The Shoemaker of Los Banos; J. Stull

It suddenly occurred to me that Bill must have a built-in, personal celebration of Independence Day, going,on all the time. He was the only person in our group that night who had lost-and reMr. Stull, who retired from the United States Navy with the rank of Commander, later served in the California Assembly and Senate. He now lives in Missouri. gained-his freedom. As Bill himself phrases it, he was a guest of the Imperial Japanese Army for three years, two months. He was made a prisoner of war less than a month after the Japanese invad ed the Philippines in December 1941. From the exultant look on his face, it was obvi ous Bill was enjoying the fireworks-and some thing more. It was more than a show to him, it was being there-something the rest of us took for granted. To use the words from one of George Washington's speeches, Bill was exalting the just pride of patriotism and rejoicing in the name American.

It came to me that of all the people I know, Bill seems to enjoy life the most. He steps out smartly into his days, and his sense of humor is relentless and unimpaired. He lives now in Monterey, Cali fornia, but he braved the bad weather and flew back here last Christmas alone. His godson, Oliver Max, accompanied him on the Fourth of July visit. Bill goes wherever he chooses to find the action he likes, age no issue. After years of friendship, seeing that look of almost transcendent joy in Bill's face made me really want to know his wellspring. Did he have this edge of enjoyment in spite of, or because of, the Imperial Japanese and his years of incarcera tion at bayonet point? In a day or two, following our July 4 celebration, we had a long talk, one-on one, man-to-man. We talked about the way it was when everyday, common freedom was only a memory and forlorn hope to Bill. Fifty years has dulledthe pain but not yet made it possibleto talk about some facets of the ordeal; still he told me enoughbased on an acute memory.

Bill'sPhilippineexperiencebegan in 1903. The liner on which he and his mother were traveling entered ManilaBayon ChristmasEve ofthat year. His father, Carl Detzer, was the fiber expert for International Harvester and was in the islandsto secure the best hemp for the new self-binding machines to use in harvesting wheat and other grains.The Detzerfamilystayedin Manilaforfour years, and Bill attended the American Schoolon Calle Nozalayta,where he learned Spanishalong with Englishand a smatteringof Tagalog. Later,when his father was transferred,he stud ied at Kings Collegeat the Universityof London. When war was declared in 1914, the family returned to the United States, and Bill attended the Stevens Institute of Technologyin Hoboken, New Jersey, and subsequently graduated with a mechanical engineering degree. After this, he worked in a bank, invented a specialtype of cen trifugalpump,acted as a rental agent for an uncle working in the Hollywood film industry, and he became very active in the Los Angeles Junior Chamber of Commerce,where he headed a num ber of important committees.

Finally,he realizedthat thoughhe was makinga lotof money,he wasn'tgoingwherehe wanted.He decided to take a job in the Philippines,of which he'd alwayshadfondmemories.Witha newfuture facinghim, he embarked on the SilverTeak, arriv ingin Manilaon December3, 1933,almostexactly 30 years since his first visit. After several years working with a company who were agents for Bethlehem Steel, an opportunity came for Bill to workfor BethlehemSteeldirectly,and he became their Far East Representative. For seven years, Bill livedthe excitinglife of a man about the Ori ent, sometimes returning to the States on Pan American's glamorous clippers, sometimes travelingin a more leisurelymanner by ship.Busi ness took him to Japan a few months before the war, when there was a great deal of antagonism toward Americans. However,Billbelieved,in spiteofstringentU.S. sanctions against Japan, that the situation would be resolved and wouldn't escalate into shooting.

He learned how wrong he was when a friend 93 phoned at 4:00 A.M. on December 8,1941, to tell him about Pearl Harbor.The attack on the Philip pinescamejust hours later.There was a great deal of frustration and bitternessas everyonebegan to realizean invasionwas just a matter of time. Withthe quixoticidea of preservingsomeprop erty belongingto a friend, Bill declinedto take a Navy cutter ferrying people to Corregidor. This probably saved his life, as after the fort surren dered, the large group of which he would have been a part was put on an unmarked ship and, en route to Japan, was sunk by Alliedbombers. Manilawas soon declared an open city, and on January 2, Bill and the other Americans,British, and remainingAllied nationals were rounded up and listed as "enemy aliens." Several thousand men, women, and children were herded together at the Royal and Pontifical University of Santo Tomas,founded by the Dominicansin 1611.

Fightingfor Survival The long fight for survivalbeganfor Bill Detzer at the SantoTomasInternmentCamp.Althoughhe wentthroughhell,hewasoneoftheluckyones.The "In Memoriam"listcompiledafter the war is long for those who entered the camp. It isn'teven com plete becausethe Japaneseburiedbodiesin vacant lots,backyards,eventhe sea,withno record. The situation was appalling from the start. A few daysafter arrivingin SantoTomas,the prison ers were horrifiedto find a largesign: "INTERNEES IN THIS CAMP SHALL BE RESPONSIBLE FOR FEED ING THEMSELVES." Told to take a few days' supply of food when they left for the camp,the prisoners were soon depending on friends on the outside, foodstuffsput up for sale in the camp, the Philip pine Red Cross,and what they could grow them selves. After six months, the Japanese began to make a minimumfood allowance.At 6feet 1inch, Bill weighed190 pounds when he went to Santo Tomas and 123 pounds when he was freed in February 1945.

On May 14, 1943, the Japanese moved 786 singlemen and 12 Navynurses70 kilometersaway to the AgriculturalCollegeat LosBanos.The rea sons givenfor the move didn't seem valid.Specu lation was that so many unattached men posed a threat. The war had definitelyturned against the conquerors,and they werejumpy.

94 THE FREEMAN • MARCH 1992 The day the men and nurses were to leave, they were awakened at 5:00 A.M. as the loud notes of "Time to Get Up" blared throughout Santo Tomas. The deportees were loaded on trucks as the loudspeakers resounded again-" Anchors Aweigh" and "The Stars and Stripes Forever." The songs, of course, were supposed to be an added humiliation to people transported like cattle. After arriving at Los Banos, Bill embarked on the most remarkable events of his captivity. Although a prisoner behind two high fences with coiled barbed wire in between, under constant surveillance of vigilant guards, he contrived to meet the Bethlehem Steel payroll. He knew exact 1y what he was risking-torture and death. It came about this way. On the strangely effec tive, but maddeningly spotty grapevine that twist ed from the outside through both Santo Tomas and Los Banos prisons, Bill heard that his former company staff was in dire straits, on the verge of starvation. The much touted Japanese Co-Pros perity Sphere and the Orient for the Orientals didn't include most Filipinos. Bill was horrified to learn that working for an American company had made them doubly suspect. He resolved to help these people as best he could.

But what could he do? The answer came through his new profession-eamp shoemaker. The opportunity had presented itself when Bill suffered heat prostration while working in the gar den at Santo Tomas. He was assigned to inside work and, after talking it over with friends, decided shoemaking had the greatest possibilities. He began at Santo Tomas and continued at Los Banos. The work was done under the crudest con ditions with old tire sidewalls,the material provid ed. Of five shipments sent by the Red Cross, only one reached the prisoners. Fortunately, this included a few items that made Bill'snew vocation a bit easier. If shoes were beyond prison repair but could be salvaged with better equipment, the Japanese would let Bill send them out to a Filipino cobbler shop. The shoes were inspected both goingout and coming back. Nevertheless, through the shoes, Bill sent and received messages and dispersed large sums of money.

His first step was to contact a Chinese friend, Yu Khe Jin, owner of Yutivo Sons Hardware in Mani la. Mr. Yu was the largest buyer of steel in the Philippines and the best customer of Bethlehem Bill Delzer Steel. Mr. Yu made approximately five million Philippine pesos available to Bill.With this money, Bill paid the Bethlehem staff, including the office boy, as though they were still working. It was a tricky, harrowing enterprise, and Bill was fearful not only for his own sake but for everyone else involved in the operation. After the war, from the meticulous records kept by Bill, Bethlehem Steel reimbursed Mr. Yu for the full amount. Liberation! Santo Tomas was liberated early in February 1945,but Los Banos still was behind enemy lines. There was a strong rumor that before giving up this camp the Japanese planned to massacre the Los Banos prisoners. By then, these numbered over 2,000. Acting on the rumor, General MacArthur authorized a daring raid. On February 23, 1945, in a coordinated effort, paratroopers of the 11th Airborne, amphibious tanks, and Filipino guerrillas led by American officers converged on the camp.

The attack from land, water, and sky was a complete surprise, and 250 Japanese were elimi nated within minutes. Miraculously, none of the prisoners received more than a few superficial wounds. However, both rescuers and rescued were still behind enemy lines, so it was important to get out of the area as fast as possible. That night, Bill slept on the hard stone floor of the old Mutinglupa National Prison outside of Manila, on the feath erbed of freedom. The horrors Bill experienced have not com pletely receded and, of course, never will. Howev er, when I asked if there were any benefit from liv ing in hell, Bill thought for a moment and replied: "Oh, yes! A special kind of friendship." Bill keeps in touch with Yu Khe Jin and his children in Aus tralia and Vancouver, as well as with the surviving Bethlehem Steel employees he paid via the shoes. Until their deaths, he stayed in close contact with the three men who shared his quarters at Los Banos-Abbott Shoemaker, Henry S. Carpenter, and Steve Arick-all of whom went on to success ful business careers. After a year and a half of recu peration in New York City, Bill returned to the Philippines for Bethlehem Steel, where he remained until retirement.

It is no wonder that Bill Detzer enjoys each moment. He learned the art at the hardest possible school. What impressed me the most in my long talk with him was his bold use of the slightfreedom he had enjoyed while in prison, and the far-reach ing results. All he had were the shoes, Mr. Yu, and the cobblers. I asked if he had tried to bribe the Japanese guards, and he replied, "No, they were incorruptible." The collaborators had to be silent and totally circumspect, since the window of opportunity was minuscule and might be shut at any minute, with appalling ramifications. How ever, even a minuscule amount of freedom some times will serve if not to solve a situation, at least to ameliorate it. From talking with Bill, it seems clear that many prisoners survived the camps because of the use they made of the marginal amount of freedom per mitted by the Japanese. Even when so appallingly diluted, this freedom was strong enough to make a life-or-death difference in the whole conduct of the camps. By applying their freedom, the prisoners THE SHOEMAKER OF LOS BANOS 95 rose above the order imposed by Japanese bayo nets, and were able, in large measure, to avoid chaos and its resulting despair. Through a group appointed prisoner committee, the internees were allowed to govern themselves within Japanese rules. Although the rules were often outrageous, grim, and encompassed every facet of life, this mere trace of self-determination maintained self respect and the hope and dignity engendered by self-respect.

The prisoners were illused, ill-housed, ill clothed, illwashed, plain ill, and so ill-fed that before their rescue, they came to look like scare crows. Nevertheless, their own self-government kept the majority of them from falling into com plete helplessness, total despair, or unthinkable barbarity, preying on each other. Bill says there is no way to describe the titanic efforts made by the Internee Committee, nor is it possible to count their accomplishments, fabricated almost solelyby determination and zeal. Several of the leaders had been top executives in prestigious companies before they met this ultimate test of their manage ment skills by using every small niche left open by their captors. The freedom of the small clefts grew to a maintained and definite identity, and with this identity, thousands of internees found the will to survive as human beings. Bill saw men wrapped in barbed wire and shot.

In spite of this knowledge of what the Japanese were capable of, he made his company's payroll, maneuvering the whole endeavor from a tiny pocket of freedom, taking what he considered a justifiable risk to achieve a worthwhile goal. It was a long time ago, but Bill Detzer still has those things with which he left Los Banos-special friendships, a sense of accomplishment,and appreciation. For almost 50 years, he has taken nothing for granted. No wonder his face lights up in the rockets' red glare. He knows not only the words but the meaning of life, liberty, and the pur suit of happiness. In his darkest hour, he learned freedom is not static. It is what you make of what ~u~~ 0 96 What Does Affirmative Action Affirm? by WendyMcElroy R ecently I learned that a friend of mine had been passed over for tenure at an Ivy League school. This was surprising to me. He had been teaching at the university for several years and was immensely popular, not only with the students but also within the department. With a book and several journal articles to his credit, his qualifications were in good order. So what was the problem?