#58. 5 WW2 Men to Remember this Memorial Day

Episode 58 – 5 WW2 Men to Remember this Memorial Day – Transcript

Episode Text
This episode is being published the Friday of Memorial Day weekend 2024 – a few days earlier than my usual publish day, so that we can share the stories of 5 brave men who were Killed in Action during the first few months of WW2.
I’m honoring them this weekend as I continue to commemorate Memorial Day, and if you are looking for someone to remember, I hope you will think of these men.

Capt. Colin Kelly (Episode 4)
Colin Kelly was a 26-year-old pilot with a wife and toddler son, on the morning of December 10, 1942. It was 2 days after the initial Japanese attack on The Philippines, and he had a new assignment.
[Narrator] After two days hopping from airfield to airfield, attempting to elude Japanese air attacks, and even spending a night under the wing of his plane, Second Lieutenant Donald Robins co-piloted a B-17 “Flying Fortress” bomber on to the airstrip of the bombed-out Clark Field on the morning of Wednesday, December 10, 1941. They were there for fuel and bombs.
25-year-old Lt. Robins had a round face and a contagious smile that crinkled his eyes and gave him a joyful, slightly elvish look. Two years earlier he had been working as a butcher and living at his parents’ rural Washington state home. Now he was a trained pilot and a veteran of this 2-day-old war.
The bomber’s crew was in the middle of loading their plane when an air raid warning sounded. Japanese Zeros were almost on Clark Field for another round of attacks. It was 9:35 am. Lt. Robins started all four engines, and the crew high-tailed it to their B-17 stations. The pilots, bombardier, and navigator climbing a ladder into the plane’s front. The gunners and radioman swinging themselves through the small door in plane’s middle.
The aircraft rumbled and shook as it taxied, engaged, and then cleared the field safely.
The Fortress climbed in altitude to escape the Japanese gun fire. Captain Colin Kelly then turned the plane north over Luzon, The Philippines largest island, and radioed his 8-man crew:
[Kelly] “Alright boys, what have we got?”
[Bombardier] “We only had time to load three bombs, Captain. But they’re big babies
[Narrator] his Bombardier replied.
[Kelly] “Copy that.”
[Narrator] Capt. Kelly was a young but accomplished man. Just 26 years old, he was already an experienced pilot, deputy squadron leader, a husband, and a father to a 19-month-old son. The handsome man with dark hair and a thoughtful smile was calm and deliberate, and he never, ever swore.
Kelly radioed his crew the details of their flight, talking over the sounds of the motors and rushing wind.
[Kelly] “There’s a Japanese aircraft carrier believed to be off of northern Luzon. Our mission is to get that ship. Other B-17s should join us soon.”
[Narrator] Captain Kelly and Lt. Don Robins piloted their Fortress steadily north, eventually leaving Luzon Island and flying over another small island. Noticing they were still a single plane without back up, Robins radioed Kelly:
[Robins] “Where are those other B-17s, Captain?”
[Kelly] “Must have received last-minute orders. Guess it’s us alone, Robins.”
[Robins] “Sir, I see two Japanese ships below. Neither are aircraft carriers. Just Japanese transport ships.”
[Kelly] “Not our orders. Not worth our bombs, Robins.”
[Narrator] Scanning the waters below, none of the crew saw signs of the reported Japanese carrier. Captain Kelly turned the B-17 around, heading south again toward Luzon Island. The eagle-eyed Bombardier saw something as they approached the islands northern shore.
[Bombardier] “Captain, Japanese craft below. Moving slowly and parallel with the coastline.”
[Narrator] Looking down, Robins saw the slow-moving 3-ship convoy as well:
[Robins] “Now that’s what I want to see,” exclaimed Robins. “Three Jap transports, three destroyers, and one big fat son of a . . . Sorry, Cap.”
[Narrator] Robins caught himself, grinning impishly at Kelly’s side eye. The Navigator interrupted:
[Navigator] “Three pursuit planes, Captain.”
[Narrator] In response, Kelly climbed the Fortress to 20,000 feet, shaking off the Japanese pursuit planes who couldn’t get that high. The sky was clear, the field open, a perfect bombing day.
The Navigator handed a pair of binoculars to Kelly, saying:
[Navigator] “I think that big one is a battleship, Captain.”
[Narrator] Kelly agreed and passed the glasses to Robins for a look.
[Robins] (With excitement) “That juicy plum couldn’t be anything but a battleship, Cap.”

[Narrator] From their safe altitude of 20,000 feet, Kelly took two passes over the ship while the Bombardier set up for the drop. The bomb doors opened on the plane’s underbelly, directly behind the flight deck, and right in the middle of the aircraft. On the plane’s third pass over the convoy, the Bombardier dropped the plane’s three 600-pound demolition bombs in a rapid train.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
A near miss. A direct midship hit. A near miss at portside.
Robins cheered into the radio:
[Robins] “Boy! You sure tagged it! Bombardiers don’t come any better than you!”
Below them, the large Japanese ship was burning fiercely, clouds of smoke rose from the impact site. The ship started weaving and heading toward shore, leaving an oil trail behind it. Highly satisfied with their bombing run, Kelly turned the plane back to Clark Field while dropping to 10,000 feet.
Kelly ordered his Radio Operator:
[Kelly] “Radio Clark Field with a report and for instructions.”
[Narrator] It was an ill-timed order.
As the Radio Operator turned from his battle position, two or three Japanese Zeros, one piloted by ace flyer Saburō Sakai, emerged from a low bank of clouds under Kelly’s Fortress. Sakai was part of the Japanese force that had destroyed Clark Field just two days previous.
The Zeros’ attack was immediate. Machine guns and cannon fire set the B-17 Flying Fortress on fire.
Kelly hollered over his radio to the machine gunners in the plane’s waist and tail:
[Kelly] “Battle stations! Fire! Fire! Beat them off!”
[Narrator] Japanese attacks hit the Fortress’s radio compartment and the oxygen supply blew up. Kelly dove the plane into clouds, trying to lose the Zeros.
[Robins] “There’s a bonfire on our leftwing. Damn, Cap, we’re burning like a holocaust!”
[Narrator] Co-pilot Robins yelled, while Kelly continued to call for the machine gunners to down the Japanese craft.
[Kelly] “Bail! Bail!”

Moments later Kelly’s B-17 hit the ground about 3 miles east of Clark Field. The impact scattered parts over a 500-yard area. The wreckage still burned as the Clark Field search party arrived, to find the plane’s tail completely missing.
Most of the crew had parachuted to safety. But, a rear machine gunner’s body lay 50 yards from the wreck; he’d been killed in air by Japanese bullets that pierced the plane’s waist. The body of 26-year-old Captain Colin Kelly was next to the wreckage, his parachute unopened.
It was the first B-17 Bomber shot down during WW2 – 2 days into the US’s entrance. And Captain Kelly became the first real hero of the war, his sacrifice were heralded around the country and he received the Distinguished Service Cross for "extraordinary heroism" and "selfless bravery".

Lt. James Caldwell
Wisconsin native James Caldwell was commissioned as an officer in the Army Corps of Engineers shortly after he graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1940 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering.
He arrived in The Philippines in July 1941 and became attached to Company C, 803rd Engineer Battalion. Initially stationed at Nichols Field (and tasked with improving its runway), Lt. Caldwell and Company C retreated to Bataan in late December 1941.

[Narrator] Once on Bataan, Company C was charged with improving the small Cabcaben and Bataan airfields – for what remained of the almost-completely-destroyed US Air Forces in The Philippines. They also worked to improve roads around the airfields.
On January 15, 1942, Lt. Caldwell the ROTC graduate and 3 other lieutenants were inspecting repair work on Bataan airfield. At noon, several Japanese dive bombers began bombing and strafing the field. The 4 men ran for cover, 3 of them made it out of the planes’ sights. But 23-year-old Lt. Caldwell didn’t.
He was killed in action just 5 weeks into WW2 and only about 18 months into his Army officer career. He had been recommended for a promotion just the day before.
Lt. James Caldwell was buried at the west end of the Bataan Field runway. But his grave must have been unmarked or a mass grave, because his remains could not be accounted for at war’s end. His body was considered unrecoverable, and his name appears today on the Tablets of the Missing monument at the Manila American Cemetery.
He was survived by his mother, father, and a younger brother.
He was one of only 2 Company C men killed during the Battle of Bataan, which lasted from January through early April 1942.

Lt. Alexander Nininger
Lt. Alexander “Sandy” Nininger arrived in The Philippines in November 1941, mere weeks before the war began. He was soon attached to the Philippine Scouts’ 57th Infantry, who were along the front line near the town of Abucay as the Battle for Bataan began in mid-January 1942.

[Narrator] While Ortilano was heading to the Bataan field hospital, the Philippine Scouts 57th Infantry and Sandy Nininger continued fighting the Japanese.
During the attack on the night of January 11-12 (the same night Ortilano was injured), some Japanese soldiers infiltrated into the Philippine Scouts 57th Infantry’s 3rd Battalion area. The 57th Infantry soldiers spent January 12 looking for and eliminating Japanese soldiers, one-by-one in hand-to-hand combat. But this caused a lot Philippine Scout causalities and deaths, so the 57th assembled sniper parties with riflemen and demolition engineers. These parties began a systematic search of the area for Japanese infiltrators.
Lt. Alexander Nininger led one of the sniper parties. And, actually, he wasn’t even part of the company participating in these sniper parties. His own company wasn’t engaged in combat at the time – I believe they were being held in the rear as reinforcements. A military citation explained,
[Citation] “This officer, though assigned to another company not then engaged in combat, voluntarily attached himself to Company K … while that unit was being attacked by enemy forces superior in firepower. Enemy snipers in trees and foxholes had stopped a counterattack to regain part of the position. In the hand-to-hand fighting which followed, 2d Lt. Nininger repeatedly forced his way to and into the hostile position.”
[Narrator] At some point he became separated from the rest of his sniper party. Alone, armed with hand grenades and a rifle, and already wounded three times, Sandy continued pushing far into the enemy positions, attacking with the grenades and his rifle. The citation continues:
[Citation] “Though exposed to heavy enemy fire, he continued to attack with rifle and hand grenades and succeeded in destroying several enemy groups in foxholes, and enemy snipers.
[Narrator] Some newspaper accounts suggest Sandy’s actions forced a somewhat large-scale enemy retreat. I think that might be exaggeration. Although the idea of one man with a rifle and grenades causing a large number of enemy soldiers to retreat makes a good story, it doesn’t seem all that likely… Although, I’d love to be proved wrong.
When the 57th Infantry finally secured the position and pushed out all the Japanese, they found Sandy’s body. Next to him were the bodies of a Japanese officer and two soldiers.
The 23-year-old – who was just 7 months into his dreamed-of military career -- had sacrificed his life to secure the American line.
[Narrator] Lt. Sandy Nininger became the first person in WW2 to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor, the United States’ military’s highest award. A US War Department press release touted:
[Release] “First to receive the Congressional Medal of Honor in World War II was Second Lieutenant Alexander Ramsey Nininger Jr., of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., for heroism in action January 12, 1942 on Bataan during the first days of our war against the empire of Japan.”
[Narrator] It went on to describe the action for which he received the medal as well as to describe Sandy’s life and character. He became a national hero during a time when the Unites States, still licking its wounds from Pearl Harbor, needed a hero. Newspapers around the United States ran the story.
Note here, although the Medal of Honor was awarded to Sandy first, several other US servicemen would later receive the Medal of Honor for actions earlier in the war, including a Filipino soldier named Jose Calugas, who we’ll meet in an upcoming episode.
[Narrator] Sandy’s Medal of Honor was presented to his father, Alec Nininger, at a military headquarters in Tampa, Florida, on February 10, 1942 – barely a month after Sandy died, and just 2 months into WW2.

Lt. Ira Cheaney
Lt. Ira Cheaney was a friend of Lt. Nininger’s, having graduated from West Point together in 1941, training together in Georgia, and then assigned to the 57th Infantry together once in The Philippines. To add to an even more hectic 1941, the 24 year old also got married.
Cheaney fought alongside Nininger at Abucay, where he distinguished himself:
[Narrator] The actions Cheaney performed near Abucay on January 13, 1942, would earn him the Distinguished Service Cross, the US Army’s second highest honor. His cross citation reads:
[citation] “On 13 January 1942 … enemy snipers were delivering accurate and deadly fire into our lines from concealed vantage points in nearby trees. These tactics had resulted in many casualties and consequent lowering of morale among the personnel of Lieutenant Cheaney's battalion. Understanding the seriousness of the situation, he assembled a group of enlisted men and undertook to drive out the hostile snipers. Leading a group personally in repeated charges into the position occupied by the enemy, Lieutenant Cheaney successfully silenced the damaging fire and relieved the severe pressure on his unit.”
[Narrator] The 57th Infantry and other units involved in those first battles fought hard, suffered many casualties, including Cheaney’s friend Sandy Nininger, but they held their ground. And then, a week later on January 20, Cheaney’s company was called south to Quinauan Point on Bataan’s western coast, where they were assigned to clear the point of a Japanese landing unit.
It was difficult fighting in dense jungle foliage. I described this battle in Episode 14 if you’d like to hear more details. A report later stated:
[Report] “On 30 January 1942, Lt. Cheaney was killed after advancing approximately one hundred yards, while leading an attack on Japanese positions. A counterattack by the Japanese forced the American forces to withdraw several hundred yards”
Cheaney was 5 days shy of his 25th birthday. He had been in The Philippines just 9 weeks.
[Narrator] Because the Japanese had taken the position, his unit was not able to retrieve Cheaney’s body until a week later when US forces had retaken Quinauan Point. When found, Cheaney was identified by his company’s captain and the Graves Registration Officer said the body would be taken to a cemetery near Mariveles, on Bataan’s southern tip.
3 months later, the US War Department publicly announced that Lt. Ira Cheaney had been awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. Ira’s parents and young wife Lillian were presented with the medal and citation at a ceremony in California.

Captain Noell Castle
31-year-old Captain Noell Castle joined the US Marines in 1936, after graduating college with a degree in Engineering. He excelled at marksmanship and became part of the Marine Corps Rifle and Pistol Marksmanship Team, eventually winning the top honor for marksmanship in the nation.
He arrived in The Philippines with the 4th Marines about a week before the war began and was soon stationed on Corregidor Island, where the Marines were charged with beach defenses.
Early in the morning of May 6, 1942, Japanese landing forces invaded Corregidor, and Castle was one of the first lines of defense.

[Narrator] By 11:50 pm, 50 minutes after first landing, Japanese forces had reached Denver Hill, located about halfway between Infantry and Cavalry Points. The Americans had planned to withdraw to the gun battery there and create a reinforced line in case of Japanese successful landings, but by the time the Americans got there, the Japanese had already slipped through the lines and had begun digging into that position. Army historian Louis Morton wrote:
[Morton] “It was only when he heard voices "not American" that a marine on Denver Hill realized the enemy had reached that point. "The place," he wrote, "seemed to have Japs all over it.””
[Narrator] When Marine Captain Noell Castle – he’s the marksman who carried 2 pearl-handled pistols – found out the Japanese had taken Denver Hill’s Battery, he assembled a company of Marines to drive the Japanese out of the battery.
Gathering his men, and disregarding cautions not to lead the attack himself, Castle told his men:
[Castle] "Let's go up there and run the bastards off."
[Narrator] The men advanced, colliding with Japanese forces in a bloody face-to-face combat that halted the Japanese advance but also repulsed the Marines. Meanwhile, wrote Marine historian Miller,
[Miller] “Castle left the battle line and ran to an abandoned .30-caliber machine gun, which he put into working order, while "completely covered by enemy fire." Castle opened a devastating fire with the machine gun, forcing the Japanese to cover, which allowed the American advance to continue. The Japanese fell back … to the Denver Battery positions, but Castle was hit by Japanese machine gun fire and killed. With their commander down, the attack ground to a halt.”
[Narrator] Here’s one of Castle’s corporal’s accounts of Castle’s death:
[Corporal] “About a yard from the embankment on the north side of the road he was hit by what I believe to be rifle or machine gun bullets. I saw him fall forward and disappear from sight over the edge of the road. [A private checked on him], then told me that Captain Castle was hit in the chest and abdomen and was in a bad way. [The private] told me that the Captain could not move and that he had loosened his pistol belt and other equipment.”
[Narrator] They never saw their captain alive again. Castle was posthumously awarded the Silver Star for his actions that morning.

5 young men who gave their all in defense of their country and The Philippines -- in an all-but-forgotten part of WW2.
Each day this weekend, I’ll be posting images and short bios of each of these men on the Left Behind Facebook page. If you are on Facebook, please consider sharing their posts on your own page – my hope is that together we can give our friends and family some remarkable men to remember this Memorial Day weekend. I sincerely thank you!
BTW, I’m releasing a new POW story this coming Monday, Memorial Day, about 2 young men who died in the early days of Cabanatuan – and their long journeys home. Please join me for that episode.
I hope you have a remembrance-filled weekend.