[Milsurplus] World War II Radio Functions

[Carole White-Connor]

As for the Japanese treatment of prisoners, there are some good websites
out there run by Bataan survivors (Defenders of Bataan, Battling
Bastards etc.). Fascinating sites with lots of information.

The only radio-related picture from the Philippines I've seen is one of
GIs in the jungle huddled around a Sky Buddy listening to shortwave
broadcasts from San Francisco (Undoubtedly, they were hoping to hear
about the apochryphal mile-long convoy that never arrived). I wonder if
Hallicrafters ever used that photo for advertising?

The radio ops on Corregidor were a problem. They knew about the
code-breaking. Therefore, it was imperative that they be evacuated
before Corregidor fell. I believe that they got them out on one of the
last submarines that went to Corregidor. (The secrecy of the
code-breaking survived the fall of the Philippines and wasn't
compromised until 1943 and the mission to shoot down Yamamoto).

In one of the books, I read about a group of radio ops from Bataan who
were forced by the Japanese to repair captured American radio equipment.
It was definitely a violation of the Geneva Convention but it wasn't bad
duty because it sure as hell beat the Death March. Japanese soldiers
would bring their personal sets to these guys. If the Japanese soldier
was a nice guy, they'd fix his set. In return, the solider would usually
sneak them some extra rations. If he was a jerk, they'd wire it to
explode the first time it was plugged in.

One of the books had a neat story. There was one Japanese guard who was
very vain, excitable and had a weird voice. The GIs called him as Donald
Duck. At first, he didn't like that. When he asked them who Donald Duck
was, they said he was a famous American movie star. He really like that.
Then, one night, he happened to see a Donald Duck cartoon. The next day,
he was a little rough with the prisoners.

Joe Connor