Today in history: Remotely coordinating escapes
A deskbound general's anxiety about keeping track of escape routes and plans, 1942
Gen. Lewis Beebe was the assistant chief of staff of USAFFE, and in his diary entry for March 18, 1942, he found himself anxiously trying to keep track of evacuation plans:
I’ll be a physical and mental wreck yet. At the last minute we received word that seven Jap destroyers were cruising around in the very area where President Quezon was to be picked up last night. It may have been just a coincidence, but it was odd, to say the least. I tried to stop the movement, and sent messages to Hilsman, Sharp, and Chynoweth to inform the President that destroyers were in the vicinity and it should be called off. It was so late this evening when I received word about the hostile ships that messages may not arrive in time. It has been a hectic day in other respects too. I have orders from Gen. MacArthur to report direct to him in all matters, and am not supposed to communicate direct with the W.D. I can’t get in touch with him and haven’t had a word of any kind from him since he left.
Read the diary entry of another General, Basilio J. Valdes, for an account of the same concerns, from the other end, also on Wednesday, March 18, 1942:
We left Panubigan at 8:30 a.m. Arrived at Bais Sugar Central at 12:30 p.m., tired and sleepy. Slept a good siesta until 3 p.m. When the President sent for me.
Worked decoding some telegrams. At 10:30 p.m. Left Bais Central for Dumaguete arriving at about 11:30 a.m. We waited for Soriano who had gone to Zamboanguita to meet the U.S. Navy torpedo boats. We boarded the torpedo boats at 3:30 a.m. On board were the President and his family, Vice-President Osmeña, Major Soriano, Colonel Nieto, Major Cruz, Captain Ortiz and Miss Labrador. In the hurried embarkation because the Captain of the boat was in a hurry, many members of the party left their suitcases on the dock. We started at 22 knots an hour and soon we were making 30. As we entered the open sea it became rougher and the boat at times hit the water with tremendous force. Suddenly we heard a small explosion followed by a noise of exhaust vapor and the interior of the torpedo boat became impregnated with the smell of burning gun powder. There was a commotion among the crew. Suddenly, the Captain rushed to the place where the noise came from and in a few minutes he had the trouble under control. During the commotion Soriano told the President to come out and breathe fresh air and he refused saying: “No, I want to die next to my wife and children.” When the captain came up to the command tower he told us that the connection to the torpedo had been detached due to the rough sea and it had set the torpedo for explosion. What he did was to shoot the torpedo out, loose, at a cost of $10,000.00. That was a narrow escape. Had the torpedo exploded we would have been blown to pieces.