Island of the brave
During the summer of 2015, when both the Philippine and US governments marked the 70 th anniversary of the Liberation of Palawan, I paid tribute to my grandfather Col. Nazario B. Mayor, a veteran of two world wars and a legendary Palawan guerrilla fighter.
Apparently, Palawan is a treasure trove of heroes of World War II. Shortly after my article came out, I got an e-mail from writer Steve Moore, who wanted to know more about my grandfather. He wrote:
I enjoy writing military history and I am currently in contact with some of the families of the 11 Americans who survived the so- called Palawan Massacre of late 1944. I am collecting materials regarding their stories and their escape from the Japanese camp. As you know, however, that is only part of the story.
The reason they made it out alive was through the help of friendly guerrilla warriors serving on Palawan. These men were eventually moved through the terrain and on to Brooks Point, where they were assisted by Colonel Major (sic). I referred him to my aunt Mary Anne Ancheta, who though a little girl during World War II, remembers vividly the American soldiers who were protected and taken care of by her parents at great risk to their own lives.
( In fact, Auntie Mary Anne was reunited in 1988 in New York with one of the 11 survivors, Glenn McDole, in the TV show Good Morning America. My grandfather also had a sentimental reunion with McDole in my aunt’s home in Wisconsin.) Growing up, I remember my Grandpa Zario’s room was wallpapered with medals, including the Purple Heart. But it was only recently, through the works of American authors like Moore writing about the POWs in Palawan, that I realized the depth of my grandfather’s valor. I am in awe of his uncommon valor and almost blind patriotism. Grandpa “Zario,” according to another book Eight
Survived by Douglas A. Campbell (a book on the survivors of the USS Flier, the only downed World War II submariners to survive and evade capture by swimming over to Palawan), was willing to give up everything for love of country.
“When the Japanese attacked Manila, Mayor left Bugsuk and boarded a ship headed for the battle lines…He left Bugsuk and later wrote a letter to ( his wife) Mary, which she read to the children one night at supper. Their father told them he was being hunted by the Japanese. If the enemy came after Mary and the children, he wrote, he would not surrender to free them because to do so would jeopardize the resistance movement,” Campbell wrote. My late father Frank was one of his children. (The others being Nellie, Bobby, Mary Anne,
Coney, Buddy and later, baby Lorraine). Palawan is actually one of the many islands that figured prominently during World War II. On Dec. 14, 1944, 139 American prisoners were herded by Japanese forces into a trench in what is now known as Puerto Princesa’s Plaza Cuartel. Gasoline was poured into the trench and then set ablaze. By digging through the sides of the trench and then jumping off a cliff, 11 soldiers survived the inferno. Many of them sought refuge in the home of my Grandpa Zario and Grandma Mary — who were not afraid to hide them.
Early this month, Steve Moore wr ot e me to t el l me he had finished his book on the Palawan Massacre titled As Good as Dead. It was released last Nov. 22 and is available through major retailers in hardcover, Kindle, Nook and audible book formats.
“I hope more people will come to realize the sacrifice these men made and how the escape of a few led directly to the salvation of thousands of other POWs,” he wrote. “Thanks for your contributions to me to help make this story come to life.”
Whoa! Not one, but at least two books have been written about the heroes of Palawan and Grandpa Zario has a starring role in each of them.
*** Excerpts from Moore’s book:
Captain Mayor’s Company D of the “Palawan Special Battalion” had been raising hell with the Japanese since the guerrilla corps had been more formally organized in October 1943. Mayor’s Sector D, by far the largest guerrilla region, included all areas from Puerto Princesa south to Balabac Island. Although undermanned and ill- equipped, his company was efficient during 1943 and early 1944. His men had killed dozens of Japanese soldiers in several attacks, suffering only one of their own wounded in the process. Mayor’s guerrillas had seized weapons and ammunition and had been the first unit to make contact with American submarines supporting the resistance effort.
The Japanese PC thus had good reason to want to dispose of Mayor, as they had done with Mendoza. When they sent Thomas Loudon (my great grandfather — JRR) to Balabac to ask his son-in-law to surrender, Loudon was comforted with prior intel from the guerrilla network that Mary, his daughter, her husband, and Loudon’s grandchildren had already vacated Balabac to hide elsewhere. Loud on was thereafter suspected of aiding the Pa law an guerrillas and placed under arrest… He passed along intelligence to Filipino guerrillas when he could, and he steadfastly refused all further proddings from the Japanese military to help force his son- in- law to surrender. Nazario Mayor treated his new American friends (the
POWs who escaped the Palawan Massacre — JRR) to several celebrations during their convalescence at Brooke’s Point. The local families prepared great meals for the holidays, which helped the men regain some of their lost weight. On Christmas Eve, Sergeant Placido made doughnuts, and the entire group enjoyed midnight services conducted by the priest…
The food and festivities helped lighten the serious danger that the Americans still faced from Japanese soldiers patrolling Palawan.
Mayor and Placido continued their communications with MacArthur’s Australian headquarters, and by January 1, 1945, they had received encouraging word that efforts were under way to evacuate the first party of American survivors.
The guerrillas received instructions to build large bonfires on the beach the next night to help guide in a Catalina PBY flying boat. If the crew spotted the signal fires at the proper distance, they would land before dawn and pick up the survivors. Spirits soared among the Americans. They waited eagerly at the edge of the jungle the next night as Mayor’s men built the fires. They soon heard the drone of engines, and aircraft slowly buzzed about the point, circling to inspect the area in the darkness… Till the last POW boarded his boat to freedom, Grandpa Zario was with them, lighting the bonfire that would be their beacon to freedom, as he, too, was a beacon for the freedom that Palawan — nay, the entire Philippines — now enjoys.
It only takes a spark to get a fire burning. Grandpa was one stubborn spark that raged against the enemy.
Grandpa lived a full life and died at age 93 in February 1993. He was interred at the Libingan ng mga Bayani, a true hero with a starring role not just in his family’s reel of memories, but also in vivid accounts of a crucial time in history when men believed that even strangers were worth dying for.