Heroism is a major part of Robert E. Howard derived sword and sorcery fiction. Stories of heroes engaging in deeds that seem impossible is a criticism aimed at the genre. But, real acts of incredible heroism do happen.

One of my favorite acts of heroism took place in World War II. In January 1945, a small group of U.S. Army Rangers and Philippine guerrillas accomplished a near impossible feat that if not true, would rank right up there with some of the greatest adventure fiction.

U.S. military forces landed on the main island of Luzon in the Philippines as part of General Douglas MacArthur’s drive to retake the islands. The Japanese had attacked the Philippines in December 1941 hours after the attack on Pearl Harbor. Most of the U.S. planes were destroyed on the ground due to a glitch of waiting for MacArthur’s headquarters to give the order to attack Japanese airfields in Formosa. The Imperial Japanese army landed soon after and quickly drove the untrained, unequipped Philippine Army from the beaches. The original army plan was for a stand at the Bataan peninsula while waiting for a relief force. Relief never came and Bataan surrendered in early April 1942. A month later, the island fortress of Corregidor at the mouth of Manila Bay was taken. Out of 20,000 Americans originally in the Philippines, about 10,000 were captured at Bataan and another 7,000 at Corregidor. Maybe a hundred escaped into the jungle to fight on as guerrillas. Somewhere around 1,000 Americans and 10,000 Filipinos died in the Bataan Death March. About 100 Americans and 300 Filipinos a day died at Camp O’Donnell, a former Philippine Army camp converted into a prisoner of war camp from April to June 1942. The American POWs were then moved to Cabanatuan POW Camp where another 2,656 died from execution, torture, malnutrition, and diseases. The camp had served as a clearinghouse for work details. Many of the less sickly and decrepit POWs had been sent to Japan and Manchuria leaving only 511 by January 1945. An unsigned diary from Cabanatuan said,

“We are all ghosts now. But once we were men.”

Lt. Col. Henry Mucci

The Americans returned to Luzon in January 1945 where Gen. Krueger, commander of the 6th Army was alerted to a massacre of 150 American POWs by the Japanese on the island of Palawan. The Americans were forced into bunkers, dowsed with gasoline, and set on fire. Those who attempted escape were shot down. Despite this there were a few survivors who escaped to Luzon. Fearing the same would happen at Cabanatuan, Gen. Kruger assigned the  6th Ranger Battalion to an impossible job–rescue those POWs.

Lt. Col. Henry Mucci commanded the 6th Ranger Battalion. His plan was simple, evade the Japanese, storm the camp, and get the POWs out. He would use C Company commanded by Capt. Robert Prince, and one platoon from Company F. One hundred twenty Rangers made their way through Japanese lines and linked up with Filipino guerrillas. Two teams of Alamo Scouts, an elite intelligence outfit, provided reconnaissance.

Captain Robert Prince

The Rangers literally crawled through dry rice paddies at sunset to within a few yards in some cases of the camp’s wire fence. At 7:44 P.M. on January 30, the Rangers opened up, killing Japanese soldiers in the guard towers and also firing into the Japanese barracks. Within minutes, the Rangers were within the camp; in the process they killed around 250 Japanese troops. By 8:32 P.M. they were evacuating 511 POWs. There were two casualties, one from friendly fire, and the Ranger surgeon was critically wounded by a mortar shell. One prisoner died of a heart attack leaving the camp and another with tuberculosis died that night.

While the Rangers rescued the POWs, one group of Filipino guerrillas held off the Japanese at a bridge at the Cabu River. The guerrillas blew a hole in the bridge so tanks and trucks could not use it. The Japanese insisted on making repeated banzai attacks on the unbroken sides of the bridge. The Filipinos may have killed 700 Japanese. There were 7,000 Japanese troops down the road in Cabanatuan City. This small band of Rangers and guerrillas were in danger of being wiped out by superior numbers.

The POWs being in horrible physical condition were taken safely to American lines via water buffalo drawn carts. Even after liberation, the POWs were not safe, Japanese submarines were on the lookout to sink the transport ship taking them back to the U.S. so they could not tell of the atrocities. They did make it and were treated to a heroes welcome at San Francisco.

The raid on Cabanatuan POW camp was and is the most successful hostage rescue in American history. It is taught today as a textbook example on this type of operation. Here’s the kicker–-a year earlier the 6th Ranger Battalion were muleskinners. They originally had been the 98th Field Artillery using pack 75 mm howitzers carried by mules. The unit was never used in New Guinea and the mules were sent to Burma for Merrill’s Marauders. Col. Mucci took command and retrained these mule handlers into deadly light infantry. It just goes to show how leadership, inspiration, and training can make a difference. At the end of the day, the man is the weapon.