Manarawat: The 11th Airborne's Plateau in the Pacific in WWII

Introduction to Episode

0:00Today we are going to tell the story of the 11th Airborne Division's first combat jumps in World War II and the forward position that the Angels blasted out of the jungle, which kept the Division fighting in some of the worst conditions imaginable. Stay tuned for the account of the 11th Airborne's plateau in the Pacific, Manarawat.

Host Introduction

0:30Hello friends, thank you for joining me today for this episode of Down From Heaven, the 11th Airborne Division in World War II and beyond.

1:01My name is Jeremy Holm, and I am a former American bobsled athlete who has turned 11th Airborne Division historian, and this is all an attempt to honor my grandfather and his buddies who risked it all to defend freedom in World War II. I'm the author of three books on the Angels, and it is an honor to travel across the United States lecturing on the history of the 11th Airborne from 1943 through today.

Visiting Arctic Angels

1:26And speaking of traveling, I recently had the privilege of traveling to Anchorage, Alaska to visit our active duty Arctic Angels and to spend Christmas with them, including attending the Christmas Ball. It was such an honor to spend Christmas with the Angels and to get to know these incredible men and women who are serving our nation. And I do want to give a special shout out to Major N and her team, Corporal Collins, Colonel Whiteman, Captain Barry, Major Dieppe, CSM Skaggs, Lieutenant Colonel Nelson, CSM Hanson,

1:58SFC Morales, and the list goes on and on. I truly appreciate these Angels for making my trip so unforgettable and for sharing their knowledge with me about today's division and for tolerating my never-ending questions. And I especially want to thank Colonel Howell for introducing me before my speech at the Christmas Ball. Colonel, I have been speaking to audiences for about 20 years now all over the world, and I have to say you rocked it. So maybe I'll have to start taking you to all my other speaking gigs as my hype man.

2:33And of course, a very special thank you to Angel Six himself, Brigadier General John Cogbill, for the invitation to attend these events, and for the social events at his home. Truly one of the greatest leaders in the Army. So all of you listening today who have sons or daughters serving in the 11th Airborne Division, just know that your children are in good hands under the leadership of General Cogbill.

Arctic Tough Motto

2:58And after standing out on a drop zone for several hours in negative eight degree weather, I have a greater appreciation for the phrase, Arctic Tough. That isn't just a motto, it is a lifestyle for these angels. They truly are some of America's best and toughest men and women in the service. Now if you're a long-time listener to this channel, you know that I've mentioned several times that eventually we're going to do a full episode on the 11th Airborne Division's late-day campaign. But this is not that video, but it will cover an important portion of the angels' campaign

3:33on Leyte in 1944.

Menorowat and Leyte

3:35Today we are going to talk about Menorowat, Randolph Field, and the 11th Airborne Division's Million Dollar Village. Let's jump in. So when the 11th Airborne reached Leyte Harbor on November 18th, 1944, the angels were told to disembark quickly because Japanese submarines and kamikaze aircraft were still operating in the area. So they landed on a 6,000-yard stretch of what was called Bido Beach, which you can see in some of these photos here. And this was south of Tacloban, where General MacArthur was at the time.

4:08So the 11th Airborne took two days to unload and five days to get all their supplies on the beach. So things were just stacking up on the beach. And at some point, some nearby unit actually moved in to try to steal from the angels, which is ironic because the angels were basically professional thieves themselves. But I guess one afternoon, a random truck showed up on the beach and started loading boxes of the angels' rations. And then when these outsiders were starting to drive away, Captain Thomas Jordan realized

4:40what was going on. So he jumped in front of this truck and leveled his rifle right at the driver. And that ended the situation right there.

Unloading Supplies

4:50Now, during all the unloading, the division's 127th Airborne Engineers were busy working on a causeway to the division's rear. And this was right on the edges of Bido Beach. So it was very marshy, swampy. And a lot of their work just kept sinking into the swamp. So a few of the engineers said it was a hard, it was a tough job with a lot of colorful, colorful words used. And then the monsoon rains started on the second day of the division's time on Leyte.

5:23So that didn't help the situation at all. It actually rained one inch per day over the next 30 days. You know, one angel wrote, this whole island is one sea of mud. So it took four days for the engineers to complete what the division called Highway 1. And in the meantime, a nearby Amtrak battalion came over to help move about 50% of the division inland. And there was a good reason for this move. Well, I guess, I mean, number one, they wanted to get off the beach.

5:54I mean, all those stack supplies made tempting targets for any, any, any enemy aircraft in the area. But also, originally, the division was only going to stage on Leyte and then move to the to lose on for the invasion. But the allied operations around Leyte's central mountain ranges had stalled. So it was General Douglas MacArthur himself who asked the 11th Airborne Division's commanding general, Major Joseph Swing, if his boys could handle this operation, if they could handle moving into the mountains without mechanized support and then confront the enemy there and

6:26also to break Japan's main supply line, which was running basically out of Ormok up through the mountains heading north. So General Swing said, of course, my boys can handle that. And so that really instigated the move from Beedle Beach inland to Barawan. So General Swing set up his CP outside Barawan near San Pablo airstrip number one, which played an important part in the division's history. But we'll talk about that in another video. But this was a tough move to make from Beedle Beach to Barawan.

Move to Barawan

6:58Um, you know, I found this map in a journal from the division's 408th quartermasters company, and you can see all the roads around Barawan are marked impassable. But the hardworking angels pushed forward. And this photo was taken to the division's CP area, um, in 1946. So not too long after the division had left, but you get a good idea of what it looked like when they were there in 44. Now, in those mountains in the background, the 11th Airborne would face Japan's 16th and

7:2926th Infantry Divisions. The 16th had participated in the rape of Nanking in 1937. And then the 26th had actually captured Corregidor, um, in 1942, and then perpetrated the awful Baton Death March. So it was the 11th Airborne's 511th Parachute Infantry Regiment, which spearheaded the angels push, um, up into the mountains and then westward, um, across Leyte's, uh, kind of waistline. You could think of it that way. But these tough elite paratroopers eliminated 6,000 of the enemy on Leyte.

8:04And, you know, those were the butchers of Baton and the ravagers of Nanking. And in the words of H Company's PFC Richard Keith, who would go on to retire a major general, The ghosts of Baton were partially avenged by the 11th Airborne Division in the gray, unforgiving mountains of Leyte.

Manorowat Plateau

8:24Now, General Keith's 511th would suffer 75% of the 11th Airborne Division's casualties on Leyte. And, you know, initially those, uh, those casualties had to be carried on stretchers back to Barawan, which was a brutal trek.

8:42I mean, first of all, it did require between 8 and 12 other paratroopers to carry one wounded man out. Um, so with every new casualty, fighting strength was diminishing. Um, but again, this was a hard trek down the mountains. RHQ's PFC John Kuntz, you know, he said with some humor years later, he said, Leyte was a mountainous, swampy, hot, wet, cold, and dry place, with one peculiar feature that I remember very, very well. All the mountains go up.

9:12There is not a single downslope in the entire place. I am prepared to take an oath to the effect. So the solution to, um, accelerate casualty evacuation and, um, allow for resupply in the mountains was to create a forward position that would grow to include an airstrip, a supply depot, a cemetery, and medical facilities, which allowed casualties to be treated quickly, um, and also permit, um, convalescence closer to the front lines. So angels who weren't wounded too severely could receive treatment, um, recuperate, and

9:47then actually be sent back to their frontline units. So as one after action report noted, Manorowat deserves to live in the memory of the division forever. So all you Arctic angels listening to this episode, remember Manorowat. Now this plateau measured about 600 feet by about 200 feet, um, you know, and it sits just south of Luby. So some records, um, from the time actually we'll call it the Luby airstrip, but this is an old map I found in the records, um, from General MacArthur's South Pacific area headquarters.

10:19And you can see the general route that the angels followed through the mountains here. So Luby is here and the Manorowat plateau sits about here near, near the, uh, Dagotan river. And you can't tell from this map, but Manorowat rises about 150 feet in elevation. So it was a, it was a great defensive position because, um, it's surrounded on three sides by sure cliffs. And then the fourth side consists of a gradual slope. Although angels did say that the, the hills and foliage around Manorowat, um, would provide

10:56plenty of, uh, cover for snipers, which would become an issue in the next few weeks. Then given its distance inland and the lack of reliable roads resupply at Manorowat, um, was mainly by L4 and L5 liaison planes, although there were occasional C-47 drops, but, um, the use of C-47s on Leyte at the time was severely limited. Um, sixth army only had about a half dozen C-47s at the time. Most of the airstrips on Leyte were bogged down with mud and full of fighters and fighter

11:29bombers. So the few C-47s that were available were not really available because they were busy flying supplies around the island when weather permitted flight. And then also there were some rules at the time that the C-47s could not fly without fighter support. So trying to organize all this and the logistics of that just didn't really work out for the angels. So the 11th Airborne's entire Manorowat undertaking was called Operation Tabletop. And it really started on November 26th, 1944, when the 511th Parachute Infantry's 1st Battalion

12:05under Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Laflame was told to clear and secure the first drop zone east of the plateau. Efforts got underway two days later and were performed by none other than Company B of the 511th, the same angels who would make the famous drop on Luzon's Los Banos internment camp three months later. Um, actually it was just B Company's 1st and 2nd platoons doing the work to clear the DZ. The 3rd platoon was sent north to patrol to Luby, um, which the angels called Mayfield over their radio net, excuse me, it's Luby, not Luby, sorry.

12:38Um, but this was after, uh, B Company had to wait those two days because the Dagaton River was so, was raging so fast and so high that they needed it to subside to be able to safely cross and then head to Manor Awat. So on November 27th, the 511th's 1st Battalion Headquarters and Headquarters Company set up a perimeter at Manor Awat while the rest of the regiment's companies were moving around constantly between Barawan, Luby, and Anonang. Uh, Mahonag would come later.

13:08So really at this time, it's funny to read the daily reports because everyone is everywhere and there's a funny radio message from one company commander at the time who, he was asked, what's your location? And he responded, quote, I wish to Christ I knew. So 1st Battalion is at Manor Awat, uh, at least most of 1st Battalion is there. And then 3rd Battalion would reach there as well before heading west to Mahonag on December 5th. But PFC Robert Leroy said, this mountaintop resembled a huge loaf of French bread.

13:41It had steep sides, but more gradual slopes at each end. Our machine gun positions were about 100 yards apart with riflemen stationed in foxholes every 10 steps apart. So more on those defenses a little bit later. But as the 511th continued to lead the division's push westward, even past Manor Awat, they were moving outside of the range of their artillery support back at Barawan. And as they moved into the heavy foliage, into these, you know, higher elevations, it became more difficult for the artillery forward observers to direct fire from the 155 millimeter long

14:17toms, um, back at Tacloban. So the question became how to continue to offer fire support for the angels as they are moving westward towards the main enemy supply line. Things are obviously going to get hotter and hotter as they do. The solution was to obviously drop guns or move guns forward, right? But remember that trek from Barawan to Manor Awat even was difficult for foot patrols. And they tried using native Carabao to move supplies and so forth, but it wasn't really successful.

14:53And, and a few of the Carabao trains supply, resupply trains, uh, the angels found some of those Carabao would just, they, they fell off the cliffs carrying the supplies and died. So that wasn't really feasible to start moving even broken down 75 millimeter field pieces. So again, the C-47s on Leyte were busy, under repair, or really unavailable. And I should mention also that monsoon season, so those mountains the angels are going into are all covered over by thick cloud covers.

15:23So flying C-47s into those conditions was extremely dangerous. Um, actually there was one C-47 that crashed while trying to resupply the angels in these early stages of the campaign, but the ever enterprising angels, um, did find one C-47 that was devoted to search and rescue operations out of Tacloban. Um, but the pilot told Colonel Nicholas Stadthier that he would help the angels when he wasn't, um, flying CSAR missions. So on December 2nd, Battery A of the 457th Parachute Field Artillery fixed six parapacks or

16:00paracaissons, um, to the undercarriage of this willing pilot's plane. So Colonel Stadthier, uh, wanted to fly out that evening, but the weather deteriorated. So the air crew said, no, um, they had to wait till the next day, December 3rd. And with, so with rescue painted along the side of the C-47 and bright yellow paint, um, the artillery men and the air crew actually, uh, took the, the plane's door off and then taped around the edges to, um, prevent any, um, cutting of their static lines when they jumped

16:34out. But taking off from Tacloban again, December 3rd, um, this craft flew towards Manorowat with a drop zone that was two miles from Battery A's future position and Colonel Stadthier was acting as jump master. Now, again, this was, this first drop was jumpers only and down on the ground, the go signal would be given by Lieutenant Foster Arnett, who would tell Colonel Stadthier, do not jump on the radio if the disease, if the DZ became too hot for them to safely land.

17:07Um, but things, things actually went so smoothly with this first drop that Colonel Stadthier decided, Hey, I can hit the DZ right on Manorowat and save my men that back bait back breaking trek, uh, through the jungles and up into the height of where Manorowat was. So there were actually two DZs on the 11th Airborne division's first combat drop. The second one was directly on Manorowat itself.

17:37And, um, this became known as DZ-6. You can see on this declassified map sketched by the 511th S2 section that the first drop zone was here. And this was the one that Colonel Stadthier dropped his jumpers on December 6th. But ultimately the airstrip at Manorowat and the DZ would be built here. That's the second DZ.

DZ-6 and Airstrip Construction

17:59And this was not an easy flight for the pilot to hit DZ-6. Um, G511's PFC George Doherty described the procedure for dropping on Manorowat saying, The high mountains surrounding the plateau forced the pilot to follow a moon-shaped canyon to the approach run. Dive down like a fighter plane. Again, this is a C-47, right? Dive down like a fighter plane and zoom sharply up and to the left when he passed the drop zone, dropping one wing almost perpendicular to the ground, which enabled him to slip between

18:30two sharp peaks. I mean, seriously skilled flying by this pilot. And after Colonel Stadthier shouted, Go! The 457's paratroopers exited the craft, after which the pilot had to pull up sharply to avoid crashing into the surrounding hillside. You know, this was a feat that that pilot performed 13 times with Colonel Stadthier acting as jumpmaster each time. Um, and that's what it took to move a battery to their new home. Um, due to the nature of the DZ, you know, you've heard the distortion.

19:02descriptions of what it was like approaching the DZ, but only three or four angels had time to exit the craft with each pass. Now, PFC Dean Marks of HQ2, he remembered watching these first drops. He said, About two or three hours after we had set up our light machine gun, we looked out into this valley and holy cow, here came the C-47 barreling at eye level at perhaps a thousand yards to our front. Right in front of us, a slew of red and yellow parapacks dropped, and troopers started jumping

19:35out of the plane. We could actually see their little white faces. They couldn't have been higher than four or maybe five hundred feet. Let's hear it for the King of Battle. I found this handwritten note from a message center noting that all of Battery A was assembled on the strip by 8.30 on December 6th, but another message notes that they fired their first rounds at 8.40 on December 5th, one day after their drops. Now, Battery A's CO was Lieutenant Milton Holloway, but everybody called him Jelly Belly for, well,

20:08obvious reasons. Operating under the radio code name of Gold Abel and Gold Dog, the 457's support would prove critical in the weeks ahead. For example, when the 511's paratroopers from 1st and 3rd Battalion hit a massive enemy force outside Annas on December 20th, it was the 457's guns on Manorowat which fired 120 rounds in support, which allowed the Angels on the ground to take what they called the West Ridge. But three weeks earlier on Manorowat, there were now elements of the 511's 1st Battalion

20:42and one battery from the 457th Parachute Field Artillery on the Plateau with their four 75mm pack howitzers. But we need to remember that the 511th had been tasked with leading the division's push across the island and engaging the enemy, so 1st Battalion was getting ready to move out, and 3rd Battalion, although they would arrive, most of the battalion wouldn't stay there for too long. So someone needed to come help the 457th hold the plateau, because the Japanese would quickly

21:13notice the Angels' presence, and bonsai attacks, sniper attacks, and knight infiltrations would become common. And sure, those reinforcements could hike inland from Barawan, but that would take two days. So it made more sense to drop the reinforcements directly onto Manorowat itself. But given the difficulty of dropping the artillerymen from a C-47, it was decided to use 11 of the 11th Airborne Division's liaison craft to jump one at a time a platoon from the 187th Glider

21:45Infantry's Company C to provide security for Manorowat until about December 18th when they moved on. But these 24 men were under the command of Lieutenant Chester Kozlowski, a paratrooper from the 503rd PIR, who had transferred to the 11th Airborne after the 503rd's known-for operation. The rest of the 187th's Company C would arrive on December 5th under Lieutenant Charles Pop Olson. But Chester said for these jumps, the Angels would clip their static line to a D-ring inside

22:17the Piper Cub, and then they would sit with their feet out the door. So when the pilot just raised his hand, it was like the green light, and C Company would jump out. And they noted that the opening shock jumping from an L-4 was nothing like a C-47, obviously. They said it was actually quite soft. So with this platoon from the 187th C Company on the ground, 1st Battalion of the 511th was now freed up to continue moving forward. On December 2nd, the 511th's 3rd Battalion attacked an enemy force just west of Manorowat,

22:54killing 25. And oddly enough, among the dead, they found Japanese soldiers wearing American jump boots, probably taken from Angels who had been recently killed in the area. But the 187th jump on Manorowat made C Company the first tactical unit to ever make a parachute jump into a combat zone from liaison craft, something that is usually overlooked in the list of the 11th Airborne's accomplishments during World War II.

23:25And the reason that C Company of the 187th Glider Infantry could even make those jumps onto Manorowat is because back on New Guinea, General Swing had initiated the Division's second jump school. He wanted all of his glider troops to be jump qualified, and he wanted all of his paratroopers to be glider certified. And so the 187th had been voluntold basically to go through the jump school in New Guinea, which Company C had done.

23:56PFC Clifton Evans of RHQ from the 187th, he wrote home after his qualifying jumps on New Guinea, I like jumping much more than riding gliders. It is almost impossible to explain the thrill in jumping. It's just one of those things you have to do yourself to know what it's like. I sure sweat out every jump, but it's worth it. I really feel I accomplished something in overcoming my better judgment, because when you sit in that plane, the same question always pops through a guy's mind. What the hell am I doing up here? But I still like it. Maybe some of you

24:33paratroopers listening can relate. The 187th's Joseph Giordano, who jumped on Manorowat, he noted that the plateau was one of the few semi-cleared areas in our entire zone of action. And while it was not well suited for an airstrip, it was well located and a shade better than nothing. So he answered the question why do the divisions select this plateau for their forward position? And that said, it was decided that an airstrip was desirable on the plateau to help with resupply, troop movement, and casualty

25:06evacuation. So the casualty evac was really the initial problem that needed to be solved with the airstrip. After 5-11's Company C and some elements of RHQ were ambushed by an enemy force, so a radio message was sent back to division at Barawan which said, Need method of evacuation of casualties. Suggest L-4. Need medical attendance. To make this all possible, some angels from division HQ and a platoon from Company C of the

25:38127th Airborne Engineering Battalion jumped on Manorowat to clear a larger landing area with picks, shovels, axes, and explosives. So this of course increased the range of the division's small craft for artillery spotting, unit locating, resupply, and the evacuation of casualties. And some of the early angels in the plateau remember hearing somebody shout, you know, fire in the hole before the 127th Engineers blasted out trees and stumps and other obstacles

26:11to help clear the strip. So when they heard it, they knew to head for a foxhole or slit trench. Now this tiny little strip hacked and blasted out of the jungle became known as Randolph Field. And if you know your World War II history, you know about Randolph Field in Texas where several of the 11th Airborne Division's liaison pilots had trained before joining the division and then shipping over to the Pacific. So they decided to name Manorowat's airstrip Randolph Field in honor of Randolph Field, Texas.

26:46Now earlier I mentioned how hard it was to carry casualties for Manorowat back down the mountains to Browen. I wanted to read a description of this process written by A511's PFC Steve Hegedus, and he said, carrying a stretcher up and then down four steep, slippery, muddy hills is next to impossible. Trying to be gentle and carrying to the man on the stretcher is even more exasperating. Some places the trail was so steep that the men in front were facing backwards, holding the stretcher

27:21on their knees while the men in back were holding it shoulder high. And the four relief men were trying to keep the four carriers from falling or slipping or tripping or dropping their end. This was time and manpower consuming. So it was decided that in addition to building the airstrip for medical evacuation, medical personnel from the 221st Airborne Medical Company would be airdropped onto the plateau along with equipment for a portable surgical hospital. So some of this drop was filmed by an

27:52Army Signals Unit. So I'm hoping to get copies of that footage that I can share with you in the future. And I see this photo all over the place when stories from the 11th Airborne Division's Leyte campaign is shared. This wounded angel on the stretcher is actually being carried to Manorowat, where three surgeons, 10 surgical techs, and other medical staff worked out of a thatched and parachute-covered bamboo structure. And you can see some of their work in these photos. My grandfather, 1st Lt. Andrew Carrico, said those medics did a fantastic job under the conditions

28:27they encountered. The 511th PFC Jerry Davis, who later became a doctor himself, was serving an H company at the time. And he said, these surgeons often worked and did miracles under circumstances which would make the men of MASH look like they were performing with the latest high-tech material and equipment. Steve Hedgedus added, I have often said that the level of medicine on Leyte was closer to the Civil War 80 years before than to MASH and Korea 8 years later. Now once the wounded were

28:58stabilized at Manorowat, they either recuperated there and then returned to their units, or 46 angels needed further care and were actually flown to San Pablo and then on to larger hospitals at Dulag or even back to the States ultimately for treatment. You can kind of see in this photo the angels' medevac solution. They built a plywood shelf to sit behind the pilot who would then fly the casualty out. Now those who stayed on Manorowat to recuperate were often placed two in a foxhole, one angel who was

29:30more wounded than another, and so that the one in the least pain could comfort and encourage and help take care of the more wounded angel. And of course they would share a blanket to help keep each other warm as nights grew colder at those elevations. There's a funny story of one angel who was actually carried to Manorowat, you know, for surgery on his leg and, you know, he woke up from the surgery and he saw a cast on his arm and, you know, he called a nearby medic and he says, hey doc, I was hit in the

30:02leg. And the medic said, you sure were, but you were in no condition to duck ration boxes. So now you have a broken arm. So what happened was since Manorowat could not be reached by any mechanized transportation, all resupply was done by the air. So yeah, once the airstrip was built, the L4s could land. But before that, and even after actually, some of the pilots would just buzz the airfield and just push out resupply boxes. And so a crate had just crashed through the roof of the hospital and broken

30:37this poor angel's arm while he was getting surgery for his wounded leg. So this trooper grumbled back to the medic. He said, this damned war is full of nasty little surprises. So this was an issue on Leyte at the time. You could see in these photos where the division's liaison planes would just fly overhead and drop rations, ammunition, medical supplies, and occasionally ice cream from the division's ice cream machines back at Burawan. So I should point out that the division was stockpiling

31:09their supplies at Burawan and then loading those into the L4s and L5s, which would take off for their resupply runs. But the division's 408th quartermasters really deserve a lot of credit for keeping those supplies flowing. And as part of the 408th's efforts, you can see some of the division's rigors working on supply bundles in this photo here. And if you ever find yourself in Burawan today, you'll actually see a lot of that Marston matting that you can see in this photo. It's now being used

31:42around the area for local gardens, as fencing, used as sidewalks, animal stables, and so forth. But back in 1944, after loading up at Burawan, the 11th Airborne's L4s could carry about 200 pounds of supplies, while the L5s carried about 400 pounds. I found a note in a record from the 408th quartermaster's journal which said that one L5 could carry four cases of rations, either four tenon ones or four C or K ration crates. So each plane flew about 15 loads a day, and at its height,

32:18the division was flying over 170 sorties a day. So the Angels were moving about two tons of supplies a day. And of course, this whole operation stalled for a few days when enemy paratroopers jumped on the division at San Pablo and the other two airstrips around Burawan, but we'll have a video on that later. But I will say that the enemy paratroopers did damage a few of the division's liaison planes. So 5th Air Force sent six replacement L5s after the enemy attack, and the Angels,

32:53they actually called the liaison planes little birds, while C-47s were, of course, big birds. And if not for these courageous pilots, the 11th Airborne's troopers fighting in the mountains would have had to stop their forward progress or even pull back to Burawan for resupply. My grandpa, who was fighting with the 511's Company D, said, What saved us was the Piper Cubs, the small planes. Those pilots, they'd fly right over us and ask, You guys hungry down there? We'd shout back,

33:26Yes! And they'd just push the cartons of food out. HQ3's PFC George Doherty said, Most of the credit for the Leyte campaign is given to the infantry. But without the unsung help of the service troops and liaison pilots flying under impossible conditions, no matter how good we were, we couldn't have survived on leeches, snakes, and roots of trees like the Japanese dead. And I do want to point out that these pilots were not content with just flying alone. Now, the Angels flyers would also carry Thompsons, grenades, and even mortar rounds,

33:59which they would use to attack any enemy squads they saw on the ground. Every Angel is a Fighting Angel. And when asked about it, the pilots said it gave them a break from the monotony of flying all the supply drops. And those pilots were fired on by the enemy as well, sometimes when they were dive-bombing, sometimes when taking off or landing, and sometimes just on the ground, as we will talk about in a future video from San Pablo. But during their pre-dawn or post-sunset flights, these pilots would keep their eyes out for Japanese cooking fires, and they would also call in artillery strikes on the enemy positions,

34:35a tactic which the division had great success with through December. The pilots would also drop these leaflets over enemy troops, which invited them to surrender to the Americans and gave them instruction on how to do so. And as you can imagine, not many Imperial Japanese soldiers took advantage of the offer. But I've always loved this sketch of one of the Piper Cub rescuers, which was drawn by RHQ's PFC Frank Lewis. Frank re-enlisted during the Korean War, where he

35:06continued drawing, often lampooning officers, of course, with his cartoons just to entertain his fellow soldiers. And then after serving again in Vietnam, he would go on to become a famous syndicated newspaper cartoonist, and you can find Frank Lewis's work online. When he was asked about his military service and awards by some of his fellow journalists, Frank just said he had, quote, a few silver stars and a few bronze stars. No big deal. Speaking of stars, Frank served in RHQ alongside

35:38this guy who you might recognize, Rod Serling, the creator of the Twilight Zone.

35:46But back in 1944, Frank, Rod, and their fellow angels fighting in Leyte were kept alive by the division's liaison pilots, and this was dangerous flying, let's not discount that. They were only using basic instruments and their instincts, you know, they were flying through steep mountain terrain, which was often covered by thick clouds or fog, and they had to dive low to drop supplies, which left them within small arms range of nearby enemy. First Lieutenant John Ricks, for example, from the 457th Parachute Field Artillery, was one of these daring pilots who risked their lives every

36:20day making these flights from Barawan to Manorowat and then on to frontline units. On December 9th, Lieutenant Ricks' plane went down in the mountains around Manorowat, and he was killed. I've never been able to discover if it was enemy fire which brought his plane down, mechanical failure, or if he clipped a tree or mountainside, but four months after his death, on April 3rd, 1945, to celebrate what would have been John's 30th birthday, his wife Edna published a

36:52home in their local newspaper that I'd like to read to you. She wrote, In loving memory of my husband who gave his life on Leyte, he is not really lost to me, though he has passed away. In memories that shall never fade, he'll live for me each day. And in the knowledge that he went, bravely without regret, I know he went to God content to do the task he met. His spirit will live on with those who fought for liberty. He will be

37:22forever young who died to keep men free. Edna and John had only been married about three years when he was killed. Lieutenant Ricks' remains were later recovered, and he is now buried in the beautiful Manila American Cemetery with so many of his fellow angels. Despite the dangers and their losses, the 11th Airborne's continual resupply operation during December of 1944 kept Mineral Watt functioning, and also allowed rations and ammunition to be carried to frontline units. And yes, sometimes C-47s out of Tacloban were used to make the drops, the first being guided by the

37:57511's 1st Lieutenant Bill Abernathy, but boxes dropped from a C-47 frequently came crashing down at dangerous speeds. As we talked about, that poor angel that was getting surgery for his leg ended up with a broken arm. And this was described by PFC George Doherty of the 511's Company G. I was recently able to visit George's grave and pay my respects at the Riverside National Cemetery, but he said of the Leyte airdrops, when the cargo chutes opened, the boxes of supplies on occasion would slip out of the

38:30cargo chute holders at 125 miles an hour, striking trees that would burst apart and scatter in all directions like an exploding artillery shell. A C-ration can would then become lethal, a lethal projectile, as many of them did. So again, George's 3rd Battalion spent some time on Manorowat, and during one drop from a C-47 on December 5th, a base plate from an 81mm mortar was attached to a parachute and pushed out the door. Well, the base plate ripped right through the container it was in and hurled to the

39:04ground, where it landed on and killed George's buddy, PFC Jack Jones, who was asleep in his pup tent. K-ration boxes were also dangerous and would drop like a bomb because the pilots usually just pushed them out without a parachute, and this resupply effort was being utilized to keep all the division's frontline units fighting, so this wasn't just a Manorowat problem or experience. And I'm still trying to narrow the statistic down, but I estimate that between 10 and 30 angels were killed on Leyte by

39:35these falling resupply bombardments, and dozens more were injured. And as you can see in this photo, yes, sometimes those crates damaged the landing strip on Manorowat, so the angels just went out and made repairs after the drop and things just moved forward. So Manorowat became a pretty popular place, and all the personal and equipment parachutes were utilized by the angels to cover their foxholes and other fighting positions, along with their radio huts, medical huts, stockpiles of supplies, and so

40:06forth. So one nickname given to Manorowat was Rayon City due to the number of parachutes used this way,

Rayon City and Resupply

40:13which you can see in this photo. At one point, there were about 70 parachute-covered positions or structures on the plateau. And I don't know if it's related, but at one point, the division received a message saying that the C-47s out of Tacloban were almost out of equipment parachutes. Could have been because they were all sitting on Manorowat. And we have to remember that the various resupply parachutes were color-coded, so all these parachutes would be different colors, which is why I once heard Manorowat called Carnival City. And every soldier knows to keep improving their fighting position,

40:48so the angels took additional parachutes and used them as pillows or lined their foxholes with silk. First Lieutenant Bill Abernathy wrote to his girlfriend Naomi, Have been sleeping on my chute at night. What a bed. So Manorowat was a crucial forward position that kept the 11th Airborne Angels fighting in the mountains and provided life-saving medical care for the wounded, not to mention the absolutely necessary fire support offered by the 457th 75mm guns on the plateau.

41:21And the 457th D battery did make its way to the plateau on December 18th to reinforce A battery, which this is what allowed the 187th Company C to join the rest of 1st Battalion at Anoning after elements of the 188th Glider Infantry arrived. So, but it shouldn't come as a shock to anyone that the Japanese wanted the angels off Manorowat, and General Swing's troopers endured numerous attacks, including one that lasted four hours. So, on the foggy morning of December 16th, the angels could hear the Japanese moving through the jungle

41:56down below the plateau, so of course they just hunkered down in their foxholes and readied their weapons. When the enemy finally charged, the angels opened fire, and four hours later, 32 Japanese were dead and countless had been wounded and were carried off by their comrades. Manorowat's defenders did not lose a single man in the attack, although two angels were wounded. And earlier last year, I came across this map of the angels' defenses on the plateau that was buried in some archives, but you can see the markings for the 457ths,

42:30guns, plus the other units' LMGs, foxholes, minefields, 60 and 81mm mortars, BIRs, and so forth. It's kind of an interesting case study for defensive positioning, and this map must have been drawn up after December 18th, when the 188th Glider Infantry marched to Manorowat to take up position there at about 1,500.

42:54So in addition to all these other units on Manorowat, the headquarters group from the 511th Signals Company also parachuted onto the plateau, as did some of the 11th Airborne's famous recon men. So in all, 241 angels jumped on the plateau. So you can see why Manorowat absolutely should be counted as the 11th Airborne Division's first combat drop of the war. Now, communications on the plateau was, of course, a vital part of the day-to-day operations,

43:25and while miles of communication wire were laid on Leyte by the angels, the Japanese would just cut the wire and wait for a repair party to arrive and then attack and kill them. So the 511th CO, Colonel Oren D. Hardrock Hogan, requested that he no longer be required to send messengers back to Burauan, since it was requiring too many men on security. So let's get rid of the wire problem. Let's get rid of the messenger problem. This was something General Swing agreed to. The solution was that the 11th Airborne set up a radio net along their line of march called the

44:01Godfrey Relay, which utilized small radio teams manned by the 152nd Anti-Aircraft Battalion, who really didn't have much else to do on Leyte because Japan was lacking in air power at the time. So these small radio squads set up at different points about a mile apart between Burauan and the frontline units, and one squad set up on Manorowat with the radio call sign of Godfrey-12. The operators for Godfrey-12 set up in the native hut that is right here in the background of this

44:34photo, and I'm still looking for a map of where Godfrey-6 was located, but I found this handwritten message that says, Attention Glider-6. Godfrey-6 is violating security by discussing too much operational info on his 609 or his radio. I can only imagine how that conversation went for poor Godfrey-6. So again, the 511 signals also dropped a radio squad on Manorowat, but they reported that they were going to shut down at night because they were drawing enemy fire. Their message sent to

45:10division actually reads, Every time we receive or transmit on SCR-694, the type of radio they were using, After dark, we draw fire. So silly messages such as were coming last night from G-4 and signals should stop. Yeah, those of you who have served are probably raising your eyebrows right now, and that message did not go over very well with General Swing, who sent his assistant division commander, Brigadier General Albert Big Al Pearson, and his G-3, Major Douglas Quant to Manorowat, to, quote,

45:44Straighten Things Out. Major Quant actually parachuted onto the airstrip on December 4th, and General Pearson flew in on an L-4 on December 6th. But as you can imagine, after their arrival, the signal boys made sure to stay operational all night. When the 511's Company B came back to Manorowat after patrol, the exhausted, muddy, and wet paratroopers sat down, and one angel told his buddies,

46:14Boy, I would give anything for a pair of dry socks. Well, five minutes later, a pair of new dry socks landed in his lap. Everyone looked up to see Brigadier General Big Al Pearson standing there. They were his socks, but that general always looked out for his boys. Well, the 11th Airborne's operations on Leyte officially ended on Christmas of 1944, although mopping up operations continued another week or so. The angels of the 187th and 188th glider

46:48infantries were still engaged and were told, quote, Merry Christmas and go to it. I like the note sent throughout 24th Corps, which says, Swing does not need or want rescue. Swing says, also, he can handle all Japanese in the pass. And he was right. His 11th Airborne eliminated nearly 6,000 of the enemy in just 33 days. The angels who could do so came down from the mountains to regroup on Ormak Bay before heading back to Beto Beach on the island's east coast,

47:22but there were still some angels at Menorilwat who were too sick or too wounded to be moved. So Major General Joseph Swing had his L5 pilots load up canned turkey, cranberries, asparagus, nuts, and hard candy for a Christmas dinner on the plateau. You can see some of the angels on Menorilwat carrying boxes of turkey here. And this is a photo of the recuperation ward on the plateau. So a lot of these angels were still there on Christmas Day.

47:57And everyone on the plateau perked right up when Division sent a radio message stating, Be alert for possible hostile parachute landings on Randolph Field tonight or tomorrow. An enemy plane was spotted circling the Strip on the 23rd or 24th, but luckily no attack came. Quite the Christmas gift.

48:19The 11th Airborne's famous swing band also hiked into Menorilwat on December 18th while their instruments were flown in on L4s. So all these angels that were recuperating in the plateau's hospital appreciated singing Christmas carols together while the band played on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. And I've had a hard time pinpointing exactly when, but I do know that the division flew a movie projector up to Menorilwat from Barawan to allow the angels there to enjoy some entertainment.

48:49The bands present and the movie projector were also enjoyed by the angels of the 188th Glider Infantry, who were fighting near Lubai until December 30th, which really brought the division's campaign to a close. Eventually, everyone came down from the mountains and the gun crews from the 457th Field Artillery fired all their remaining ammunition to celebrate New Year's before spiking their guns since there was no good way to get them out.

49:17I do wonder if they're still there, but I'm not 100% sure. The 96th Infantry Division's 382nd Infantry Regiment moved onto Menorilwat in January of 1945, so maybe they took over the 457th guns. I don't know. And earlier, I mentioned that the division did set up a temporary cemetery on Menorilwat. 51 angels were buried on the plateau, with some of the 11th Airborne's chaplains providing services. The mortal remains of these fallen angels were recovered in 1945 and reinterred at

49:52cemeteries selected by their families, though a good number are buried in the Manila American cemetery in Luzon, which sits on the grounds of Fort McKinley, the very grounds that the 11th Airborne fought to clear from the Japanese in February of 1945. As I think of these fallen young angels who were buried on Menorilwat, Barawan, and at Mahonag, I'm reminded of the words of PFC Richard Keith, who wrote, as they now look down from their lofty perch in that special section of heaven reserved for

50:24heroes, their voices call out to us and remind us of our responsibility to make certain that their supreme sacrifice was not in vain. A reminder for all of us to consider how much we value the freedoms that they died to defend. Well, I hope you enjoyed learning about Menorilwat, the 11th Airborne Division's million-dollar village, high in the mountains and jungles of Leyte during World War II. You can learn more about the 11th Airborne Division's Leyte campaign in our books,

50:55When Angels Fall, the 511th PIR in World War II, which is often called the Band of Brothers of the Pacific. We also have our two-volume series, Down from Heaven, the 11th Airborne Division in World War II. Volume 3 is currently in the works, which will cover the Korean War, and it's coming soon, so stay tuned. All our books are available wherever history publications are sold, especially on Amazon, although if you'd like signed copies, you can get those through our online store, 11thAirbornStore.com. We have quite a few Airborne-related gifts and items in the store,

51:29so be sure to check that out. And if you enjoy this video, be sure to like and subscribe to this channel and share it with a friend. We have a lot more 11th Airborne history to share, but until then, thanks again for joining us today. We'll see you in the next episode. Down from Heaven comes 11. Airborne all the way.