COL. WARNER SURRENDERS THE 14th INFANTRY
(June 20, 1942)
Col. Warner officially surrendered the 14th Inf. to the Japanese on June 20th. The following day our group walked down to the river and obtained a guide and several bancas. We spent the day coasting down the river to Ilagan. On the way down, I decided that no American would be killed by my .45; I dropped it in the river.
In Ilagan, we hiked several blocks to a Japanese barracks, knocked on the door and tried to explain to some ignorant soldiers that "we had come to surrender!" We were about as welcome as a vacuum cleaner salesman. With little planning we could have "wiped them out." We were finally directed to an empty house across the street to spend the night, sleeping on the floor.
The next day we hired a Filipino caratella (pony cart) and rode about fifty miles to Echague where we repeated the surrender process at a cavalry barracks. Six of us Americans soon found ourselves sleeping on the concrete floor of the guard house of the old Constabulary Barracks, west of Echague. Our hosts were a squadron of Japanese cavalry-probably the same squadron we used to watch going up and down the highway.
Echague was the town where Guillermo Nakar and I had frequent conferences with the Governor and provincial officials. We were only fifteen miles from the radio shack, where Nakar was persisting in his efforts to contact Gen. MacArthur.
I didn't get to Palanan to meet General Aguinaldo! I have often wondered how different my life might have been-sitting out the war with Aguinaldo.
Guests of a Japanese Cavalry Squadron: For one month, we six Americans were assigned to perform all of the unpleasant chores of the squadron, pumping water by hand, preparing vegetables, burying garbage, etc. We were pleased when we heard through the "bamboo telegraph" (rumors whispered to us by the natives selling us bananas and coconut cookies) that the government officials that we had appointed had been accepted by the Japanese. We knew that they would maintain a certain loyalty to the United States.
The Japs called us "captives," not P.O.W.s. Each morning and each evening, we had to stand formation with the squadron
facing east repeating an allegiance to the Emperor (we substituted our own words, which we deemed more appropriate).