FReeper Canteen ~ Arthur Wermuth, Part 4 ~ 24 February 2020

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[Kathy in Alaska]

 

Our Troops Rock!  Thank you for all you do!

For the freedom you enjoyed yesterday...
Thank the Veterans who served
in The United States Armed Forces.

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Armed Forces Today!

---

~ Hall of Heroes ~

Arthur Wermuth
"The One Man Army of Bataan"
Part 4 - Heroes of Bataan

Info from here.

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

           

Following torturous days in the infamous Bataan Death March, Captain Wermuth was held prisoner of the Japanese, who despite the fact that their most hated enemy was now under their control, feared the One Man Army. Elliott Junior Smelser, a fellow POW recalled in 1993 of his own captivity: "The first year of my captivity I worked on building an airfield for the Japanese. Life was not bad because they were afraid of the Major in Charge. His name was Major Wermuth and the Japanese called him 'Wermuth the Lion'."

After spending time at Cabanatuan, Lipa, Bilibid, and then back to Cabanatuan, in December 1944, Major Arthur Wermuth joined 1,618 of his fellow prisoners aboard the unmarked Japanese prison ship Oryoku Maru, for a voyage to prison labor camps in Japan. On the night of December 14, American airplanes bombed the Oryoku Maru, little realizing more than 1,500 Allied prisoners were aboard. The Japanese beached the vessel, leaving the prisoners and only a few guards on board despite the fact that all of them knew Allied planes would return soon.

The American planes from the U.S.S. Hornet did indeed return the following morning, and, still unaware that the ship contained Allied prisoners, the pilots unleashed a torrent of bombs that killed 300 POWs. Following the attack, the Japanese guard at last allowed the prisoners to abandon ship and swim to shore. Many never made it. Those who did created the pattern of white spots seen on the water in this photograph that was taken from an American airplane from the Hornet shortly after the attack.

Major Wermuth was among the survivors of the first Hell Ship, swimming ashore at Olongapo. All the prisoners were quickly rounded up by their captors, and transported to San Fernando in box cars. Two days after Christmas the Brazil Maru and Enoura Maru crammed more than 1,000 prisoners into their small and filthy holds. The Brazil's most recent cargo had been horses, and the hold was still soiled with un-removed manure. Wermuth was among those that suffered hell in the belly of Enoura Maru, the hold of which was filled with dust and residue from its recent cargo of coal. On December 31 the two ships reached the Formosan harbor of Takao. The Japanese held up there to celebrate the New Year, leaving the prisoners cramped below with little food or water, and no medical treatment, though nearly all prisoners were sick and many had already died.

The Enoura Maru was still at Takao on January 9, 1945, when aircraft from the U.S.S. Hornet again attacked an unmarked Japanese ship, unaware that the bombs they dropped into the front hold immediately killed one half of the 500 Americans crammed into that space. Nearly every man who wasn't killed, including Major Wermuth, were wounded by flying shrapnel. It was friendly fire that netted Wermuth his FOURTH Purple Heart.

For three days the Japanese left the bodies of the American dead where they fell, littering a hold still crammed with wounded and bleeding American prisoners. Finally, on January 12, the dead were carried out and the surviving 890 prisoners were transferred to the Brazil Maru for the final leg of their journey to Japan. By the time the prisoners reached Moji, Japan, there were fewer than 500 survivors from among the 1,691 POWs who had boarded the Oryoku Maru less than a month before. Within three months, another 100 prisoners died of disease and/or wounds received on that tragic journey from prison camps in the Philippines to labor camps in Japan. Fewer than 400 survived the war.

Early in 1945 the U.S. Army changed the status of Major Wermuth from Prisoner of War to Killed in Action, believing the man who had become legendary as the One Man Army of Bataan three years earlier was now a casualty of Japanese brutality.

Five days after the Japanese surrendered, an American officer stood before a large group of sick, starving, and often still-wounded but now free prisoners. Slowly the names of soldiers long missing in action, or known to have been prisoners of war, were called out. Occasionally a feeble voice would answer "HERE!" Far more often, there was no response at all. "Major Arthur Wermuth," an officer called out loudly, experience having already prepared him only for silence.

"HERE!" came a weak voice from among the throng of prisoners. Arthur Wermuth, the Ghost of Bataan, stepped slowly forward. His 103-pound body was thin, emaciated, and scarred by four combat wounds, as well as the emotional scars that could not be seen, or understood by more than a few who had, like him endured so much. But Arthur Wermuth was still very alive.

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! 

[The Mayor]

Freep mail me to be on or off the Daily Bread ping list

February 24

Liberated by Jesus

Bible in a Year:

• Numbers 9–11
• Mark 5:1–20

[He] began to tell . . . how much Jesus had done for him.

Mark 5:20

“I lived with my mother so long that she moved out!” Those were the words of KC, whose life before sobriety and surrender to Jesus was not pretty. He candidly admits supporting his drug habit by stealing—even from loved ones. That life is behind him now and he rehearses this by noting the years, months, and days he’s been clean. When KC and I regularly sit down to study God’s Word together, l’m looking at a changed man.

Mark 5:15 speaks of a former demon-possessed individual who had also been changed. Prior to his healing, helpless, hopeless, homeless, and desperate are words that fit the man (vv. 3–5). But all of that changed after Jesus liberated him (v. 13). But, as with KC, his life before Jesus was far from normal. His internal turmoil that he expressed externally is not unlike what people experience today. Some hurting people dwell in abandoned buildings, vehicles, or other places; some live in their own homes but are emotionally alone. Invisible chains shackle hearts and minds to the point that they distance themselves from others.

In Jesus, we have the One who can be trusted with our pain and the shame of the past and present. And, as with Legion and KC, He waits with open arms of mercy for all who run to Him today (v. 19).

By:  Arthur Jackson

Reflect & Pray

How has Jesus changed you? Who do you know that needs to hear about it?

God, I’m so grateful that, through Jesus, things that controlled me in the past can indeed remain in the past.

[left that other site]

Hi Everybody!
(((HUGS)))

[mylife]

Give that man some lumpia and pancit noodles!

[SkyDancer]

~ " Hi Ya!!!" ~

~ ~

~Taking A Few Weeks Off ~

~ Good Evening ~

~ Welcome To My World ~

Frontier Flights - I'm Down There Somewhere

[Kathy in Alaska]

Hello Veterans, wherever you are!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Mayor, and thank you for today’s sustenance for body and soul.

Hope you are feeling better today and well rested.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, ML...((HUGS))...did you and Penny have a nice sunny hike today?

We have mid teens and beautiful blue skies and sunshine.

My plow guy came early this morning and the street plows just a bit ago. Hurrah! They needed to plow 6”+ on my street.

[left that other site]

Oh yes...today was a beautiful day!

over 50! :-)

[PROCON]

It's just incredible what he and the other surviving men had to endure at the hands of their brutal captures. So many men died.

Thanks for tonight's Canteen, Kathy!

[Kathy in Alaska]

~ Hall of Heroes: Arthur Wermuth, Part 4 ~

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[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, my...he was definitely in major need of medical care and food.

[Kathy in Alaska]

Good evening, Janey…((HUGS))...you HAVE been pretty busy the last couple weeks. Hope you have nice weather on your down time.

[radu]

Greetings to all at the Canteen!

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

Amazing he survived all that he endured.

[luvie]

What a lot that man went through for us. We knew a man that was part of the Bataan Death March and he simply wouldn’t talk about it. He was never the same when he got back. God bless all of them

[radu]

Howdy, Kathy.

Other than being frigid, your weather looks much improved over yesterday.

Have more ducks shown up today or are the majority still hiding?

[radu]

Howdy, Mayor.

Are your cold and tummy bug finally leaving you alone? No fun being laid up.

[radu]

Howdy, PO.

Did you finally get to head out to the shooting range with your son?

[Kathy in Alaska]

The Mayor!!

[Kathy in Alaska]

ML!!