FReeper Canteen ~ Hall of Heroes: Arthur Wermuth ~ 28 August 2017

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[Kathy in Alaska]

 

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---

~ Hall of Heroes ~

Arthur Wermuth
"The One Man Army of Bataan"
Part 2 - Heroes of Bataan

Info from here.

(Thank you to DeaconBenjamin for bringing this hero to our attention!)

           

The fighting along the Abucay Line that second week of January was fierce, brutal, and critical to the efforts to hold. Captain Arthur Wermuth's heroic actions in destroying the bridge at Kalaguiman only temporarily delayed the Japanese advance on the Allied main line of resistance. On the night and following day of January 11-12, not far distant from Kalaguiman, Second Lieutenant Arthur Sandy Nininger found himself confronted by hordes of advancing enemy soldiers. Though assigned to Company A, 57th Infantry, during the brief respite from combat Wermuth's action had provided, Nininger had attached himself to Company K in efforts to recapture positions along the line, taken when the Japanese infiltrated a cane field.

On the night of January 11, following an artillery barrage, hoards of Japanese had attacked the line in a Banzai charge. Waves of screaming enemy soldiers streamed into the lines in the face of intense fire, men of the leading wave throwing their bodies over barbed wire barricades to create "bridges" over which the following waves could pass. Narcisco Salbadin manned a water-cooled machine gun in efforts to beat back the enemy. He killed dozens of attackers but each time one fell, it seemed two more rushed forward to replace him. When his machine gun jammed, Salbadin began firing with his .45 pistol, killing five. His thumb was severed when one Japanese soldier attacked him with a bayonet, but despite the loss he maintained his grip, wrested the rifle from the attacker, and then reversed it to ram the bayonet into the enemy soldier's chest.

As the Banzai charge at last began to falter, the Scouts turned offensive to throw back the enemy and regained ground now claimed by the Japanese. Lieutenant Nininger's subsequent Medal of Honor citation reveals his own uncommon heroism: "In the hand-to-hand fighting which followed, Second Lieutenant Nininger repeatedly forced his way to and into the hostile position. Though exposed to heavy enemy fire, he continued to attack with rifle and hand grenades and succeeded in destroying several enemy groups in foxholes, and enemy snipers. Although wounded three times, he continued his attacks until he was killed after pushing alone far within the enemy position." In that action Second Lieutenant Nininger became the first member of the U.S. Army to earn the Medal of Honor in World War II. Ultimately, the Japanese advance had been temporarily halted, but the charge had left hundreds of Japanese snipers alive, and hidden in trees and trenches all along the Abucay line. The task of finding, and destroying them was going to take days of deadly fighting.

For Arthur Wermuth, the continuing attacks mean no time to recover from his own wounds. Five U.S. Marines, displaced from their own unit during the battle for Bataan, arrived at the 57th Infantry Headquarters. Sergeant Bill Eckstein described his men as on "detached service with the U.S. Army to teach them how to fight." Eckstein and his comrades were quickly welcomed by Wermuth, who wasted little time putting them into action.

On January 15, Captain Wermuth deployed what was left of his company along the cane field that bordered the left side of the main road between Kalaguiman and Abucay. He then dispatched two patrols to begin burning the field, leading one patrol himself and placing the other patrol under the charge of Marine Sergeant Eckstein.

Eckstein's patrol reached the center of the field first, an elevated clearing, and the displaced Marine raised up to peer beyond. Suddenly five rounds slammed into his body, severely wounding him. Marine privates Bill Brown and Al Sheldon crawled forward to their sergeant, amid a continuing hail of enemy fire. "Get out of here with the Sarge," Brown shouted, even as scores of Japanese raced, firing as they ran, at his exposed position in the clearing. While Sheldon dragged his sergeant to safety, Brown knelt and coolly snapped off deadly single-shots for five minutes, dropping Jap after Jap. Then his luck began to run out. More than 100 Japanese raced to the edge of the clearing, setting up a machine-gun to rake Brown's position. Repeatedly hit by enemy fire, Brown maintained his position, holding an entire Japanese company at bay until his sergeant had been removed to safety.

For his heroic actions to save the life of his sergeant, at the cost of his own life, Private First Class Robert Joseph Brown became the FIRST of 31 U.S. Marines to be awarded the Army's Distinguished Service Cross in World War II.

For Captain Arthur Wermuth, watching that young Marine's valiant stand was at once both inspiring and heart-rending. Even when Private Brown was dead, the Japanese continued to vent their hatred by raking his body with machine-gun fire. Yelling above the fray, Wermuth shouted, "Jock, burn the field," and then to his men, "Shoot every little son-of-a-bitch who comes running out." By sunset, 207 dead Japanese lay in and around the cane field.

...Part 3 next week...

Please remember the Canteen is here to honor, support and entertain our troops and their families.  This is a politics-free zone!  Thanks for helping us in our mission! 

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

To all our military men and women, past and present,

[luvie]

Howdy, radu! Hope you had a good day today! :)

[radu]

Hiwdy, LUV!

It was a good enough day. Quiet.

Good until I made the mistake if answering the phone when one of Hubby’s cousins called any way. BIG mistake! LOL! That’s why I was so late getting here. Hubby was out in the garage and wouldn’t come in to rescue me. He came in just a few minutes ago.

How was your day? Good, I hope.

[luvie]

It was good! Kind of full for a Sunday but good. Went to see my MIL, and she was looking better than when I saw her in the hospital.

I’ve been watching live streaming of the Houston flood while surfing the web. Still raining down there!

[radu]

I take it she’s out of the hospital now? That’s great! Glad she’s doing better.

I’ve been watching the situation in TX on the Weather Channel for a bit now. I wish that storm would MOVE!
And you KNOW the people living in that mess wish it would too! Unbelievable how long it’s been sitting in place.

[luvie]

It’s going to be sitting there for 2-3 more days. And then move back into the Gulf..maybe.

She’s in a rehab facility and will start PT tomorrow. We have no idea how long she’ll be there. I just hope she gains strength while she’s there.

I’m going to have to go pretty soon. I have another dental in the morning and a funeral in the afternoon. So I can’t sleep late in the morning...again. LOL! Poor, poor pitiful me! :)

[radu]

The cold front coming down has made a mess of things, keeping the storm from moving. Computer models have come up with several possible tracks it could take once it does move but no one will know where it’ll go until it goes. Nature has a mind of its own. :-(

Well drat. I’d hoped she’d made it back home but at least she’s out of the hospital Hope the PT gets her back in shape quickly so she can get home soon.

Another dental? Sure hope they get things squared away this time! Taking an awfully long time.

Sorry to hear about having to go to a funeral. Never a pleasant event.

[E.G.C.]

A very pleasant good Monday morning to everyone at the Canteen and to all our military at home and abroad. Thanks for your service to our country.

((HUGS))Good morning, Ladies. Thanks for this morning's thread, Star. How's it going?

[Kathy in Alaska]

I am just back to the thread at midnight...I’ve been following the Hurricane thread all day, but only between the trips to talk my Mom out of all the things/issues/problems she has had ALL day. It has been quite the day. And never once did she push the button....she called. I have explained at least 20 times that I will not hear her in the night if she calls.

I heard from my SIL this morning, and she said no one had any water in their houses yet. But the more I read tonight about releasing water from dams, makes me worry for Ashlie in Kingwood. I will text everyone in the morning.

For now, I need sleep.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning, ML...((HUGS))...you had quite the fun day.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good morning, E...((HUGS))...I’m worrying about family in Houston and Kingwood. LOTS OF RAIN!!!!

You and Bo have a great Monday.

[ConorMacNessa]

GOD BLESS AND PROTECT OUR TROOPS AND OUR BELOVED NATION!



Morning Colors
The U.S. Marine Band
(Click)

Please let me know by Freepmail if you would like
to be admitted to or released from my music pinglist.

[luvie]

I sure hope you got the sleep you needed. I hope she didn’t try to call in the night and you not hear her. Forgetting the button each time is part of the disease, and it is one of the frustrating ones, for sure.

I pray your prayer for her peace.

[ExTexasRedhead]

The Last Fighter Pilot - Enjoy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6q_8lY12hEM

Another video:

https://www.dvidshub.net/video/395572/jerry-yellin-world-war-ii-veteran-interview

[luvie]

Well...did you Early Birds get that worm?
Was it hard to motivate this morning?
I feel for ya...had to get up to an alarm too.
That' a horrible sound!
Hope the week goes well for y'all!
(((hugs)))

[left that other site]

Time...Pink Floyd
You May Be Right...Billy Joel
Won’t Back Down...Tom Petty
Runaway...Del Shannon
The Mother Road...(Original)

I used my Electric Guitar, a Les Paul Studio, which weighs in over TEN POUNDS.

So, no only did i sing and play, I also schlepped.

[E.G.C.]

((HUGS))Good morning, LUV W. How’s it going?

[luvie]

Good stuff! Sounds like an awesome guitar! I don't imagine that you mind "schlepping" that one! 😀

[luvie]

Howdy, EGC! (((Hugs)))

All is well here. A bit humid but everyone has AC so it’s all good.

Hope you and Bo have fun at the lake today. Did he find him some”playmates” yesterday?

[left that other site]

Well, in the case it weighs twice as much, but playing it just feel empowering!

It is a 2009 Robot that I stripped the guts out and made it into a regular guitar. The robot feature just made the guitar able to tune itself (including many alternate tunings) but it failed after the battery ran out. The recharger wouldn’t work. Kind of like a Harley when the Voltage regulator needs replacing. So I had a GOOD Luthier remove all the self-tuning mechanisms, replace the tuning machines with Grovers, Replace all the knobs with Authentic Gibson Knobs (which meant doing some work on the potentiometers inside), and strip out all the superfluous wiring, which rendered it a magnificent, authentic, clean, and gorgeously playable, ebony fretboard, high-end Les Paul Guitar.

It is the ONLY thing I own that is worth anything. (The Harley is getting old and depreciated but I still love it.)