H-AGOM-JTuggles

From Letter to Tom Mitsos

Dear Tom,

When the war broke out on Dec. 8, 1941, I was assigned to Lt. Bulkeley’s Motor Torpedo Squadron #3, stationed at the Cavite Naval Base at Luzon. I was a First Class Petty Officer at the time and a Machinist Mate, assigned to the 33 PT Boat, commanded by Lt. Brammingham. Our squadron consisted of six motor torpedo boats, the 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, and the 41 boat. We were assigned to the 16th Naval District, under the command of Admiral Hart.

On Dec. 8th, 54 Japanese bombers in two waves attacked Cavite Naval Base and the Navy ships in Manila Bay, followed by a strafing attack by Zeros. The attacks in this area lasted for about two hours, and by the end of the day, it was obvious that the Navy ships stationed in Manila Bay would have to be moved further south to Borneo. About 500 men were killed on the first day.

In the early days of the war, our P.T. boats were used mostly for messenger service, and it took a few Japanese sinkings to prove our effectiveness. After attacking and sinking one small Japanese freighter, the 33 Boat ran aground and we had to burn it. The crew members of the 33 Boat went back to Mariveles on the other boats.

For a while, I volunteered to go on patrol on some of the other boats in the squadron, until I was assigned as an engineer on the P.T. 41 Boat under the command of Lt. Bulkeley.

January 18, 1942 The 34 Boat and the 31 Boat were on patrol in Binanga Bay when its engines stopped and it had to be scuttled. The 34 Boat continued on patrol and sunk one freighter and returned to base.

The 31 Boat crew members also made it safely back to base in two borrowed native dugout canoes.

Our unit caught the publics’ eye in March, 1942, when the remaining P.T. Boats (32, 34, 35, and 41) evacuated General MacArthur, his family, and his staff from Corregidor, through 600 miles of Japanese dominated waters to the island of Mindanao. We left Corregidor on March 11, 1942, and arrived at Cebu on March 12, 1942, where we lost the 32 Boat. The passengers of the 32 Boat were put on the remaining 3 boats and headed for Mindanao. The 32 Boat crew members were left on the island of Cebu.

About 8 A.M., on March 13, 1942, we arrived at Cagayan City, Mindanao. The General gave a Silver Star to Lt. Bulkeley and to every member of the squadron that made the trip to Mindanao.

Late in March, 1942, the 34, 35, and the 41 Boats went to the island of Negros and picked up President Quezon, his family, and staff and brought them to Cagayan City, Mindanao. From there, they were taken to DelMonte Airfield and evacuated to Australia and then to Washington, D.C. The 35 Boat had to be scuttled off of Negros because of engine failures. So only the two boats returned. The 35 Boat crew members were loaded on the remaining two boats.

On April 8th, the 41 Boat and the 34 Boat attacked a Japanese cruiser, Kuma, off of Cebu, inflicting some damage. The next day, the two boats were attacked by Japanese planes and the 34 Boat was sunk and two sailors were killed. We were now out of torpedoes and no place to get any more.

The 41 Boat returned to Mindanao about April 10th, along with the 34 Boat crew members, where it stayed off of Bugo City. About April 20th, it went to Illigan, Lanao.

At Illigan, the 41 Boat was put on a trailer and was being transported to Lake Lanao, but never made it. The road between Lake Lanao and Illigan ran through some mountains and had many sharp turns and ‘U’ bends in it. The 41 Boat made it around the first bend, but because of its size, it could not make it around the bottom of the “U” bend, so it got stuck there, blocking the road to Dansalan. This road was so narrow that no traffic could go past it in either direction. The 41 Boat was eventually pushed off of the edge of the cliff by the Japanese, for the road was usable during the guerrilla activity.

On May 2, 1942, I was at Keithley Barracks at Dansalan, Lanao, Mindanao, when the Japanese attacked the town and the eight of us had to retreat into the hills. We ended up in Deisher’s Camp for about six months.

In December, 1942, we went to Misamis City in Misamis Occidental to join Fertig’s Guerrilla Forces, and about December 16, 1942, was commissioned 2nd Lt. in the USFIP Forces and assigned to the 108th Division, commanded by Lt. Col. Hedges. (Lt. Glover was assigned to the same unit.) Our mission was to organize the small Moro guerrilla bands into one effective unit in the Province of Lanao. We were stationed in the Iligan – Dansalan area and were very effective in denying the Japanese the use of the roads.

To put it simply, as long as the Japanese soldiers stayed in the towns of Iligan, Dansalan, and Kolumbugan, they wouldn’t be killed.

In June, 1942, I was transferred to Arora, Zamboango, near Pagadian, in command of about 20 guerrillas and given the job of procuring and delivering rice to other guerrilla units in the Zamboango Province.

I had to haul rice from Pagadian on a Chevrolet truck that ran on alcohol, distilled from the tuba juice obtained from the coconut trees. Lubricating oil was made from grated coconut boiled in water and skimmed off the top of the water. I had two soldiers working with me to haul the rice from Pagadian to Arora by truck and then by carabao on sleds to Panguil Bay, where we loaded it on bancas and sailed to Misamis Province. There was no rice available between Dipolog and Bonifacio because the Japanese had harvested it all and sent it to Zamboango City.

The Japs had bombed Arora twice while I was there and they killed my horse, which was about 20 feet from where I was hiding behind a banana plant.

On Jan. 1, 1943, I met and married a beautiful Filipino girl, Esparanza.

I was assigned to work with Captain Thomas and Lt. Rooke at a secret air field tagged “Farm Project No. 2” near Domingog. This is where my first daughter Jean Francis was born on Dec. 1, 1943.

We had 20 guerrillas and about 250 Subanos assigned to the airfield. We were there for about two years, trying to construct an airfield with one tractor and 200 wheel barrows as heavy equipment. We finally completed it in the summer of 1944.

During the two years I was stationed at “Farm Project No. 2”, we only had one B-25 come into the airfield. Captain Thomas, a P-40 pilot, was copilot on its flight from Labo Airfield.

In early 1945, I was assigned to Labo Airfield and that is where my second daughter Lorene Mae was born, April 16, 1945.

I, Lt. Tan, 6 guerrillas, and about fifty Subanos worked on Labo Field for about five months. We had about 20 Japanese prisoners there, until an American officer came from Leyte and flew them to Tacloban.

In July, 1945, I was transferred to Leyte and about a month later the Army sent a plane to Labo Airfield to pick up my wife and two children. About the same time, I was transferred back to the Navy.

Later, we went on an Army transport ship to Treasure Island in San Francisco. My family and I were on a train heading home, when the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Aug. 8, 1945.

I was given 90 days leave and then reported to the Washington Navy Yard, where I was on shore patrol for six months. My third daughter, Elizabeth Ann, was born on June 29 1946 in Columbia Hospital in Washington D.C. From Washington, I was transferred to the U.S.S. Vulcan in Newport, Rhode Island.

In October, 1947, I was discharged from the Navy, moved to Lynchburg, VA, where I went into business.

Yours Truly

John

The following has been extracted from a document of unknown source provided by John Tuggles.

JOHN LINCOLN TUGGLE born near Richmond on March 3.1916, grew up in Lynchburg, VA. where he enlisted in the Navy in May. 1936.

He served as a machinists mate on the USS Dobbin in San Diego and Pearl Harbor. After re-enlisting in 1941. John was assigned to Patrol Torpedo Sdn. 3 and shipped to the Philippines. where he was stationed at Cavite Navy Yard when Japan attacked in December 1941.

In March, 1942. Tuggle served as chief machinist’s mate on the PT boat that took Gen. MacArthur and his family to Mindanao to meet the B 17 which took MacArthur and his staff to Australia. At Cebu city, they attacked and destroyed a Japanese cruiser. The crew destroyed the PT boat on Mindanao to prevent its capture. Tuggle and most remaining crew members joined the guerilla resistance in Mindanao. Listed as missing in action, he engaged in guerilla warfare until American forces recaptured the Philippines.

Discharged from the Navy in 1947. John and his Filipino wife returned to Lynchburg, where he owned and operated a laundry and a vending machine business before retiring. Married in 1943 to Esperanza Page, they have three daughters. Jean, Lorene and Anne.

Awarded the Silver Star with Oak Leaf cluster, Distinguished Unit Badge with Oak Leaf Cluster. Philippine Defense Medal with two Bronze Stars, Philippine Liberation Medal with two Bronze Stars, Asiatic-Pacific Area Campaign Medal, American Defense Medal (Fleet Clasp), American Area Campaign Medal, World War II Victory Medal and Good Conduct Medal with two Bronze Stars.

The following is a page from unknown source provided by John Tuggles.

There were no MTBs stationed at Singapore and Rangoon. Those originally intended for Singapore had been re-assigned to Malta in 1939 and because of the urgent demand for coastal craft in home waters, they had not been replaced. The brunt of the Japanese attacks early in 1942 were borne by a few outdated MLs. manned by the Dominion and Colonial RNVR. They fought for as long as they could against. the greatly superior enemy forces and then helped in the evacuation of refugees and Service personnel.

Most of the craft were destroyed when Rangoon fell, marking the end of any Coastal Forces operations in South east Asia until the final Arakan campaign. Two MTB flotillas were formed at Madras and Trincoinalee towards the end of 1942 to carry out patrol duties as part of the defense of India. But they saw no action, and because of rapid deterioration due to inadequate maintenance facilities. they were scrapped in 1944.

At the time when .Japanese planes attacked Pearl Harbor on the morning of 7th December 1941. precipitating America’s entry into the war, there were no more than twenty-nine PT boats in service with the US Navy. These were Elco seventy-seven foot craft which had been formed into three MTB squadrons. The first, under Lieutenant-Commander William C Specht USN. was based at Pearl Harbor. As the bombs began to fall. the PT crews rushed to man their guns and managed to bring down two of the Japanese torpedo planes. None of the PTs were damaged. and after the raid they helped to ferry the wounded to hospital. Squadron 1 then remained at Pearl Harbor for the next six months. until they were sent to Midway.

Squadron 2. under Lieutenant Commander Earl S CaIdwell USN. was fitting out in the New York Navy Yard before being shipped some days later to Panama. where they helped to augment the defenses of the Canal.

The first six boats of Squadron 3 under Lieutenant John D Bulkeley USN. were in Manila Bay having arrived on 28th September. These were the first PTs to see combat, during the four-month struggle to defend the Philippines. It began three days after the Pearl Harbor attack with a heavy air raid on Manila. The PTs had managed to put out into the bay and by constant manoeuvring avoided the dive bombers, at the same time bringing down three of them by gun fire. But the Navy Yard was destroyed. together with much of the equipment and fuel for the PTs. So they moved to a new base at Sisiman Bay. at the end of Bataan Peninsula. and from there carried out nightly patrols during the rest of December while the US Asiatic Fleet withdrew to the south.

By the end of the month, when the US Army had withdrawn to Bataan and General Douglas MacArthur established headquarters on the island of Corregidor. the PTs were virtually the only US fighting craft left. Without spare parts and only a little fuel. they were rapidly deteriorating. The first casualty came on Christmas Day. when PT 33 ran aground on a coral reef after engine failure and had to be scuttled to prevent her falling into Japanese hands.

The remaining PTs fought back as well as they could. During a raid on Binanga Bay on the night. of 18th January. PT 34. commanded by Bulkeley. torpedoed and sank a large merchant ship armed with 5.5-inch guns. PT 31 was to have taken part. but had been abandoned after setting out because of engine breakdown. Her crew managed to return to base the following day after pa(l(lling in two native canoes only yards from a beach where hundreds of Japanese troops were camped.

That left four boats. They continued to harass enemy shipping wherever they could, and on one occasion even scored a torpedo hit on a Japanese cruiser off the Bataan coast.. But the <end>

First (front) row: ______, John Tuggles, Tom Mitsos

Second row:

Third row: _____, Tom Lang, ______ William Williams _____

Fourth row: