The Battle of the Stone Courtyard

Introduction

0:00This is a production of WGBH.

0:30Hello, friends. Thank you for joining me today. My name is Jeremy Holm, and I am a former American bobsled athlete turned 11th Airborne Division historian. So I'm the author of three books on the Angels in World War II. And over these past few years, I've been really lucky to be able to travel across the United States lecturing on the history of the 11th Airborne from 1943 through today. So who knows, maybe I'll end up in your hometown one of these days. This all started with

Grandfather's Story

1:00my grandfather, Lieutenant Andrew Carrico, who served in the 11th Airborne during World War II. And I am privileged to honor him and the other Angels by sharing their story through this channel, our books, our Facebook page, and two online museums, 511pir.com and 11thairborne.com. This is definitely a labor of love. But if you'd like to support our efforts to preserve history, check out our new online store full of Airborne books, challenge coins, custom hats, posters, coasters, and much more. You can also donate through our online store, and I want to thank

1:33everyone who has contributed so far. We are currently raising funds for a documentary trip to Luson to trace the footsteps of the Angels from the beaches of Naixubu to Manila and beyond. And of course, we will be visiting Los Baños. One of those Luson battle sites is actually the topic of today's video, Battle for the Stone Courtyard. And we wanted to produce this video in conjunction with the 80th anniversary of the Battle for Manila. But as many of you know, my grandmother, Jane Carrico, passed away recently. You know, grandma loved the 11th Airborne, and she was a huge supporter of our

2:08efforts to tell the division's story. And for decades, she was involved in planning and co-hosting unit reunions across the country. And in all honesty, she was just about the greatest grandmother a guy could ask for. So this video is dedicated to her, a proud Angelette, who has been reunited with her

Battle for Manila

2:26beloved Angel. Now, after Grandpa's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment dropped on Luson's De Gaitai Ridge, just south of Manila, on February 3rd, 1945, he and his fellow Angels deployed to block any enemy movement from the north, while waiting to link up with the rest of the division which had fought inland from Nagsubu. And, you know, that's a story for another day. Now, my grandfather, Lieutenant Carrico, he had a great sense of humor. And, you know, he showed me this photo of the

2:57Tagaitai Ridge jump one day, and he pointed to all the open canopies, and he said, hey, I'm in this photo. I'm one of those. Now, this is a photo of Grandpa's notebook containing notes he took during their briefings on Mindoro prior to the jump. And you can see in the notes that, you know, their DZ was one mile long, full of rice paddies, and that they needed to take all precautions since attack by enemy armor was to be expected. And luckily, that didn't happen, and the 511th's Colonel Oran D.

3:27Hardrock Hogan asked Division Commander Major General Joseph May Swing for permission to push into the city. And Jumping Joe said yes, and Colonel Hogan picked the 511th 2nd Battalion to lead the regiment down from Tagaitai Ridge and into the city. Well, Grandpa's D. Company was voluntold to lead the way, and the company's CO, Captain Stephen Kavanaugh, put Grandpa's 1st Platoon out in front of everybody, so the tip of the spear. And when Grandpa told his squad leaders the plan, they all asked,

3:59why do we get all the dirty jobs? Now, 1st Platoon was full of veterans of the Angels' Brutal Leyte campaign. So this was just some good old-fashioned griping that you'd expect from a group of the best NCOs in the Pacific Theater. So they got their squads geared up, and everyone loaded into division trucks, which had driven inland from the beaches of Naksubu up to Tagaitai Ridge. And Captain Kavanaugh decided to travel with 1st Platoon as they headed north towards the town of Emus, with the objective of finding a way across the Emus River. But let's pause and let's look at the big picture here.

Military Strategy

4:33So at this point, Manila had been occupied by Imperial Japan for about 3 years. America's 6th Army, under General Walter Kruger, was pressing down towards the city from the north, but their drive had slowed. So General Douglas MacArthur was actually getting frustrated with 6th Army's pace, and he placed his hopes on 8th Army under General Robert Eichelberger, which landed amphibiously down south at Naksubu. And General Eichelberger actually knew about 6th Army's sluggishness, and he

5:04went so far as to say that General Kruger was slower than molasses in January. Well, Kruger saw the 11th Airborne's rapid advances from Naksubu to Tagaitai Ridge, and he was impressed enough to ask General MacArthur to place the Angels under his command. But in the words of General Edward P. King, MacArthur turned Kruger down cold, saying that 6th Army was moving south at a snail's pace and had only recently gotten the lead out of their pants when they heard the Angels landed at Naksubu.

5:37So MacArthur left the Angels in the capable hands of General Eichelberger, whose 8th Army was really just the 11th Airborne Division with a few supporting units, which had fought its way inland through the Aga Pass. Now the Angels respected General Eichelberger, and the feeling was mutual. You know, the General wrote to his wife, Emelina, I am very keen about this 11th Airborne. They are small in number, but they are willing to fight. He would later tell the Saturday Evening Post, no one could have asked for finer fighting men. Now General Eichelberger had originally been directed

6:12by General MacArthur to land his army on southern Luzon, and then press north on Highway 17, which is now Route 2. After that, things were left a little bit more open. MacArthur initially said, Take a regiment, Bob. Take two regiments. Go in and cut the enemy to pieces. Break up his rear areas. This is your only chance to take part in the capture of Manila, Bob. You can be the patent of the Pacific. So General Eichelberger explained that our real written orders were to establish

6:43ourselves on Tagaytay Ridge and stabilize conditions in that part of Luzon. My only directives about going to Manila were oral ones, and more of a nature of permission to go rather than a directive. Well, Generals Eichelberger and Swing both wanted to reach Manila before 6th Army, so they figured that if they successfully entered the city, well, General MacArthur was not going to stop them or tell them to turn around. So that's why when the Angels discovered the destruction of the main bridge at Emus on the evening of February 3rd, General Eichelberger was upset, and Grandpa's D Company,

Securing the Bridge

7:17their mission was to find a secondary crossing, which was, of course, critical. Grandpa said, Here we are, a little old airborne division with its 8,000 men attacking Manila from the south, and my first platoon, D Company, out in front of everybody. Quite an experience. So after reaching Emus' main bridge, which is now the Thomas Moscato Bridge, which, of course, the Japanese had blown in 1945, Captain Stephen Cavanaugh had 1st Platoon dismount and move west

7:48through town looking for this rumored secondary crossing. This was the last remaining structure across the river that could support the division's two-and-a-half-ton trucks. So if this secondary bridge fell, the 11th Airborne's drive into the city would be halted until the engineers could, build another bridge. Now, D Company had actually been told of an enemy garrison in Emus that morning by 1st Lieutenant Edwin B. Jeffries of 2nd Battalion's S2. Jeffries' jeep patrol had been talking to the mayor of Desmarinas when a Filipino arrived on a bicycle with a location of the Japanese

8:24barracks in Emus. This man also said that the Japanese were going to abandon their positions and then blow the bridge at 10 a.m. So with this information in mind, D Company moved quickly, but carefully, along the river. They left Highway 17, traveling northwest on what is now Captain B. Paredes Street, until they reached a large walled courtyard containing several stone buildings. Various angels described this building as an old two-story Spanish barracks, a warehouse, a school. I also heard a couple say that it was a church or a mission, but it was actually the old Emus

9:01arsenal, which ironically was established to manufacture and repair armaments during the Philippine-American War. It still stands today and sits just west of the Cavite Police Department's HQ. Now, as you can see on this map, the arsenal was a natural defensive point for the Isabel 2 bridge, which D Company had been sent to secure. So while 1st Platoon moved off the road, Captain Cavanaugh and my grandpa studied the courtyard and noticed that the Japanese were indeed preparing

9:31to depart. They guessed that they were going to cross the bridge and then blow it behind them. So the Japanese were loading supplies into trucks, and PFC James Wentick, which was part of the S-2G patrol, which now accompanied D Company to the courtyard. James said, They were entirely unaware of our presence and clearly did not expect us at that time, since there seemed to be no effort toward security. This area was quite large, and there could have

10:01been a couple of hundred Japanese. So I do want to point out that Wentick's S-2 patrol have been planning to assault the enemy position to secure the bridge before D Company arrived, but with 1st Platoon on site, the job was passed over. So the Combined Angels noticed that the Japanese had the approaching roadways bracketed with mortars and machine guns, giving them control of access along this route to the bridge and therefore into the city. So the enemy, of course, would have to be eliminated before the rest of the division arrived or the bridge was destroyed. Now, my grandpa, or

10:37Lieutenant Karako, told 1st Platoon to spread out, and as they prepared to face over 100 of the enemy, he and Captain Kavanaugh took another look at the courtyard, and these two veterans of the Leyte Campaign detected numerous spider holes in enemy positions in or around all the wood-framed structures on the route in the open. So unfortunately, this was a former arsenal. So the main building's thick stone walls provided the enemy with extremely well-positioned defenses. And, you know, when they took that second look, they noticed there were only two doors, structures, you know,

11:11so the structure's rear face appeared to be the weak point. But that's when Captain Kavanaugh noticed a hedgerow running along the west side of the compound. You know, he's worried about how do I get my men in position without being seen? So with the company's 2nd and 3rd platoons now on site, you know, Captain Kavanaugh was known as Rusty because of his red hair. So he left a machine gun squad as a base of fire, towards the southern corner with orders to open up on enemy positions along the eastern side of the

11:42courtyard when the rest of the company went in. And he also left a few riflemen and a mortar team. So Rusty then split the rest of his force and ordered what remained of 3rd platoon to position themselves along the northwestern corner to cover the approaches to the bridge. So that put them at the intersection of Captain B. Paredes Street and General E. Topasio Street. Now Rusty and Grandpa then shifted the remaining men to their immediate left, which would allow D. Company to perform a double

12:13envelopment along the courtyard's northern and southern edges. So when they reached their positions about 100 yards behind the main building, you know, they took cover along the stone wall. And that's when Captain Kavanaugh realized he had no way to signal the machine gun crew to start firing, since 1st and 2nd platoons had left their colored rifle grenades and smoke grenades and the launchers, of course, back in their big packs on the main road. They were preparing for a 100-yard assault, so everyone

12:45wanted to move light and fast. Kicking himself for the oversight, Rusty recalled the World War I practice of going over the wall, and he ordered his men to do just that. And the machine gun crew was sure to get the message and open fire. So after saying this silent prayer that he was making the right choice, Rusty noted, There was no longer any recourse, so with one surge, we vaulted the wall and went towards the building. So charging across the open grounds, these young paratroopers bellowed and fired their rifles,

13:16killing dozens of surprised Japanese soldiers throughout the courtyard. You know, those with Thompsons kind of focused on the spider holes and grenades were tossed into outbuildings. And initially, the startled Japanese took heavy losses, but they recovered and began dropping mortars and firing machine guns, which wounded and killed several angels out in the open. My grandpa remembered, he said, My scout, Arthur Art Klebov, was shot and killed. Now, Art was a good friend, so grandpa actually moved out to rescue his buddy,

13:47but PFC John Taxic waved his platoon leader off. You know, John pulled Art to safety, but the bullet had ripped through the scout's chest, and Art, the Bronze Star recipient from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, bled out in minutes. You know, grandpa said, You know, another one of my men, Staff Sergeant George Taylor, was wounded. I also saw PFC Ed Rathart, not in my platoon, get shot and killed there. Now, other D Company casualties at this Battle of the Stone Courtyard included

14:18Sergeants Clifford Tossler and Donald J. Hyatt, or DJ. You know, 3rd Platoon Sergeant Murray Perlman and Privates Everett Shaw and Anthony G. Walter, who were both killed. And PFC Norman Red Zadorian. Now, kind of a funny story, Red Zadorian was a photographer in his civilian life, and he had actually, was one of the few angels who took a camera with them up into the mountains of Leyte during the campaign, and so a lot of the surviving photos we have of the Leyte campaign

14:49are courtesy of Red. But his buddies joked that at Emus, he was finally carrying a rifle instead of his camera. Now, a final D Company casualty at Emus was Staff Sergeant Henry F. Gumm, you know, the rigger who helped train the 511th PIR's men at Fort Benning. And if that last name sounds familiar, it's probably because the Gums were America's first family to hang a four-star flag in their window, with Henry's three brothers serving in the Army in the Army Air Corps.

15:19Now, a lot of the Emus casualties came from enemy soldiers who popped up out of spider holes after D Company had pushed towards the main building, but those Japanese were eliminated by paratroopers who were still along the southern wall. And at this point, the battle for the stone courtyard had been going on for about two hours, and D Company's progress was halted by the main structure's thick stone walls, which protected the Japanese inside. Sergeant Wilbur Wilcox noted, if we had access to a flamethrower, something the division couldn't furnish,

15:51we might have been able to save some of our soldiers' lives. Now, Captain Kavanaugh told me that at this point, a self-propelled M8 Scott Howitzer arrived, so the Angels were hopeful that they could break the stalemate, but when the gun crew fired into the stone building's doors and then into its walls, well, as Lieutenant Edwin Jeffries said, although that created a great amount of dust and a small amount of fracturing of the walls, this fire was generally ineffective. So again, the Emus Arsenal building, it's pretty fortified,

16:24and at this point, since they lacked heavy weapons, the paratroopers knew the building was going to have to be assaulted. So a squad under Sergeant Ed Sorensen was sent to rush in and eliminate the residual opposition. However, the Japanese inside had actually moved upstairs into a small room and then blocked all avenues of approach, but no one knew that yet. So when Lieutenant Walter Kennelly declared the building secure, because the bottom floor was empty, the Angels around the courtyard started to relax. Suddenly, those last Japanese hiding in the upper floor room opened fire.

16:59And everyone took cover, and PFC Elmer Chuck Hudson, you know, he said, I watched in horror as 2nd Platoon Staff Sergeant Cliff Tostler ran in front of one of the building's doors, where a hidden enemy had come downstairs and killed Cliff. And then to Chuck's right, another comrade was hit, and the trooper who rushed to help him was also shot. Ducking behind whatever cover they could find in the courtyard, everyone cursed 3rd Platoon, who had prematurely declared the building secure. And during one of our conversations,

17:30Captain Kavanaugh told me that he never really figured out what 3rd Platoon had not done in their building clearing. And, you know, of course, the firefight's underway, so there's no time to investigate. But in 3rd Platoon's defense, they'd actually chased a group of Japanese soldiers out of the building and out into the open, and then killed several of those as they were trying to escape the courtyard. So I think 3rd Platoon just assumed that all the enemy had left the building. And as if Captain Kavanaugh did not have enough to deal with at the time, an irate regimental S-2, Captain Lyman Faulkner, arrived,

18:04and, I guess just ignoring the firefight that's going on, he asked Rusty why the tertiary bridge had not been secured. So again, the main bridge on today's Route 2 had been blown, and D Company was told to take the Isabel II bridge. But this 3rd bridge was a new objective. Steve had been told that the enemy garrison and the Isabel II bridge were his main concerns. But like a professional, Rusty controlled the frustrations he felt about Faulkner's attitude, and the two walked back to the road to look at the small stone bridge across the Emus River about one mile away,

18:41which I think is the bridge just north of the modern Emus Cemetery.

18:47And Captain Kavanaugh said, I promptly directed 1st Platoon toward the bridge, and they just as promptly strolled across this major objective without resistance. So Grandpa and his 1st Platoon were given a breather, but the battle for the stone courtyard was still going on,

Aftermath of Battle

19:02and the Japanese were continuing to inflict casualties on 2nd and 3rd Platoon. Knowing that an assault on the barricaded upstairs room would be costly, 2nd Platoon's Tech Sergeant Robert C. Steele decided, it's time to end things for good. So calling for covering fire, Sergeant Steele dashed towards the main building under fire, then climbed up the structure's side. Bob then tore a hole in the roof right above the remaining Japanese, and shouted for gasoline. And he did all this while other Japanese were firing on him, by the way.

19:36So 2nd Platoon's Lieutenant Robert Watkins carefully crawled across the ground, and then pulled a jerry can from the jeep patrol behind him. This can was passed up to the roof, and Robert poured its contents into the hole, and then ignited the gas with a white phosphorus grenade. My grandpa later said that when the burning Japanese rushed out of the building, 2nd Platoon mowed them down. And 2nd Platoon did have help. HQ2's PFC Dean Marks had arrived with his machine gun squad,

20:07which included future world-renowned artist, William Bill Porteus, and they set up their A4 on the stone wall. They actually watched Sergeant Steele up on the roof, and Dean noted, As 20 to 30 Japs came scampering out of the doors, mainly the front doors, we cut them to pieces. About 8 other Japanese managed to run to a nearby 1939 Dodge Army truck, which they tried to use to race out of the area, but they actually found themselves staring them down the barrel

20:37of that D Company machine gun, which Captain Cavanaugh had set up before the company began their assault. And in the words of one of the angels, seconds later, that smoking truck rolled to a stop. Back inside the courtyard, Sergeant Steele dropped to the ground and then peered into the stone building and dispatched the last two enemy soldiers hiding inside. The battle of the stone courtyard was now over. Now, General Robert Eichelberger himself, remember this is 8th Army's commander,

21:09he actually watched Bob Steele in action after arriving at the courtyard in a jeep with his G3, Colonel Frank Bowen. Five years later, Frank Bowen would lead the angels of the 187th Regimental Combat Team during the Korean War. But back in 1945 at Eichelberger, Colonel Bowen, and driver Clyde Shuck huddled behind the stone wall for protection. And that's where they watched Sergeant Steele's actions, which earned Bob the Distinguished Service Cross.

21:40And as a side note, once the 11th Airborne's General Swing heard that General Eichelberger was that far forward and watching the Eichelberger, understandably, he freaked out. General Swing got on his L5 Sentinel with his personal pilot and flew from his CP to Emus where he landed on the concrete Route 17 close to the action. And neither general ever recorded what was said, but Swing did get Eichelberger to pull back from the front lines. But both generals were impressed

22:12with the actions of Sergeant Robert Steele at Emus. Bob was born in Sepulpa, Oklahoma, and lived in Los Angeles, California, where he entered college while working as a gardener slash groundskeeper for local parks and cemeteries. Then on March 31st, 1941, the 135-pound 5'10 Bob Steele enlisted in the National Guard where he was promoted to corporal. Later that year, Bob returned to Oklahoma City to attend Oklahoma City University as a sophomore. But once war was declared,

22:43Bob joined the regular army and volunteered for the parachutes, where several of his buddies said that Sergeant Steele was one of the best soldiers they ever knew. Leaving the Emus Stone Courtyard and 88 enemy dead behind, at 1650, an exhausted D company joined 2nd Battalion's move north towards Las Pinas on Bacor Bay. They passed through Zapote and then 2-5-11 moved abreast of 1st Battalion into urban Bacor, where they were met by a crowd of about 3,000 Filipinos

23:14who offered the angels gifts and just shouted, you know, victory, mabuhay, God bless you. And HQ2's Dean Marks wrote, you know, they gave us water and bananas, papayas and mangoes. The sheer joy on their faces is hard to forget. Now again, the angels were liberating Bacor after three years of Japanese occupation and a 17-piece band came out to play, kind of roughly, America's National Anthem and several Sousa marches.

23:46Sergeant Ed Sorensen noted of this celebration, their hearts were obviously in it. They were happy at last. The angels continued north towards their objective, Manila, and the suicidal Japanese that awaited them there. Now during this movement, Captain Kavanaugh actually had Sergeant Robert Steele take over 2nd Platoon and Rusty put Bob in for a battlefield promotion to 2nd Lieutenant. But tragically, Sergeant Steele was killed three days later

24:17in the fight for the city. On February 8th, 1945, D Company was ordered to scout enemy positions west of Nichols Field. So Captain Kavanaugh sent a patrol led by Acting Platoon Sergeant Robert Steele and, you know, the angels found the enemy quickly enough. In fact, the patrol noted that they heard the enemy all around them and then the Japanese began firing and PFC Billy Pettit, one of the youngest paratroopers in the 11th Airborne Division,

24:48he watched Sergeant Steele peek over a wall to fire back, but within seconds, Bob was hit in the head. As one of the 511's original Toccoa men, Robert Steele's loss was felt by all in D Company, especially by his good friend Corporal William Walter who was in the hospital when he got the news, and Willie admitted that he cried freely for his lost buddy. Willie said, he just knew how to do everything. In Leyte, he and I were pup tent buddies.

25:19We laid there at night discussing what we were going to do when we got out of the service. I came to admire him so much. He was the kind of man that everybody would like to be. During a firefight there on Leyte, Bob, Willie, and Sergeant Murray Pearlman found themselves alone in a river bottom, and Bob noticed Murray's untied shoelaces, and he calmly said, hey Murray, you are going to trip and fall. So, while bullets zipped overhead, Sergeant Robert Steele

25:49knelt in the water and laced up his comrade's jump boots. Corporal Walter then said of Bob's death, it really shook me up. It was one of the worst things that happened to me in the service, losing a buddy like that. Staff Sergeant Wilbur Wilcox wrote, Steele gave his life for what he believed in. Sergeant Robert Steele was 22 years of age. He was temporarily buried at the USAF cemetery, Manila No. 2, before his body was moved permanently

26:21to the Fort McKinley Cemetery, which is located on the very grounds that Bob's buddies helped reclaim from the enemy 10 days after his death. Now named the Manila American Cemetery, these sacred grounds host Bob's mortal remains as well as over 17,000 soldiers, sailors, and airmen who, like Bob, gave the ultimate sacrifice. This includes Bob's brother Richard, who was also killed on Luson, three months after Bob was.

26:51And I wanted to thank Ryan Bloom and the wonderful staff at the Manila American Cemetery for providing this photo of Bob Steele's final resting place and for caring for our fallen. If you're ever in Manila, be sure to stop by the American Cemetery. They are indeed hallowed grounds. Thank you for joining me today. I hope you enjoyed the story of the Battle of the Stone Courtyard. If you'd like to learn more about the 11th Airborne Division, please visit 511pir.com or 11thairborne.com

27:22And be sure to visit our online store at 11thairbornestore.com where you can pick up one of our three books on the Angels in World War II or one of our popular 11th Airborne Challenge Coins, including our brand new coin which commemorates the 80th anniversary of the Angels' raid on the Los Banos internment camp. Down from Heaven comes 11 Airborne all the way.