Walter Gilles: Prisoner of the Japanese

 

Walter Gilles, USMC. (Contemporary hand-colorization.)

by Mike Gilles

On 6 May 1942, some 6,000 American soldiers were captured on Corregidor Island in Manila Bay. Among them was Walter Gilles. During his later years Walter suffered many physical difficulties, but none could compare to the 1,262 days he spent in captivity as a prisoner of war. It was during that time that he ate things to stay alive that people don’t normally eat, and it was then that he had to bury his comrades and dear friends.

Walter entered the Marine Corps in the spring of 1940, and in April of 1941 was sent to Pearl Harbor, followed by a stop in Guam, and was eventually stationed in the Philippines.

When the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor on 7 December 1941, it was the start of an imperialistic era. In rapid succession, Hong Kong, Wake Island, Guam and Thailand fell to the Japanese. On December 10 of that year, Japan attempted to conquer the Philippines. The United States soldiers fought valiantly under the leadership of General Douglas MacArthur for more than three months, but when MacArthur was forced to leave in March 1942, the tide turned. On 9 April, about 75,000 American troops surrendered at Bataan, where they experienced the Bataan Death March. The rest of the soldiers, including Walter Gilles, held out until 6 May.

From that fateful day in May, until 12 September 1945, thirty-six days after the bombing of Hiroshima, Walter had to find a way to keep himself alive. What kept him going was his strong faith in God and his desire to return home. But he couldn’t have done it alone. He had assistance from a fellow prisoner, an American priest, who smuggled him medicine during his stay in a Filipino hospital camp. Other priests gave him food and medicine, and in return he helped to serve mass. 

But Walter’s ordeal was only beginning.

For the first twenty-four days following his capture, Walter and his fellow soldiers went without food. When they finally received meals, they were small portions of rice. He spent the next two years doing various jobs, such as working as a farmer, or aiding in the construction of Japanese runways. He was shuttled around to various camps. The worst part of his captivity and treatment occurred in 1944.

That was when many POWs were taken on freighter ships to Japan to work in the mines. The treatment was brutal. When prisoners died, they were simply tossed overboard. It was in a situation like this that Walter had a close brush with death. As he was traveling in the crowded ship, his bodily functions quit, and he was, more or less, dead! It was at the moment when he was about to be thrown overboard, that he somehow came back to life. The threat to prisoners on the freighters didn’t come solely from the Japanese. These ships were unidentified, so it was not uncommon for them to be sunk by U.S. submarines.

The young Sergeant Gilles had many unforgettable experiences in his more than three year captivity. In that time he stayed in seven different POW camps, spent thirty-nine days on a prison ship, where he saw many a comrade die, worked in a zinc mine, ate cats and dogs to survive, witnessed countless acts of brutality on the part of the Japanese, and helped to bury three thousand fellow prisoners. By late 1942 Walter was nearly blind and could hardly walk. At the time of his release he weighed a mere 100 pounds, after enlisting at 145.

This whole ordeal only made the day of liberation that much sweeter. On 12 September 1945, he was freed and came back home to Plum City. He would soon marry, have nine children, and operate a very successful life insurance business for thirty-five years. But best of all, he was secure in the knowledge that his captors had never broken him, and that he lived to share his story, when so many others did not.

The Journal of Sgt. Walter N. Gilles 

Sergeant Walter Gilles began compiling a journal when he volunteered for the U.S. Marines in March of 1940. He made entries when he underwent training in San Diego, continued it during his days in combat in Manila, and concluded it with time as prisoner of war in Corregidor and the numerous camps at which he stayed. Walter had to be careful, because if the Japanese caught him with his journal, they could have killed him. But, he felt it was an important thing to do, so he could reflect on his experiences, and enlighten others.

These are a few brief excerpts from Walter’s journal, beginning soon after his capture:

May 24, 1942

All prisoners go to Manila for a Japanese victory parade. The Filipinos tried to give us some water, but were stopped and punished for being friendly. I did manage to get a drink after a Jap soldier watered his horse and there was a little left .

May 30, 1942

Last night we stayed in the old Spanish prison at Manila. We got our first meal from the Japs since our capture. Rice!

June 5, 1942

We have been sent to Cabanatuan prison where we live in old shacks. The other night four men were apprehended in an attempt to escape and I see with my own eyes the meanness of the Jap soldier. The men were severely beaten and tied in the hot tropical sun. They were given no food or water. On the following day, they were released and taken to dig their own graves. A firing squad ended their lives.

October 28, 1942

I am now with a group of three hundred men at Nielson Airport to make a new runway for the Jap Army. Last night the Japs weighed us and I can’t imagine why! However, I did find that I am a giant at 110 pounds. 

December 28, 1942

I’ve done my best to keep going, but I’m at the end of my rope. I have been put on a list for “No good for work” and will go back to the Manila camp which has been converted to a hospital camp without medicine.

May 17, 1943

During my stay at the so-called hospital, I met a priest, who managed to get a little medicine smuggled into camp. This medicine has turned into a life-saver because when I came here, I was almost blind and couldn’t walk.

May 30, 1943

I’ve been sent back to Cabanatuan camp. According to the chaplain’s figures, about three thousand men have died of starvation, malaria, dysentery or were beaten to death. Some graves have over fifty men in them piled like cordwood. No parent back home will find the remains of their son here.

December 24, 1943

Ever since October 12th, I’ve been with another group of eight hundred men working on another airport, this time for the Jap Navy. It is my second Christmas in prison and this year we got a little more food from the Red Cross. When the Red Cross food arrives the guards take what they want and give us what is left.

March 10, 1944

This is the happiest day as a prisoner of war. I received seventeen letters from home. The letters are all more than a year old, but new to me. This is the first mail I have received since November 19, 1941.

July 1, 1944

Food has always been our problem. Our last ration gives us 600 grams of rice per man per day. Vegetables and meat are the same as ever, practically none. We have always eaten grass and leaves when we had a chance, but now we are eating cats and dogs and some of the men are getting so hungry they are eating rats.

October 11, 1944

This is definitely hell. Here we are down in the bottom of a deep hold in the Japs’ freighter to leave the Philippines. We are so badly crowded we can’t even lie down. It’s hot in here and we are only getting one pint of water a day and some days less. Rice is dropped to us twice a day, and then we fight over that. When one of the men dies, the Japs throw him over the side.

November 8, 1944

Finally the day has come when we can get off this hell ship in Formosa. We are so weak that some of the men can’t climb the ladder. Our ragged clothes are dirty. We are thinner than ever and haven’t had a bath since September 30.

December 24-25, 1944

A third Christmas as a prisoner. Of the three years this year my morale is at a very low ebb. No Red Cross this year but the good Japs give us two oranges for a gift. Within 20 feet of the fence oranges and pineapples are rotting everyday.

January 26, 1945

Arrived in Japan this morning to work in the mines. This trip was not as bad as the other one. It’s mighty cold here and our clothes are no more than rags. Some of the boys don’t have shoes, and the ground is covered with about an inch of snow.

March 15, 1945

We are over 2,000 miles north of Tokyo, and the snow is well over two feet deep. This first six weeks seven of our men froze to death in bed. The night we came here the Jap women and children met us on the street. Some just stared at us while others kicked us and spit on us.

August 20, 1945

A Jap officer tells us the war is over and gives us the Red Cross heavy underwear that came in last winter.

September 16, 1945

Last winter, Tokyo was a great city. But now as I see it from the air, it’s nothing but a mess of ruins and in spite of the pitiful sight as I leave the people who beat me, kicked me and starved me for nearly three and a half years, I can only say one thing: “My hell lasted only three and a half years. Theirs will last a lifetime, and they asked for it.”

U.S. Marines on Corregidor celebrate the arrival of a fresh supply of Camel cigarettes, early 1942. These men belong to the 4th Marine Regiment, which was augmented by Marines from Marine Barracks Olongapo and the formerly Cavite-based 1st Special Defense Battalion. Following the loss or scuttling of their vessels, many Asiatic Fleet Sailors fought in the regiment’s ranks as its 4th Provisional Battalion, defending the beaches of Corregidor against repeated Japanese amphibious landing attempts. Since the Asiatic Fleet had dispersed large amounts of supplies to Bataan from Cavite in a timely fashion, these men received slightly better rations than their U.S. Army counterparts. (USMC photo 58749 via US National Archives and US Naval History and Heritage Command)

 Siege of Corregidor, 1942. Scene in Lateral No. 12 of the Melinta Tunnel, shared by the Finance Office and the Signal Corps. Code machines and telegraph operators of the Signal Corps message center are behind the partition at right rear. Photographed by Major Paul Wint (SC), April 24, 1942. Photo was taken from Corregidor on May 3, 1942 by the last submarine (Probably USS Spearfish) to stop there. Members of the Finance Office Staff are in the foreground. Seated at left are (L-R): SSgts Wehrner, Pressman and Salyor and Maj. O.E. Gard. Standing at rear (L-R): TSgt Davis, Col. J.R. Vance and an unidentified man. Seated at right (from rear): Col. R.J. Jenks, LtCol R.E. McElfish, PFC True, SSgt Long, MSgt Walker, PFC Ballou, PFC Kuykendall and SSgt Huff. Photo was furnished to the Signal Corps by Col J.R. Vance. (US Army Signal Corps photo SC 249636 via US National Archives and US Naval History and Heritage Command)

 Surrender of American troops at Corregidor, Philippine Islands. May 1942. (Office of War Information photo 208-AA-80B-1 via US National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 535553)

The U.S. flag is lowered on Corregidor after the Island's capture by the Japanese on 6 May 1942. Copied from the Japanese book: Philippine Expeditionary Force, by Gasei, published in 1943.  (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 73223)

The Japanese flag is raised by Filipino authorities during the victory parade held in Manila after the fall of Corregidor, May 1942. Copied from the Japanese book: Philippine Expeditionary Force, by Gasei, published in 1943. (US Naval History and Heritage Command photo NH 73227)

American and Filipino prisoners, captured at Corregidor, arrive at Bilibid prison by foot and truck as Japanese look on. They were taken by boat to Cavite. Those unable to walk were hauled the distance of approximately 40 miles. The guards watch them help each other to the ground. 25 May 1942. (US Army Signal Corps photo 111-SC-282344 via US National Archives and Records Administration, cataloged under the National Archives Identifier (NAID) 6200939)