5/12 FUNDRAISER

5/13 FUNDRAISER

5/20 BREAKFAST

VFW #4206

5/23 DEPART FOR

ROLLING THUNDER

XXXI

5/28 DEDICATION OF

THE 4 CHAPLAINS

MONUMENT

Phyllis Gross 2nd

Steve Fritz 7th

Shaiann Hudson 11th

Frank Andreassen 19th

Ray Daigle 27th

April Birthday’s

April 2018 Volume I Issue 5

R O L L I N G T H U N D E R ® I N C . F L O R I D A C H A P T E R 1

The Mission

Bataan Peninsula, Philippines – April 1942

The day after Japan bombed the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, the Japanese invasion of the Philippines began. Within a month, the Japanese had captured Manila, the capital of the Philippines, and the U.S. and Filipino defenders of Luzon were forced to retreat to the Bataan Peninsula. For the next three months, the combined U.S.-Filipino army, under the command of U.S. General Jonathan Wainwright, held out impressively despite a lack of naval and air support.

Finally, on April 7, 1942, with his army crippled by starvation and disease, Wainwright began withdrawing as many troops as possible to the island fortress of Corregidor in Manila Bay.

By April 8th, the senior U.S. commander on Bataan, Major General Edward P. King, saw the futility of further resistance, and put forth proposals for capitulation.

The next morning, 9 April 1942, General King met with Japanese Major General Kameichiro Nagano, and surrendered his beleaguered troops of nearly 75,000.

Following their surrender, the prisoners were massed in the towns of Mariveles and Bagac. The next day, the Bataan Death March began. During this infamous trek, the prisoners were forced to march roughly 70 miles in six days. By the end of the march, which was punctuated with atrocities committed by the Japanese guards, hundreds of Americans and many more Filipinos had died.

The March

Prisoners started the march from Mariveles on April 10th, and Bagac on April 11, converging in Pilar, Bataan, and heading north to the San Fernando railhead. In the beginning, there were rare instances of kindness by Japanese officers and those Japanese soldiers who spoke English, such as sharing of food and cigarettes and permitting personal possessions to be kept. This was quickly followed by unrelenting brutality, theft, and even knocking men’s teeth out for gold fillings. The common Japanese soldier had also suffered in the Battle for Bataan and had nothing but disgust and hatred for their captives.

Filipino and American POW’s - Bataan, April 1942 (Continued on page 3)

Upcoming Events

THE MONTH OF

APRIL

THE MAJOR FUNCTION OF ROLLING THUNDER ®, INC. IS TO PUBLICIZE THE

POW/MIA ISSUE: TO EDUCATE THE PUBLIC THAT MANY AMERICAN PRISON-

ERS OF WAR WERE LEFT BEHIND AFTER ALL PREVIOUS WARS, AND TO HELP

CORRECT THE PAST AND TO PROTECT FUTURE VETERANS FROM BEING LEFT BE-

HIND SHOULD THEY BECOME PRISONERS OF WAR-MISSING IN ACTION. WE

ARE ALSO COMMITTED TO HELPING AMERICAN VETERANS FROM ALL WARS.

The Mission of Rolling Thunder® Inc.

“PUBLICIZE

THE POW/MIA

ISSUE AND TO

EDUCATE THE

PUBLIC…”

Page 2

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Major General Samuel Howard

Samuel Lutz Howard (March 8,

1891 – October 12, 1960) was a United

States Marine Corps general who served

with distinction in the Marine Corps for

thirty-eight years. In the early stages of

World War II, General Howard

commanded the 4th Marine Regiment on

Bataan and Corregidor from December 7,

1941 to May 6, 1942.

Captured by the Japanese at

Corregidor, he was forced to march many

miles to a prison camp where he was held as

a prisoner of war from 1942 until being

liberated in 1945. He was the senior U.S.

Marine held captive during World War II.

For distinguished service in the

battle of Corregidor, he was awarded the

Navy Cross. Hiss final post was Inspector

General of the Marine Corps.

Volume I Issue 5

R O L L I N G T H U N D E R ® I N C . F L O R I D A C H A P T E R 1

Page 3

(Bataan Continued)

their captives because Japan did not recognize these people as Prisoners of War (POWs)

The first atrocity, attributed to Japanese Colonel Masanobu Tsuji, occurred when approximately 350 to 400 Filipino officers and NCOs under his supervision were summarily executed near the Pantingan River. Tsuji, acting against the Commanding General’s orders that prisoners will be transferred peacefully, issued orders to Japanese officers to execute all American “captives”.

During the march,

prisoners received little food or water, and many died. Prisoners were

subjected to severe physical

abuse, including being

beaten and tortured.

During the march, a “sun

treatment” was a common form

of torture

where prisoners were forced to sit in sweltering

sunlight, without helmets or other head coverings. Anyone who asked for water was shot dead. Some men were told to strip naked or sit within sight of fresh, water. Supposedly, transport trucks drove over some of those who fell or succumbed to fatigue, and "cleanup crews" put to death those too weak to continue. Some marchers were randomly stabbed by bayonets or beaten. The Death March was later judged by an Allied military commission to be a Japanese war crime.

Once the surviving prisoners arrived in Balanga, overcrowded conditions and poor hygiene caused dysentery and other diseases to spread rapidly. The Japanese did not provide the prisoners with medical care, so captured U.S. medical personnel tended to the sick and wounded with few or no supplies.

Rare opportunity for ‘rest’ along the March

General Masaharu Homma - Japan’s 14th

Imperial Army Commanding General

Japanese soldiers guarding Bataan POW’s

(Continued on Page 5)

Page 4

North Korean MIG-21’s shoot down

unarmed U.S. Navy aircraft

At 07:00 local time of Tuesday, 15 April 1969, an

EC-121M, (WV-2Q Super Constellation also known as

"Willie Victor”), of the U.S. Navy's Fleet Airborne

Reconnaissance Squadron One (VQ-1) took off from NAS

Atsugi, Japan, on an intelligence-gathering

reconnaissance mission. The aircraft, Bureau number

135749, bore the tail code "PR-21" and used the radio

call sign ‘Deep Sea 129’. Aboard were 8 officers and 23

enlisted men under the command of LCDR James

Overstreet. Nine of the crew, including one marine NCO,

were Naval Security Group Cryptologic Technicians (CTs)

and linguists in Russian and Korean.

Describe the late-1960s Cold War reconnaissance

program by the United States Navy that collected

intelligence about and communications between Soviet

Bloc nations while remaining in international waters.

Roughly six hours into the mission, the Army

Security Agency and radars in Korea detected the takeoff of two North Korean Air Force MIG-21’s from East Tongchong-ni, near Wonsan.

At 13:44 the EC-121's parent unit, VQ-1, sent Deep Sea 129 an alert by radio, indicating it might be under attack. LCDR Overstreet acknowledged the warning and complied with procedures to abort the mission and return to base.

Approaching from the northeastern coast at supersonic speed, the two MiG 21’s easily overtook the EC-121. The MiGs were armed with 23 mm cannons and Air-to-Air Atoll missiles; the EC-121 was unarmed and without a fighter escort.

At 13:47 the radar tracks of the MiGs merged with that of Deep Sea 129, which disappeared from radar two minutes later. PR-21 crashed 90 nautical miles off the North Korean coast and all 31 Americans (30 sailors and 1 marine) on board were killed. This was the largest single loss of U.S. aircrew during the Cold War era.

The Soviet Union quickly provided assistance in the recovery efforts. Two Soviet destroyers were sent to the Sea of Japan, and their involvement highlighted Moscow’s disapproval of the attack on the EC-121... or, the Soviet Union wanted to retrieve top secret surveillance equipment at the crash site. Which was it? You decide.

PR-21, Danang, RVN Flight Line - 1968

These types of mission’s, were controlled

operationally by the Naval Security Group detachment at

NSF Kamiseya, Japan, under the direction of the National

Security Agency. The Naval Security Group Activity at

Kamiseya, provided seven of the nine CT’s aboard.

Deep Sea 129's assigned task was a routine

“Beggar Shadow” signals intelligence (SIGINT) collection

mission. The code name "Beggar Shadow" is used to

Volume I Issue 5

R O L L I N G T H U N D E R ® I N C . F L O R I D A C H A P T E R 1

Page 5

(Bataan Continued from Page 3)

Upon arrival at the San Fernando railhead, prisoners were stuffed into brutally hot metal box cars for the one-hour trip to Capas. At least 100 prisoners were pushed into each of the trains' unventilated boxcars. The trains had no sanitation facilities, and disease continued to take a heavy toll on the prisoners.

Through sweltering heat and humidity they marched

When the train arrived at the Capas train

station, they were forced to walk the final 9 miles to

Camp O'Donnell, a former Philippine army training

center. Even after arriving at Camp O'Donnell, the

survivors of the march continued to die at rates of up

to several hundred per day, which amounted to as

many as 20,000 Filipino and American deaths. Most of

the dead were buried in mass graves that the Japanese

had dug behind the barbed wire surrounding the

compound. Of the estimated 75,000 POWs at the

beginning march, only 54,000 made it to Camp

O'Donnell. It is unknown how many men actually died

on the march, but it is estimated to be

between 2,000 and 2,330 Americans and possibly as

many as 10,000 Filipinos.

Route of the Death March

The surrender of our forces on Bataan on April 9th, 1942

and the subsequent surrender of Corregidor, with the

accompanying order for our forces to surrender

throughout the Philippines, brought on the most

ruthless mass treatment of our prisoners of war in

Japanese hands. This treatment was apparently based

upon a fixed policy of INDIFFERENCE, DEBILITATION AND

HUMILIATION!

Florida Chapter 1 members meet before the escort of The Vietnam Traveling Memorial Wall

Chapter News In Photo’s

Page 6

Volume I Issue 5

R O L L I N G T H U N D E R ® I N C . F L O R I D A C H A P T E R 1

Joey Capraro receives his Rocker & Eagle patch

Terry Schmelzle receives his Rocker & Eagle patch Bill Johnson receives his Boot patch

The Wall is a 3/5 scale of the Vietnam Memorial in Washington DC, and stands six feet tall at the center and covers almost

300 feet from end to end. This Traveling Memorial stands as a reminder of the great sacrifices made during the Vietnam War. It was

made for the purpose of helping heal and rekindle friendships and to allow people the opportunity to visit loved ones in their home

town who otherwise may not be able to make the trip to Washington, D.C.

Florida Vietnam and All Veterans Annual Reunion

The Florida Veterans Reunion is one of the largest and longest running veterans reunions in the country. 2018 marked the 31st year.

The reunion takes place at Wickham Park in Melbourne, and last four days. Static displays, food, merchandise and music highlight the

activities.

The Mission Newsletter is a publication of Rolling Thunder® Inc. Florida Chapter 1. All Rights Reserved. Anyone wishing to contribute should send an email to the editor.

Editor: Robert Ericson, Secretary, Email: rtfl1@cfl.rr.com

Page 7

Rolling Thunder®, Inc. Florida Chapter 1 is a not-for-profit 501 (c) (4) organization, and everyone donates his or her time because they believe in the POW/MIA Issue.

We meet the fourth Sunday of each month at 2:00 PM at the Veterans Memorial Center and Museum, Sykes Creek Boulevard in Merritt Island, Florida.

The Public is always invited to attend any of our Membership Meetings.

We’re on the Web! And Facebook Too!

https://RollingThunderFlorida1.org https://Facebook.com/RollingThunderFL1

Rolling Thunder® Inc. Florida Chapter 1 825 Lakewood Circle Merritt Island, FL 32952

Phone: (321) 720-5032

Email: Jimanddreama@cfl.rr.com

If you have a need, please seek the advise or service of

those who support and sponsor this publication.

Volume I Issue 5

R O L L I N G T H U N D E R ® I N C . F L O R I D A C H A P T E R 1

Sponsored Ad

April 9, 1865 - After over 500,000 American deaths, the

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by General Grant, allowed Confederates to keep their

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(Continued)

Home of Wilmer Mc Lean

April 11, 1970 - Apollo 13 was launched from Cape Kennedy at

2:13 p.m. Fifty-six hours into the flight an oxygen tank exploded

in the service module. Astronaut John L. Swigert saw a warning

light that accompanied the bang and said, "Houston, we've had

a problem here." Swigert, James A. Lovell and Fred W. Haise

then transferred into the lunar module, using it as a "lifeboat"

and began a perilous return trip to Earth, splashing down safely

on April 17th.

April 12, 1981 - The first space shuttle flight occurred with the

launching of Columbia with astronauts John Young and Robert

Crippen aboard. Columbia spent 54 hours in space, making 36

orbits, then landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

mailto:rtfl1@cfl.rr.commailto:rtfl1@cfl.rr.com