In 1925, I was born near Elkland, Missouri. Years later after moving to Springfield, Missouri, I attended the Springfield Public School System. During my high school years I was drafted out of high school at the age of
eighteen to enter the U.S. Army in August of 1943.
My basic training was in Camp Fannin, Texas where I spent four months
under the roughest infantry training that could be imagined. After Camp Fannin, I was sent overseas and landed in Hawaii for four months. I was assigned to the 38th Infantry Division. We trained very hard during that time, before moving on to New Guinea, where I was for about six months.
In New Guinea we were camped in the jungle where the heat and the mosquitoes were so unbearable. One day we were listening to a short wave radio and Tokyo Rose was on telling us that the 38th Infantry Division was
getting reading to leave New Guinea for the Philippines and saying, “Boys,
you will never reach your destination.”
We did not know we were headed for the Philippines, but we found out in
about two weeks when we were in a large convoy headed for Leyte. We arrived in Leyte and were there about six weeks during the rainy season preparing for the invasion of Luzon. The big war was about to begin.
It was January, 1945 when we got our orders to move on. We went to the docks and boarded the U.S.S. Baxter with all our equipment. We were then in a large convoy. We were told that we were going to invade Luzon and we
were going to hit it with full force and attack a heavy armed force of Japanese. We were told, “Battles will be won, but expect many casualties. This is the real thing and we will accomplish and fulfill our mission.”
We were a complete armed force and very tense. One night we were given word that we would make landing about dawn the next morning. We then made a huge landing. We went down the side ropes and entered the landing crafts. We were about two hundred feet from shore when the gates opened and we waded the water up to our waists, holding all our equipment above our heads.

We landed at La Paz, Luzon. What a surprise to have found a large number of Filipinos waving little American flags. They told us that the heavy Japanese armed forces knew we were coming and had went inland about twenty miles near Subic Bay. We began marching all day in the hot sun to catch up with them. We were exhausted walking so far.
We reached Subic Bay and dug in for the night outside the town of Subic,
knowing we were about to face the Japanese Army. This was the area where
the Japanese tortured and marched the American forces through Bataan,
after they invaded the Philippines. This was known as the Bataan Death March.
After a horrible night in our fox holes, scared to death we started our battle of Zig-Zag Pass and on into Bataan. We began to see dead bodies of the American and Japanese soldiers as we were now at war against a very strong army. I was in the 152nd Infantry Regiment and was a rifleman and combat radio operator on the front lines with the line companies supplying communications.
One of the main targets of the Japs was to knock out communications, which I experienced many times. Snipers were everywhere and bullets were going past my ears. I hit the dirt, nobody knows how many times. The jungle conditions were so rough, as you could not see the enemy. The dead
had began to appear and increase. Digging foxholes was a continuous thing. We always dreaded for night to come. We would always hear strange noises as the enemy used code sounds, sounding like birds.
We won our territory, foot by foot. It was slow going in the jungles. Fighting increased very heavily as we went through Zig-Zag Pass. Casualties were mounting up. Our artillery was a great help as they shot over us to soften up the enemy so we could go in. Our mortar and machine gunners inflicted heavy casualties on the Japanese.
Our flame-throwers were a deadly weapon as they burned whole hillsides and brought the enemy out of their caves, pillboxes, and other concealed places. The enemy would not surrender, but we did take a large number of prisoners.
We saw great numbers of Japanese dead. There were so many dead they had to be piled up in large numbers. After a few days they were so decomposed. That had to be the worst smell that anyone could ever imagine. The flies off the dead would get on your food when it was brought to us.
We fought the battle with three regiments, the 149th, 151st, and the 152nd Infantry. The 34th Regiment was a very excellent fighting force that fought with us all throughout the war.

The 34th Infantry was fighting along with us and one night the conditions were so terrible. The next morning, we crawled out of our holes and searched for the dead. Each day we would have a count of the dead and wounded. A little later we saw what was not a pretty sight. Body parts were all over the road. It looked like our dear boys had been slaughtered by enemy mortar shells. Later we saw some U.S. Army trucks leaving the area, loaded with body parts. These sights are still in my mind today.
One day I misplaced my M-1 rifle and did not know what to do. I was so scared. I found it leaning against a tree and never did let that happen again. One afternoon a scout plane radioed a message that he had spotted approximately one thousand fully armed enemy soldiers coming down the road, heading our way. We were advised to move back several hundred yards and re-dig. It was very hard to give up territory we fought for that day. We formed a perimeter and placed our machine gunners in different locations.
Darkness came and the strong enemy attack began. That was the worst battle that I was ever in. Three mortar shells hit the side of my foxhole and shook rocks down on me. Flares were going up and lit up the area. We could hear the screams all night from both the Japanese and Americans. Our
machine gunners piled the Japs up in large numbers and our gunners also lost their lives defending our position. There were many casualties.
Everything was quiet toward morning. Many enemy soldiers escaped because we could not account for all that had been reported. We began to regroup and advance again. Going down the road, we heard the sound of fresh running water. We were about to fill up our canteens when someone yelled, “Leave that stuff alone, they may have poisoned it.” Water was very precious.
Most of us were beginning to get very sick with dysentery. Flies were all over us and it was very hard to take. We heard running water down below and found a little river flowing. There were about forty men in our group and we pulled our clothes and shoes off and got in that water. We washed our clothing and ourselves. What a relief! We were in sniper territory, but the way that we felt, we just didn’t care anymore.
An older fellow was with us and spoke up saying, “Fellows, I am your new Regimental Commander. I am Colonel Ives.” We didn’t know why he would be with us, but he was a real soldier. He would show up with different units at any place and time. A great commander he was!

The fighting seemed to have ended, but we had to be careful in times like this. The next morning something strange happened. Our regiments linked up as the war in Bataan had ended. One of the big battles of the Pacific area had now ended. The liberation of Bataan was complete and the once powerful Japanese 16th Imperial Army had been defeated. The Bataan and Zig-Zag Pass Battles lasted sixteen days and nights under conditions that are very difficult to fully describe.
I want to thank all those brave and gallant men who gave all they had of themselves to fight for and protect freedom. Above all, I want to thank God for the Victory that he allowed us to

achieve and the supernatural strength he gave all of us to endure. Amen.---e-mail

Clyde Mason
38th Infantry Division
U.S. Army
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