Bob Welch - Resolve: From the Jungles of WW II Bataan, A Story of a Soldier, a Flag, and a Promise Kept

RESOLVE

RESOLVE

From the Jungles of WWII Bataan, the Epic Story of
a Soldier, a Flag, and a Promise Kept

BOB WELCH

BERKLEY CALIBER, NEW YORK

BERKLEY BOOKS

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RESOLVE

Copyright 2012 by Bob Welch.

Front jacket image by Time & Life Pictures / Getty Images

Book design by Kristin del Rosario

Maps on by Tom Penix

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FIRST EDITION: November 2012

ISBN: 978-1-101-61218-7

An application for cataloging has been submitted to the Library of Congress.

PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In memory of

Democrito Lumanlan, Kodiaro Laxamana, Maurio, Humbo,

and others in the Philippines who put their lives on the line

for Clay Conner Jr. and his men;

and of Sergeant Gaetano Bato, who started what the 155th Squadron finished;

and to

Doug Clanin and Wayne Sanford,

researchers who toiled in the shadows of yesterday

that this story might be brought to light today

Tomorrow sees undone, what happens not today;

Still forward press, nor ever tire!

The possible, with steadfast trust,

Resolve should by the forelock grasp;

Then she will neer let go her clasp;

And labors on, because she must.

JOHANN WOLFGANG VON GOETHE

Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial.

JAMES 1:12

Map by Tom Penix

Map by Tom Penix

A WHILE AFTER THEBand of Brothers HBO series came out, I was in a Wal-Mart in my hometown of Salem, Oregon, wearing my Easy Company jacket, when a young man rushed up to me.

Youreyoure

Don Malarkey, I said. Now, youd better take care of your shopping cart, son. Move along.

The attention thats been heaped on us Band of Brothers has been gratifying; I cant deny it. But, hell, it doesnt make us any better than any of the other soldiers who did the same kind of things we did in World War II: rolled up their sleeves and won a war, whether it was in the frozen forests of Bastogne or in the humid jungles of the Philippines.

Which brings me to my cohorts who fought in the Pacific Theaterand, in particular, to Clay Conner Jr.

I never knew the man. But after hearing his story from the same author, Bob Welch, who helped me write my book Easy Company Soldier, I think the two of us would have hit it off great.

Like me, Conner had a certain renegade spirit in him that I cant help but admire. Its not as if we didnt have respect for military rules; its just that, at times, it seemed we had to take the bull by the horns and get the job done our way. (That said, Im not sure Conner would ever have done anything as stupid as trying to grab a souvenir pistol off a dead soldier in the heat of battle, which, of course, I did at Brecourt Manor in Normandy.)

Like me, Conner was a university man, a fraternity man, a Sigma Phi Epsilon at Duke. I was a Sigma Nu at the University of Oregon. He appreciated good literature: Shakespeare, Emerson, and Thoreau. I loved the poetry of William Ernest Henley, such as Invictus, and Kiplings Gunga Din.

We both left girlfriends back home when we headed overseas. Both of us had a thirst for adventure. Both made friends in war who would stay with us the rest of our lives, some only in our memories.

Im not saying Conner and I would have been like twins; there were plenty of differences, too. I was a West Coast kid; he was an East Coast kid. He seems to have grown up in a pretty supportive family; mine wasnt that way. I parachuted out of airplanes and went after the enemy; he lived in a jungle and tried to keep the enemy from coming after him.

In some ways, I might have enjoyed his experience in the Pacific; after all, as a kid growing up, based on a series of books I had read, I fashioned myself as Bomba the Jungle Boy. I imagined myself swinging from tree to tree on vines.

Hell, Conner was Bomba the Jungle Boy. In April 1942, after the Fall of Bataan, his future depended on his finding a way to adapt to that native environment, build bridges to the natives who lived there, and elude an enemy that was continually after him. Not to mention eluding the snares of those Mickey Mouse Communist outfits that only complicated the mix.

Im ninety years oldand feeling every bit of it. Conner died younger. But Id like to think that if wed ever met, wed have had great fun sharing stories of our experiences. Were we heroes? Well, some people seem to think so; Conner was never part of a ten-part HBO series, but he did appear on a popular show called This Is Your Lifeand the host said no single story theyd ever done triggered such positive response.

I like to think of us as a couple of guys who got thrown into a mess called war and found a way to help win it, survive it, and, later on, tell stories about it.