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in Army Magazine From Bataan to Safety: The Rescue of 104 American Soldiers in the Philippines.Malcolm Decker. McFarland & Company. 232 pages; black-and-white photographs; maps; appendix; index; $35 paperback. Reviewed by Col. Stanley L. Falk AUS Ret. In the aftermath of the American surrender on Bataan Peninsula in the Philippines in April 1942 and the brutal Death March that followed, there were still several hundred Americans not under Japanese control in northern Luzon. Some had been bypassed by the initial Japanese advance or, during the withdrawal to Bataan, had been left behind to organize an American-led guerrilla movement. Some had eschewed surrender and were able to slip out of Bataan undetected by the enemy. Still others had somehow managed to escape from the Death March itself. Many of these men found temporary sanctuary in a series of camps established by Bill and Martin Fassoth, two American sugarcane growers who had themselves avoided Japanese captivity. With Bill’s Filipina wife, Catalina, the Fassoth brothers offered refuge to more than 100 soldiers from April 1942 to April 1943. Most of the men they sheltered, clothed, fed and nursed back to health would probably not otherwise have survived the war. One who was able to avoid capture by the Japanese was Pvt. Doyle Decker of the 200th Coast Artillery (AA), a New Mexico National Guard regiment, the father of the author of this informative book. Malcolm Decker, who served as an artillery officer in the Vietnam War, drew on his father’s diary, interviews and correspondence with Bataan veterans, and a wide variety of archival and published sources in order to write a unique history of the Fassoth camps and, indeed, of the experiences of many of the soldiers who enjoyed a precarious freedom from Japanese control. Decker describes what these men were doing at their military stations in the Philippines on the eve of war, their participation in the retreat to Bataan and the subsequent defense of that embattled peninsula, and how they managed to escape the Japanese and reach the Fassoth camps or other places of refuge. He describes the camps and the treatment the men received there, as well as the experiences of other American soldiers free in central and northern Luzon, and what happened after the Japanese succeeded in eliminating the camps. It is a fascinating story, made even more so by the direct personal testimony of many of those involved. The Fassoth camps were located on the jungle-covered southern slopes of the Zambales Mountains, just north of Bataan. In addition to the hard work and managerial ability of the two brothers, the camps owed their existence to the support of friendly Filipinos who warned them of danger and supplied them with food and other resources smuggled from Manila and elsewhere. The number of refugee soldiers who stayed with the Fassoths varied from month to month. Some men remained more or less permanently in the camps; others passed through to live with Filipino families elsewhere, to form their own small camps, to join guerrilla groups, or in hopes of finding a boat to sail to the southern Philippines or Australia. The camps were concealed by the thick jungle cover in which they were hidden. But increasing Japanese patrols were a constant menace, and the Fassoths were forced to move several times to avoid discovery. In their year of operation, they had to establish four different camps to prevent capture by the pursuing Japanese. Finally, in April 1943, to avoid being overrun and executed, the brothers surrendered to the enemy. During their months of operation, they had maintained the camps as rest and recuperation sites rather than as military bases for guerrilla operations. So while the Japanese normally executed anyone suspected of being a guerrilla, they allowed the Fassoths and those who surrendered with them to stay alive during their subsequent captivity. Ironically enough, when the brothers submitted postwar claims to the American government for reimbursement for personal funds they had spent and for supplies furnished to their refugee guests, they were denied any relief. The Comptroller General of the United States ruled that their camps were not military bases, that the funds and supplies were not requisitioned by the Army but were furnished voluntarily by the Fassoths, and that there “was no legal basis for payment of the claim.” Bill, Martin and Catalina Fassoth were, however, awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Truman. Reprinted with permission. |