“We ain’t exactly livin’ high off the hog ourselves,” Deke said. “But it’s a whole lot different when you’re a prisoner.”
“You said it, soldier,” Flanders said, warming to the topic. “But it gets worse. The conditions are filthy — no showers, no clean clothes. Medical attention is almost nonexistent. Finally, our boys are badly mistreated, everything from slave labor to beatings just because it amuses some Jap prison guard.”
None of them liked the thought of fellow Americans being held captive by the Japanese. One thing for sure was that Major Flanders did not paint a pretty picture of the American POWs’ fates. He went on in gruesome detail, describing everything from starvation to beheadings.
“Bastards,” Philly muttered. “I’d really like to get my hands on those Japs.”
“That’s the spirit,” Flanders said. “General MacArthur does not want any more of our men to be abused or murdered by the Japanese, nor does he want our boys to be used as hostages or cannon fodder. As we become aware of these camps, he wants our men liberated by any means necessary. Some of the larger camps near Manila are still beyond our reach.”
“The Japanese still hold Manila,” Lieutenant Steele pointed out.
Flanders nodded, then looked pointedly at Deke. “Here’s the part where we do something about it. There’s at least one POW camp here on Leyte that’s cause for concern. Some of our sources with the Filipino resistance say that the commandant is a real hard case. The Filipinos have given us a location, and we’ve verified it through aerial photographs. We want our men freed from that camp. That’s where you boys come in.”
If the major had intended to whip them up into a righteous frenzy, he had succeeded.
It had been one hell of a sales pitch.
It was all Deke could do not to grab his rifle and set off there and then to liberate the camp — and he didn’t even know where it was yet.
Flanders continued, “We didn’t want to send just anyone on this job. We need just the right men. Your lieutenant here says that you are the best jungle warriors in the division.”
“Damn straight we are,” Philly said.
“Good. That’s just what we need,” Flanders said. “You know as well as I do that we’re shorthanded here — we’re tied up fighting all these damn holdouts — so we can’t spare a lot of men. General Bruce has agreed to free you up for this mission. I can tell you that General Bruce takes this very personally. He cares as much about freeing the POWs as anyone.”
“I’ve only got a handful of men,” Steele pointed out. Lieutenant Steele had surprised them by speaking up. Since he had handed off the show to Major Flanders, they had almost forgotten he was there.
“Don’t you worry, Lieutenant. You’ll have some help from the Filipino guerrillas. There’s a local guerrilla leader named Father Francisco, a Catholic priest, and he’s agreed to help.”
Several of the men nodded. They had fought alongside Father Francisco and his men near Palo. Deke remembered the priest as being tough and smart, a natural-born leader of the fight against the Japanese occupation. It sounded as if the priest had expanded his area of operations since then. Of course, the fight for control of Leyte had also widened considerably since the initial beach landing.
“We can use all the help we can get,” Steele said.
Major Flanders nodded thoughtfully as Steele spoke, then said, “I’d send a whole company if we could, but a patrol will move faster.”
“That’s why they call us Patrol Easy.”
The major seemed amused. “You’re probably not wrong about that.”
“Don’t we have anything else to go on, sir?” Deke asked. “Can you tell us anything else about this POW compound.”
“I’m glad you asked, soldier.” Major Flanders had been hanging onto a folder, which he opened now. Inside were a half-dozen black-and-white photographs. “We do have some aerial reconnaissance. Unfortunately, our boys were dodging a couple of Japanese fighters at the time and had to skedaddle in a hurry. They did get these pictures.”
He had handed the photos off to Deke, who passed them around. The photographs showed the compound from various overhead angles. However, none of the photographs were particularly close or showed much detail.
The overall impression was of a gloomy, forbidding hellhole carved into a jungle clearing. Looking closely, it was evident that there were two separate clusters of rough buildings — one cluster likely housing the Japanese guards and the other cluster for prisoners.
There was a guard tower and a tall fence evident in the photographs. Outside the fence there appeared to be newly turned soil, as if someone was trying to grow something — or more ominously, trying to bury something.
“Do you reckon that’s a garden or a graveyard outside the fence?” Deke asked.
“I don’t know about the garden,” the major said. “Under a magnifying glass, you can see that the disturbed ground is consistent with several graves.”
Philly was squinting hard at the photo in his hand, but without the benefit of a magnifying glass it was hard to see the details. “I’ll be damned,” he said to no one in particular.
“Those photographs don’t tell us much,” Steele said. “Is that all we have to go on?”
“We have a rough approximation of the prison camp’s location,” Flanders said. “The Filipino guerrillas that you’ll be working with do have some local knowledge of the area, although the camp isn’t located near any towns or villages. That information and the photographs are pretty much all the intelligence that we have.”
“The commandant’s shoe size might be nice to know,” Steele said, characteristically tongue in cheek. “Short of that, it would be good to know how many guards we might be facing.”
“Look, this won’t be an easy mission,” the major admitted. “You’ll have to cross through the interior, which you know is mostly jungle and hills, sprinkled with more than a few Japanese patrols. Once you get there, you may be facing overwhelming odds. In all honestly, we really don’t know what you’ll be up against or how many Japanese are garrisoned at this POW compound.”
Philly spoke up. “So we’re going into this more or less blind, huh? In other words, business as usual.”
The major’s smile faded as he said, “I’m glad that you feel that way, soldier. But just to be clear, only volunteers will be going on this mission. This isn’t going to be a cakewalk. If anyone doesn’t want to be part of this mission, now is the time to speak up. No questions asked, right, Lieutenant?”
Now it was Steele’s turn to smile. “I guess you don’t know my men very well, Major. But since you brought it up, I suppose I have to ask. Does anybody want to sit this one out?”
One by one, the men stood and stepped forward, coming to attention in front of the intelligence officer.
“That settles it, then,” Major Flanders said. “I can’t thank you men enough.”
“You can thank us when we bring those POWs home,” Steele said.
Now that they had all agreed to go on the mission, the major revealed a few more details. As much as possible, they were to avoid any Japanese forces that they might encounter in the jungle terrain, although they were welcome to relay any information about the strength and whereabouts of the enemy back to headquarters, using their radio or one of the Filipino guerrillas as a runner.
“I wouldn’t normally say this, but avoid taking any prisoners. They’ll only slow you down. This is a rescue mission, not a combat mission,” he pointed out. “As much as possible, avoid engaging the enemy. There might be plenty of fighting to do, anyhow, once you get to that POW camp.”
He thanked them again for all that they had done thus far — and wished them luck as they went off into the unknown dangers of the Filipino jungle once more. In fact, the major seemed genuinely moved. He shook their hands, one by one.