - only evidence of an air raid was a lone Japanese seaplane, which circled the camp area and the field a few times as if in response to the call of the false air raid alarm for some showing. Many of the boys were hesitant to go into the shelters—these were "helped" by prodding with bayonets and threats of being killed if they did not obey the orders to go underground. No sooner was the last man "safely" hidden from the dangers of an American air raid then two companies of Japanese soldiers, armed with buckets of gasoline, torches, rifles, machine guns, fixed bayonets and hand grenades, entered the compound and proceeded to carry into effect the plan for the annihilation of every single POW. The bestial savagery of the perpetrators was unleashed as the assault began, running, screaming and laughing; they attacked each shelter, wherein the unsuspecting and helpless
prisoners were trapped throwing in buckets of gasoline and igniting it with torches. Some of the men did manage to get out of the raging infernos only to be beheaded, bayoneted, clubbed to death, shot with rifles or dropped by machine gun fire. In some cases men were slowly tortured with bayonets, then gasoline was poured on first one foot and then the other, ignited, and their whole bodies set aflame. Some few were able to escape into the water by tearing barehanded through the barb-wire fences and jumping down a 50-foot cliff only to be drowned in the water when they were shot at either from the shore or from a small boat that patrolled the foreshore of the bay watching out for escapees. Men walking walls of flame, ran out of the shelters begging for mercy and for the Japanese "to use some sense" only to be shot down...others, knowing fully their fate, grabbed onto Japanese guards causing them to burn up together. Still others, bodies afire, grappled with their assailants, and were able to wrest a bayonet from one or two of the Japanese and kill them before they themselves were bayoneted to death from behind. The 11 prisoners who succeeded in escaping found temporary refuge in the caves on the beach. It was not long, however, before roving parties of Japanese began scanning every nook and corner for possible survivors--the plan being to kill every single American and so forever hide the truth of this murderous crime. Several times during the ensuing four or five hours it seemed inevitable that the hiding places of this small band would be discovered, but somehow, thorough as the search was, they were overlooked. Their ordeal was not over, however. Possibly they would find help and safety if they could reach the opposite side of the bay--a distance of about five miles through shark-infested waters, and two or three of the men could not swim...but it was their only chance and they all took it. After dark that same evening some of the escapees began to swim across--10 days later the last one to reach the opposite side was found caught in a fish trap by friendly Filipinos coming out in the early morning to gather in the previous night's catch! They escorted him, as they had done the others, to Brooke's Point where an American PBY (a US made two engine Amphibian sea plane) evacuated them to the American lines. All that remained of the 139 victims when the American forces landed were incomplete skeletons, scattered at random in the area of the camp, piles of bones in the air raid shelters, dog-tags and other identifying data--mute evidence of the sordid gruesomeness, the bestial depravity of the perpetrators and sponsors of this outrageous crime. During the past three years a staff of investigators have been tireless in their efforts to find those Japanese responsible for this atrocity. The entire islands of Japan and the Philippines have been combed and hundreds of interrogations conducted, as a result of which 16 Japanese ranging in rank from former Lt. Generals to a Private First Class will face a
military commission in Yokohama to be judged for their part in this planned and premeditated execution of innocent and helpless American prisoners of war. "Unfortunately", stated Carpenter, "most of the actual participants in this crime have never been captured despite a maximum of effort to locate them, and there is every reason to believe they were killed when Palawan island was taken by the American forces. However we do have those people who, by their acts of commission or omission or both, allowed this heinous crime to be perpetrated and we are determined that they shall answer for their actions before the bar of justice". This story published with permission from Irene Koblos, the widow of Sgt Koblos, who died 1990, he enlisted in the Regular Army 1939, served in the 59th Coast Artillery in the Philippines. He returned home to US-1945- spent considerable time in Letterman Gen. Hosp. and Garner Gen. Hospital in Chicago, as the result of his ordeal in Japanese hands. He married Irene; August 1945 they have a son John. Irene now resides in California." (End)
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