was being shot down or they had to land beyond enemy territory that bombsight had to be destroyed or had to be hidden, but by all means prevented from getting into the hands of the enemy.

Actual stories of World War II document the extent to which our men went in carrying out that assignment. Many of them actually lost their lives in the very assignment of destroying the secret military material as they were instructed. Many of them hid and through the underground and other means evaded capture for months at a time and suffered far greater privation than men suffered as prisoners of war.

I do not wish to prolong this. I have documented evidence of men in my own district. A man who received the Distinguished Flying Cross and other decorations evaded capture for many months in order that military information which was in his possession, so far as his mind was concerned, not written information, would not get in the hands of the enemy. He suffered terrible privation for a period of 5 months and he evaded capture and finally got back to his own lines.

I would like to insert in the record here a letter that was sent to the Honorable Charles M. Teague, Representative of the 13th District of California. It was sent to him and a copy sent to me. I would like to read this for your information.

Recently a news item appeared in our daily Fort Ord World News which disclosed that Representative Frank J. Becker had introduced a bill to pay members of the Armed Forces $2.50 a day for each day they evaded capture during World War II and Korea.

This subject has been so much of a "thorn in my side," as you will see, that in 1947 I resigned, in disgust, my commission as a major of Infantry and went to work in the Philippines as a civil-service employee. I am writing this letter to you with the hope you may understand the viewpoint of a soldier most directly concerned with the above bill and thereby become interested in it; also that you may pass a copy of this letter to Congressman Becker.

Prior to World War II, I soldiered in Manila with the 31st Regiment and for 6 months prior to the outbreak I was taught "guerrilla warfare." On Bataan I evaded capture and eventually organized and commanded a guerrilla unit of 7,000 officers and men operating for 3 years and 3 months in Bataan, Zambales, and Pampanga Provinces with the rank of major in the United States Army and colonel in the Philippine Army. In early June of 1945 I was personally decorated by General MacArthur with the Distinguished Service Cross for my insignificant part in the Philippine campaign. My monetary compensation for that period of service was my normally accrued back pay. However, the POW who "sat it out" got his $2.50 a day in addition. This was the first blow to my pride.

This policy established by the War Department really paid off in the Korea campaign. They not only surrendered but they talked and even collaborated. (I know of which I write since I am also a veteran of the Chosin Reservoir withdrawal through Koto-Ri and the Hamhung perimeter and have never been a POW, even for a minute.) And now they are going to pay those POW's the usual $2.50 a day in addition to their back pay. The evaders of capture (and we recovered plenty when we hit the beach at Inchon and headed south) have never been mentioned.

Since I left Korea I have spent long hours as a division faculty instructor teaching evasion, escape, and guerrilla warfare, as well as other subjects to draftees. But I notice that the Army training program does not allot as many hours for those subjects as they did during Korea.

It is my humble opinion it is about time the American soldier is compelled to learn that he is better off dying in the attempt to evade or escape from the enemy than to be a prisoner, especially when you consider our potential enemies throughout the world today. Also, if world war III gets under way, I am sure we will find guerrilla warfare (offensive and defensive) will have a greater potential than ever before in history or warfare.

The best way to impress on our young soldiers how much our Army believes in escape and evasion is to compensate the evaders of World War II and Korea. I enter that in the record.

I also enter into the record a letter from Otis F. Noel, a member of the Quartermaster Corps of the United States Navy. I do not think it necessary to insert the names it has on here, but merely the first part of his statement which will cover this subject.

The CHAIRMAN. Very well. Without objection, it may be included in the record.

(The letter referred to follows:)

To: Hon. Frank J. Becker.

From: Otis F. Noel, QMC, USN.

U. S. S. "MISSISSIPPI" (EAG-128), May 1955.

Subject: Pay bill for evading the enemy.

SIR: I have read and have been informed of the bill you have introduced to pay members of the armed services $2.50 for each day spent evading capture. Not only because of the fact I was one of those until November of 1943, but also because of others less fortunate than I. Those who were afflicted by beriberi, eyesight badly damaged, malnutrition, malaria, dysentery, etc. Through it all I myself had the malaria, dysentery, and malnutrition-fortunately nothing worse. For those of the underground it was an endless task of hunting and spying and tantalizing the enemy; by the same token, were we the object of their patrols. Our very presence there kept Filipino peoples' hopes and faith high, made the enemies' life miserable. Our system of wildcat radio communications with Com South Pacific on enemy shipping southward took heavy toll of the enemy at sea in both men and supplies. I am glad to know that at long last the good done is being recognized. I would, if need be, take the same risks for the same cause. It would be easier because of the past experience, but harder by the added years of age. I believe I could do it. I feel those I knew so well then would feel the same.

The CHAIRMAN. Mr. Becker, in the bill which you have introduced is there a clear-cut definition of just what evading capture means? In other words, would it apply to a man from the time he went with his regiment or his division into action until he came out, or would it apply only if he was cut off from his particular unit and goes it alone? It seems to me the term "evading capture" would have to be fairly well defined in order to get at the problem you have in mind. Mr. BECKER. That is quite correct, Mr. Chairman. In the bill here on page 4 it merely states:

Compensation under this subsection shall be allowed to each evader at the rate of $2.50 for each day on which he concealed himself to prevent capture or recapture by a hostile force.

That was as far as I could go in discussion with the legal service as to how to define this. The balance, if any, would have to be up to the War Claims Commission to go further than this. It is my firm conviction, Mr. Chairman, and I say it most honestly and sincerely, if we are to pay prisoners of war $2.50 a day, and I have no objection to that, certainly the men who evade capture as they did in World War II and in Korea, and as an inducement, as this major says, for future with the help of God I hope there is no future in that connection, but there should be just as great an inducement to a man to evade capture as it is to submit to capture and be a prisoner of war. I think they should be treated equally and these men should be taken care of. I submit it to you and I hope that it may have your favorable consideration as soon as possible.

The CHAIRMAN. Thank you, Mr. Becker.

Are there any questions?

If not, we appreciate very much your interest in the subject and the presentation you have made before the committee.

Mr. BECKER. Thank you.

(Mr. Becker later submitted the following letters for the record:) WANTAGH, N. Y., May 2, 1956.

Re H. R. 5395.

Hon. FRANK J. BECKER,

House of Representatives, Washington, D. C.

DEAR CONGRESSMAN BECKER: I was delighted to receive your telegram of May 1 advising that you had testified before the House Interstate and Foreign Commerce Committee in behalf of your bill, H. R. 5395, and am pleased to comply herewith to your request for a brief narrative outlining my experiences as an evadee. In this connection, I must confirm my telephone conversation of May 2 with your secretary, Miss Kay, during which I advised her that, to the best of my knowledge, this information is "classified," and that it would be necessary for your office to clear same with the proper military authority (probably the Air Adjutant General) before release. I am omitting any specific reference to names and places but, notwithstanding the fact that 12 years have elapsed, I am certain that you will appreciate the reasons for my request for a security clearance even though same may be routinely given.

On January 15, 1944, as a United States Army Air Force pilot stationed with the 15th Air Force in Italy, I was in command of a B-17F bomber on a mission to strike at a vital railroad bridge in enemy-held northern Italy.

Our formation proceeded up the Adriatic Sea and turned northwest to penetrate the enemy coast at about 25,000 feet. Upon crossing the coast we encountered extremely heavy and accurate flak which completely disabled one of my four engines and damaged another to the extent that I could draw only about half power. Under the circumstances, I was unable to maintain speed and altitude and was obliged to drop out of the formation and try to return to base by the shortest possible route. By this time we were deep in enemy territory and I headed south, unable to maintain altitude, despite the fact that we had jettisoned our bombs and all other unnecessary weight. After having lost altitude to about 11,000 feet, we were intercepted by enemy fighters which made several passes at us, inflicting damage which included puncturing my wing tanks. The fighters then peeled off, leaving us "sitting ducks" at about 120 miles per hour with gasoline streaming from the wing, to the mercy of another intense flak barrage, during which I received a slight wound in my left arm. Evasive action taken had cost another 3,000 feet of altitude, with over 150 miles to go and a range of mountains to cross before reaching friendly territory. I gave the order to abandon ship, and after making certain that the rest of my crew had gotten out safely, I parachuted from 7,000 feet and watched my plane crash into the Lago di Bolsena.

I thought with certainty, as I descended, that I would be captured, for I was very close to a town and could see people streaming out the road toward the area it was expected I would land. By "slipping" my chute, I succeeded in killing my drift sufficiently so that I landed far enough away from my pursuers to make a break for freedom. Despite that fact that I had landed in an olive grove, and had sorely hurt myself when I struck one of the trees, my only thought was to escape so I quickly discarded most of my heavy flying gear and ran in the direction I thought to be away from my pursuers. I had faint hope of successfully evading capture at this point, so when I came upon a young lad tending sheep, I tossed my pistol to him in the hope that it would be passed along to the partisans and ran on. Evidently this act contributed greatly to the preservation of my freedom and probably my life for my pursuers were desperate Fascists, who were close enough to shoot at me, but who rarely made prisoners of Allied airmen, preferring to shoot them on the spot. When they came upon the lad examining the pistol they beat the bushes in the area in the expectation that I had hidden there. I ran down the shallow bed of a stream overgrown with bushes, and then up into the hills where I threw myself into a fairly large hole and covered myself with dead wet leaves. I lay there motionless in the wet ground scarcely daring to breathe for about 8 hours while a thorough search of

the area was made for me and then, after dark proceeded to what turned out to be a nearby farmhouse.

I approached the farmhouse where it developed that they were expecting me to turn up for one of the farmer's sons had seen me dive into the hole and had so informed his father. They were, of course, sympathetic to the Allied cause else I would have been pointed out to my pursuers. The farmer gave me wine and a bite to eat and I made it known to them that I wanted to set out for the frontlines immediately, but they were vehement in their protest for it was apparent to them that I had been hurt and was physically exhausted. They convinced me that the best procedure would be to go to another farm, about 3 or 4 miles away, which was more secluded. As we walked in the still of the night, I realized more and more the wisdom of their argument, for each step became increasingly difficult. We reached our destination without incident, and it came to be that I remained hidden there for several weeks, for the following day I became seriously ill, apparently having contracted pneumonia as a result of having lain in the wet ground, and the following 7 or 8 days are a complete blank in my memory, although I know for certain that I received no medical attention. While recuperating, although still weak and ill, we got word that the Fascists had learned that I was staying at this farm, and one cold rainy night we walked about 5 miles to the home of another "friend," located on the outskirts of the town which I had seen while descending in my chute. I remained there until I recovered sufficiently to be on my way again and struck south with the help of one of my friends and made for the farm of still another "friend." This latter place was pretty much of a base of operations from that point on, and the owner, whom we shall call X passed along to my hideout whatever he could spare in the way of food and clothing. Needless to say these were very scarce and I subsisted primarily on bread, cheese, macaroni, potatoes, and wine for several months.

During this time the frontlines had stagnated at Cassino, and I had been advised by those who were in contact with British agents that it was utterly impossible to successfully pass through German positions. During these months there were several instances during which I was almost captured, including one where I was actually questioned in the Italian language by a German military policeman, and, fortunately, my Italian by then was better than his, and I successfully convinced him that I was an Italian, despite the fact that he had searched my pockets and found an American phamphlet, printed in English, which he did not recognize as English despite the fact that it bore the seal of the United States on the cover.

Needless to say, during these months I had discarded my uniform for civilian clothes and to have been apprehended under the circumstances would probably have meant execution as a spy, as well as the summary execution of any of the partisans involved in my safekeeping. The mental and physical strain on both myself and my benefactors were considerable inasmuch as the mentioned X had a wife and four young children to also consider, despite which he made many sacrifices in my behalf and sorely endangered the lives of his family and himself in so doing; I sincerely feel that I owe my life to X.

Early in June 1944 the Allied forces broke through at Cassino, and when we got word that they were approaching Rome I headed south to meet them and, after 2 days' walk, encountered an advance patrol of British infantry. The date was June 12, 1944, and nearly 5 gruelling months had elapsed since that fateful day I had parachuted from the stricken B-17. I returned to their command post with this advance patrol and was furnished transportation back to their headquarters, from which point I departed for Rome and found my way to the headquarters of the 12th Tactical Air Force where I reported in. I was then sent to headquarters of the 15th Air Force at Bari, Italy, where orders were out reassigning me to duty, inasmuch as I had been officially declared "missing in action," and I was returned to the United States after having been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and promoted to captain.

I trust the foregoing will be of some benefit in your presentation of the case for H. R. 5395, and it may be of interest for you to know that, to my personal knowledge, at least two other members of my crew evaded capture under circumstances which must have been very similar to my own.

Sincerely,

WILLIAM I. PEDERSEN.

Hon. FRANK J. BECKER,
New House Office Building,

Washington, D. C.

FALLS CHURCH, VA., May 1, 1956.

MY DEAR MR. BECKER: Allow me to express my personal appreciation of the amount of time you are devoting to H. R. 5395, which you have introduced to ameliorate inequities resulting from the War Claims Act of 1948. This act offered a premium to those who surrendered to the enemy, and denied this to all those who, in the finest tradition of the armed services made every effort to avoid capture. Many fine young American soldiers and officers willingly risked death and torture evading capture in order to continue active resistance against the enemy. The contribution of these evaders, particularly those who engaged in the local resistance movements that sprung up in the various areas, has never been properly assessed.

From my own experience, I confine my remarks to the Philippine Islands, where a handful of American servicemen organized and actively led 200,000 Filipino guerrilla troops, preventing the Japanese from fully occupying the islands and exploiting their tremendous resources in support of the Japanese war effort. In addition, these guerrillas provided military intelligence of inestimable value which assisted our returning forces under General MacArthur to strike at points of weakness (Leyte) instead of making costly attacks on fortified positions such as Davao Gulf. Frequent and accurate reports of enemy ship and aircraft movements were made to headquarters, GHQ, Southwest Pacific area, and to the commandant, 7th Fleet, enabling both the United States Navy and Air Force to counter expected and anticipated attacks accurately and effectively. Yet this group of Americans existed on strange and unfamiliar foods, without adequaté medicine or clothing, fighting a well-armed enemy with makeshift weapons until the controlled Japanese war press admitted that they dared not move troops off main highways because of damage inflicted by unconverted "bandits."

Supplies were meager throughout the 3 years of guerrilla warfare, which was led in Mindanao and parts of Luzon (the 2 major islands of the Philippines) exclusively by American evaders. The effectiveness of this effort impressed the United States Navy to such an extent that they allotted their only two large fleet-type submarines, the U. S. S. Narwahl and U. S. S. Nautilus for the exclusive purposes of moving supplies into the Philippines and evacuating American and allied military and civilian personnel to Australia. The supplies brought in by this method consisted of arms, ammunition, radios and parts, medicine, propaganda material-"I shall return-MacArthur" with less than 4 percent devoted to food or quartermaster items. This meant that at no time were the evaders adequately fed, properly housed, or medically protected, even by meager substandards of the jungle life.

The bright picture of Philippine guerrilla activities against the Japanese would never have resulted had it not been for a handful of "evaders." Yet when these evaders returned to normal life in the United States, they found themselves penalized by subsequent legislation for having evaded capture and taken part in resistance and guerrilla activities against an enemy with whom the United States was still at war.

Sincerely yours,

WENDELL W. FERTIG,

Colonel, United States Army, Retired, (Former Commanding Officer, 10 Military District.)

THE 10TH MILITARY DISTRICT, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS

A Case History of a Guerrilla Organization, Organized and Commanded by

"Evader"

The concept of guerrilla operations against the Japanese forces developed during the period spent in the jungle following the surrender of the Philippines in May 1942. The Tenth Military District in its new form was activated on September 15, 1942, at which time Lt. Col. Wendell W. Fertig, Corps of Engineers, issued a proclamation declaring that a state of war existed between the troops under his command and the Imperial Japanese Army. This was done in order to regularize the forces being organized and assure them the protection (?) of the Geneva Convention on prisoners of war.

During the next 9 months, an area equal in size to the State of Maryland was recaptured from the enemy and continued to serve as a base of operation for the