Left Behind: When America Surrendered WW2

Stranded in Manila: The Frances Long Story

21-year-old Frances Long was just passing through Manila when WW2 broke out – stranding her there.
She’d arrived just days previous with her fiancée, US Marine Alan Manning. On Sunday, December 7, they said goodbye to each other as he headed for his new military station.
It would be the last time they ever saw each other.
Because the next day, the world changed.
The Japanese attacks deserted Frances in Manila – no ships could leave, she couldn’t contact her family, and she had no access to her money.
And then, US forces left Manila for Bataan Peninsula.
Leaving Frances alone, in a foreign city, awaiting the Japanese occupation army.
Within days Japanese forces moved Frances and other “enemy alien” civilians to a Manila Concentration Camp.
That was January 1942.
Frances’s pass-through trip had suddenly become a permanent residence…seemingly for the duration of the war.
For pictures, maps, and sources of Frances's story, visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/frances-long

How John Burk’s Past Saved Him from Execution

John Burk languished for 3 months in 1943 in Manila’s medieval-era dungeon. Then the sentence came: Execution.
The date was set. The prison guards forced him to dig his own grave.
When suddenly…
Burk’s past came back to save him, and possibly the lives of three fellow sailors.
At the same time, one of those sailors, William Patton, was involved in a cross-ocean love triangle – that he knew nothing about.
Discover the bizarre-but-true stories of these two Navy men.
This is the second of 2 episodes about how 4 Navy men hid from the Japanese – and the consequences of doing so.
Pictures, maps, sources, and more available online at: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/burk-patton/

They Sabotaged the Japanese . . . and Lived to Tell

As the US military hurriedly withdrew from Manila on Christmas 1941, 4 US sailors were ordered to remain behind on a sabotage mission.
Their mission accomplished; it was too late to join the American troops on Bataan. And Japanese forces had already occupied Manila.
So sailors Arthur Lazcano and Gordon Fontaine pretended to be civilians and were imprisoned at a civilian internment camp.
But, after about a year, the Japanese heard there were American military hiding in the camp . . .
And they were not pleased.
This is the first of 2 episodes about how 4 Navy men hid from the Japanese – and the consequences of doing so.
Pictures, maps, and sources available here: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/lazcano-fontaine/

The Ill-Fated Engineers of Company C

75% of servicemen in Company C, 803rd Engineers, Army Corps of Engineers, died in captivity during WW2.
Company C had 166 servicemen on its roster when WW2 began. 
Only 38 returned home.
The rest died in battle, on the Bataan Death March, or in POW camps. 
This episode follows 4 men from Company C . . . From the company's beginning in Hawaii. Through their work hard, play harder days in Manila. Into the starvation of Bataan. And then to captivity, until only one member remained in The Philippines.
This is the story of Company C, 803rd Engineers.
Pictures, maps, and sources available online at: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/companyc/

Dominador Figuracion: First to Confront the Invading Japanese

More than 50,000 native Filipino servicemen were captured when the US surrendered The Philippines in 1942.
Filipino servicemen outnumbered Americans at least 6 to 1 during WW2 in The Philippines. Yet we hear so little about them.And more than half never made it home. Among those 50K Filipino POWs was 21-year-old Private Dominador Figuracion.He rode in one of the US Army’s last horse-mounted cavalry units – and was among the first soldiers to confront the Japanese ground invasion army in The Philippines. Then he participated in the last horse-mounted cavalry charge in US history.
 
What would be Dominator Figuracion's fate: death in captivity? Or was he among those who actually survived WW2?
 
For photos and sources, visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/dominador-figuracion/
 
 

Louis Sontag and Brooks Miller’s Heartbreaking Escapes

Marines Brooks Miller and Louis Sontag escaped Japanese forces 3 times during WW2.
The first was when they helped rescue sailors and civilians trapped on a burning navy yard pier after a devastating Japanese air raid.
Months later the two Marines defended Manila’s island-fortress against invading Japanese ground forces.
Then they became POWs.
Back home, the women in their lives waited patiently for news of their fate. And prayed for their safe return.
But what the women didn’t know is that each man would brazenly defy their captors. And for that defiance, both men were sentenced to unimaginable punishments, including death.
Could either escape the cruel punishments – and return home to the women who loved them?
For photos and sources, visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/sontag-miller/

Don Robins Miraculously Escapes the First B-17 Lost in WW2

It was the morning of December 10, 1941. Captain Colin Kelly and Lt. Don Robins piloted their B-17 “Flying Fortress” Bomber on to the bombed-out runway at Clark Field in The Philippines.
They refueled, loaded bombs, and took off again -- headed toward a Japanese aircraft carrier . . . and the stuff of legends.
That day Capt. Colin Kelly would become the first widely celebrated hero of World War 2.
But . . . his co-pilot Lt. Don Robins’ story on that December morning is nothing short of miraculous.
And this was just day 3 of the war.
 
For photos and sources, visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/don-robins/ 

Ralph Brown: The First Chaplain Honored in WW2

While everyone else ran for cover, Chaplain Ralph Brown drove straight into the bombs, machine gunning, and destruction of Japan’s first air attack on The Philippines.
Brown collected wounded men in his old Pontiac and drove them to the nearby hospital. And then he headed back into the bombing and staffing at least 5 more times, getting wounded men to safety.
For those actions, he became the first chaplain in WW2 to receive the Distinguished Service Cross – the military’s second highest honor.
And that was on Day 1 of the war.
He spent the next 4 months driving the roads and trails of Bataan, serving the American troops attempting to hold back the Japanese advance.
He then survived the Bataan Death March, almost 3 years at Japan’s largest WW2 POW camp, and two friendly-fire ship bombings.
This is the incredible, self-sacrificing story of Chaplain Ralph Brown – a man on a mission from God.
 
For images, maps, and a full list of sources, please visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/ralph-brown
 

Lester Tenney’s 7-Decade Quest

Being released from a POW camp was just the beginning of Lester Tenney's quest...
In 1940, Lester Tenney joined a tank unit in the US Army Reserves, hoping to serve 1 year and then move on with his life. 
But the world had different plans.
Captured by Japanese forces on Bataan Peninsula in The Philippines in the early days of World War 2, Tenney endured the Bataan Death March and spent 3 years and 6 months in POW camps in The Philippines and Japan.
He then spent more than 70 years on a quest for forgiveness and redemption.
 
For pictures of and sources for Lester Tenney and his story, visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/lester-tenny/ 
 

Frank Pyzick: The Marine who Announced World War 2

Major Frank Pyzick, US Marine Corps, rode thru a navy yard announcing the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the start of World War 2 to the Marines in The Philippines.
5 months later he was captured by Japanese forces and spent the next 40 months at POW camps in The Philippines, Japan, and Korea.
And in the middle of it all, he destroyed a US Navy base and survived 2 shipwrecks.
For images, maps, and a full list of sources, please visit: https://leftbehindpodcast.com/frank-pyzick/