Josef Varak, my father, was born in Stipa, Moravia, Czechoslovakia on May 9, 1917.  He worked for the Bata Shoe Company in Zlin, CZ.  In 1939 he and 149 other Czech factory workers were chosen to go to Belkamp, Maryland, U.S.A. to start a new Bata shoe factory.  He was a machinist/engineer.  Among these workers was Josefa Zapletalova, my mother, born in Tlumacov, Moravia, CZ.  She was an instructor at the shoe factory in Zlin. 

They successfully started the shoe factory, and by early 1940, they were producing shoes.  The political situation in Europe forced the Bata Shoe Company to move its overseas headquarters to the USA with Mr. J. A. Bata as principal share holder and Chairman of the Board.  In February, 1941, Mr. Bata decided to open another shoe factory in the Philippines, then a U. S. Commonwealth.  By this time the visas of the Czechs who had come to America had expired.  Both Josef Varak and Josefa Zapletalova were chosen to go to the Philippines.  The new factory was started.  Ludik Gerbec was the assistant manager of the Belcamp, MD factory.  He, his wife and daughter moved to the Philippines.  Mr. Gerbec was greeted by Jaroslav Hrdina who was the Bata resident manager in Manila. 

Because Germany occupied Czechoslovakia and took control of the Bata factory, the company in Manila was registered under the name of Gerbec, Hrdina, Inc., and the stores were named G&H Shoe Company. 

On December 8, 1941, the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor.  On December 9, they bombed Manila and war was declared.  Since the Japanese and the Germans were allies, a small contingent of Czech citizens in the Philippines decided to help the American cause in the war.  They wanted to do whatever they could to defeat the enemy—the Japanese and the Germans.  Fourteen Czech men wanted to join the American Army.  Col. Mike Quinn advised them not to join the U.S. Army because if the Americans were defeated, the Czechs would be shot as traitors.  He did allow them to be civilian employees of the American Department of War. 

On December 30, 1941, the Czech volunteers were notified to report to the Army & Navy Club in Manila that afternoon.  From that meeting they were taken by military transport with windows blackened to the Bataan Peninsula on Manila Bay, southwest of Manila.  They were not able to say goodbye to their families or to take anything except the clothes they wore.  When they arrived, they were asked to swear allegiance to the USA and were issued personal ID cards stating they were civilian employees of the U. S. Department of War.  They were issued plain khaki uniforms and divided into three groups.  My father’s group included Karel Dancak, Jaroslav Hrdina, Antonin Volny, and Karel Aster—all Bata employees.  They were taken several miles deeper into the jungle to a motor pool depot and were given their assignment. 

  This group’s assignment was to patrol the roads and bring back any vehicles that could be salvaged or any usable parts from vehicles damaged beyond repair.  The segment of road they patrolled was about 30 miles long on the eastern shore.  The Japanese air attacks became more frequent and the patrols were more intense.  Soon the food supply was being used up and rations were being cut to two meals a day consisting mostly of rice with some canned goods such as pork and beans, spam, and corned beef.  .  Soon the Japanese dive bombers came daily looking for any moving target on the road.  There was a good bit of jungle cover near the roads, and the men sought shelter there.  

In February Antonin Volny was transferred to other duties --intelligence and prisoner interrogation because he was fluent in Japanese.  He later died on the Oryoko Maru. 

By this time there were many wounded and ill soldiers.  The food supply was diminishing, and the Japanese attacks were increasing.  On April 9, their commander advised that the US forces had officially surrendered.  Everyone was to destroy all useful equipment and begin to move toward Mariveles Airport in southern Bataan.  At this time, my father and several men were high in the cliffs.  They decided to go to the coast by climbing down the cliffs instead of walking along the crowded, narrow road.  They had done this many times during their foray for equipment. 

Upon reaching the coast, they became aware that the soldiers on Corregidor had not surrendered.  The distance to the island of Corregidor was impossible to reach without a boat.  As they continued south, they saw a boat close to the shore.  Nearby hiding in a cave a Chinese Mestizo told them his boat wouldn’t start.  My father was a very good mechanic and soon had the boat running.  The Chinese man said the water was heavily mined, and the Japanese had set up artillery on top of the cliffs.  He suggested they go along the coast toward Mariveles until they reached a channel to Corregidor that was free of mines.  He went along with them, and they loaded the boat with as many soldiers as was possible.  They were very overloaded, but they made it to Corregidor safely.

Among the guards on Corregidor was a Marine sergeant of Czech decent who spoke the language.  He took them to an underground food warehouse in a ravine near the Malinta Tunnel.  On this island they were reunited with four other Czechs who were evacuated from Mariveles by the US Navy.  They were Mr. Maravek, Antonin Volny, Mr. Hirsch, and Leo Herman.  

The resistance on Corregidor did not last very long.  The big guns on the island were aimed at the sea.  They were designed to protect Manila Bay not to defend the island from landing crafts.   

During the night of May 5, 1942, the Japanese successfully landed troops and tanks at the entrance to Malinta Tunnel.  This tunnel was used as a hospital and headquarters.  The Japanese threatened to blow up the tunnel and everyone inside. General Wainwright decided in order to save lives that he would have to surrender. 

For the next several days after the surrender, the POWs were gathered together and taken to a beach area.  The Americans and Filipinos were separated by a fence.  They lived on the open beach and slept on the bare ground.  There were about 12,000 POWs.  There were no sanitary conditions, very little water and almost no food.  After about 3 weeks the Japanese decided to move everyone to Manila.  They were put on ships and taken across the bay.   

Upon their arrival in Manila, they were paraded down Roxas Blvd. in the “Corregidor Victory March”.  It was the Japanese intent to humiliate the POWs in front of the civilians in Manila.  They were marched to Bilibid Prison where they stayed a few days.  The conditions at Bilibid were deplorable with no sanitary conditions, very little watery soup, very little water, and many weak and ill POWs.   

From Bilibid my father and others were taken in cattle cars to the town of Cabanatuan.  The prisoners were marched to the camp with no water or food in the heat of the day. Many men did not survive that march.  The camp consisted of long bamboo huts covered with palm frond branches.  These were called nipa shacks.  There were no furnishings so the prisoners slept on the floor.  

Mr. Aster and my father were at Camp 1 at Cabanatuan.  A section of the camp was set up as a “hospital”.  This area was where patients were sent if they were not able to take care of themselves or were not ambulatory.  Most patients never left this section.  When they died, they were buried in mass graves.   

At one point my father became very ill and was sent to the “hospital”.  His Czech friends gave up on him.  However, a message was smuggled into the camp from Manila that my mother had given birth to a baby girl named Hanna.  When his friends told him this, he didn’t seem to understand and just looked blank.  A few days later following a miraculous recovery, he was released from the “hospital”.  He regained his appetite and slowly recovered.  He was never seriously ill again.   

My father then was sent to the Oryoko Maru to be transported to Japan.  The ship went to Subic Bay, and on December 15, 1944, it was sunk by an American plane sent from the aircraft carrier, USS Hornet.  Luckily, my father survived this.  He and other survivors were taken to some tennis courts near the shore.  They were there for six days with very little food or water.   

From Subic the POW’s were put on another train and sent to San Fernando la Union to later be placed on the ship the Enoura Maru.  This ship had been used to haul horses before the prisoners were put on it.  Needless to say, it had not been cleaned out.  The POWs were stuffed down into the hold.  Once again the conditions were deplorable.   

The Enoura Maru headed for Formosa (Taiwan).  It actually reached the harbor there.  Again planes from the USS Hornet attacked the ship.  It was sunk January 9, 1945.  As far as I know, my father was killed on that ship. His name was on the manifest as number 405.  Several hundred POWs were killed when the ship was bombed.  They were buried in a mass grave in Formosa.  On April 13, 1947 many of the bodies were moved to a mass grave at National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific in the Punch Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii. 

In the meantime my mother and I were living in Manila.  The Japanese burned our house.  We were on the second floor at the time.  My mother literally dropped me out the window and someone escaping the flames caught me.  We went to the beach to escape the fires.  We lived on the beach for several days.  Then we moved in with the Gerbec family.  They also housed the Hrdina family whose house had burned.   

My mother and I later moved in with a Spanish family whose surname was Davis.  They lived at 328 Roberts Street, Pasay.  Later, my mother met an American soldier from Pikeville, Tennessee who was stationed in the Philippines.  On August 13, 1945 they were married.  He adopted me. 

When the war was over, he returned to Tennessee.  My mother soon followed him.  I was left with an American Colonel Curtis Lambert and his wife.  They cared for me for about two years.  Eventually, they wanted to adopt me.  My mother and stepfather had to engage the aid of then Congressman Estes Kefauver to arrange for my passage to America. 

I boarded the ship the SS General Miegs on my sixth birthday, August 24, 1948 to come to America.  My stepfather met me in San Francisco and accompanied me to Tennessee.  When I arrived in Pikeville, my mother and little brother met me. 

Much of this information was gleaned from the “Recollections of My War Years” written by my father’s Czech friend, Mr. Karel Aster.  He was one of two Czech volunteers who returned from the war.  When I first contacted Mr. Aster, some of the first words out of his mouth were “Your father saved my life in the Philippines.” 

In submitting this report, I wanted to add a personal note.  As I was placing the wreath in the water at Subic Bay over the sunken Hellship,  The Oryoko Maru, I realized that  if my father had not died during the war and if my stepfather, Edgar Romans, had not married my mother and adopted me, I  probably would not be an American citizen today.  Also, I certainly would not have had the wonderful life that I have had.  My eternal gratitude goes to these two very important men in my life.

Hanna Varak Romans Witherspoon

2127 Shannon Drive

Murfreesboro, TN 37129

donandhanna@bellsouth.net