Husky, 54-year-old Major General Roscoe B. Woodruff's 24th Division troops stormed into Davao, capital of Mindanao and last large Philippine city in Japanese hands, after one of the toughest marches in Pacific annals—more than 140 miles in 17 days from the Parang landing beach. They found most of the Japanese army gone, the elaborate defenses abandoned. All the wicked-looking pillboxes had faced seaward—the wrong way.
Gone, too, were Davao's 18,000 leading citizens, the smiling Japs who had come to this town long before Dec. 7, 1941, acquired 75% of its wealth, made it...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
