The Rescue by Steven Trent Smith

Author:Steven Trent Smith [Steven Trent Smith]
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Tags: cookie429, Kat, Extratorrents, Non-Fiction
ISBN: 9780471423515
Publisher: Wiley
Published: 2001-04-11T00:00:00+00:00

TO SURRENDER, HAVE SUSTAINED A RESOLUTE AND DETERMINED

RESISTANCE AGAINST SUPERIOR ENEMY FORCES ON THE ISLAND OF

CEBU. DESIRING TO RECOGNIZE THAT RESISTANCE AND GIVE IT SUCH

SUPPORT AS IS NOW WITHIN MY POWER, I HAVE CREATED THE CEBU

53

AREA COMMAND AND HAVE APPOINTED YOU AS THE COMMANDER.

Cushing and his followers were overjoyed—indeed, inspired—by the news.

When the USS Narwhal called at Balatong Point in southwestern Negros in chapter 6-10 2/26/01 10:55 AM Page 171

T H E S E V E N T H S O N

/

171

February, a portion of her cargo of ammunition, money, medicine, and radios was destined for the CAC. Cushing had received a small ATR-4A teleradio from Villamor in mid-1943. The breadbox-size set was only capable of reaching surrounding islands, so when Cushing needed to communicate with MacArthur, Abcede or Andrews on Negros, or Fertig on Mindanao, had to relay his messages. Part of Narwhal’ s cargo was a powerful radio that would enable Cushing to reach Australia directly, and a set of codes with which to communicate securely.

The first CAC radio transmission to Australia was on 28 March. It was a mundane composition about encoding/decoding procedures. On the day the flying boats crashed, Cushing sent out two dispatches. One complained about items missing from his Narwhal shipment and requested direct submarine landings on Cebu in the future. The other was a report about a skirmish between CAC troops and the Philippine Bureau of Constabulary in Cebu City.54 It was sleepy stuff, just the sort of information MacArthur’s GHQ was accustomed to receiving.

But that all changed on 8 April.

chapter 6-10 2/26/01 10:55 AM Page 172

CHAPTER 10

Terms of Exchange

RUNNERS CAME INTO Cushing’s camp that day with the electrifying news that the Volunteer Guards had captives from a crashed seaplane in tow and would arrive with them shortly. An excited Cushing composed a message to SWPA: NR 7

8 APRIL 1944

WE HAVE TEN JAPANESE PRISONERS NOW EN ROUTE TO OUR

HEADQUARTERS. PLEASE ADVISE ACTION TO BE TAKEN. CONSTANT

ENEMY PRESSURE MAKES THIS SITUATION VERY PRECARIOUS. FURTHER

INFORMATION FROM PRISONERS WILL FOLLOW.

Reaction at the PRS was subdued when the dispatch was delivered early on the ninth. Ten prisoners seemed no big deal; they were probably just privates and corporals and maybe a sergeant or two. When Colonel Whitney received Cushing’s NR7 he wrote a memo for the high command: Any of our other guerrilla leaders would have decided this problem with 10 bullets without reference to this Headquarters. CUSHING has, however, before demonstrated a more disciplined regard for the will of higher authority. I believe you will find in CUSHING an able but still subordinate fighter and leader in whom you can fully depend to discharge his mission. At the crucial time this is what you will require.1

Whitney then sent a message back to Cebu, telling the guerrilla chief that the “disposition of prisoners must be in accord with our rules of land warfare,” and offering to facilitate the removal of the captives to another island if necessary.2

As usual, Whitney signed the message “MacArthur.”

Before the PRS response reached Cushing, Admiral Fukudome’s party reached the rebel camp.

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