Having no alternative, we chose the course of boldness, deliberately
 
following the Japs until they sheered to port to run into a harbor.
 
We, of course, did not follow them into the harbor. We got the hell
 
out of there at a very frenzied four-knot rate.
 
     Perhaps our closest shave occurred when the Japs landed a
 
force of 200 men, covered by five fighter planes. On this occasion
 
we escaped into the jungle.
 
 
Commoder McCoy and  Lieutenant Colonel Mellnik:
--------------------------------------------------------------
 
     By this time it must be obvious that there has been no
 
attempt to detail even an approximation of the route we took
 
through the Island of Mindanao in our escape; neither have any of
 
the guerrilla forces been named or otherwise identified. The
 
reasons for these omissions should need no explanation. In
 
addition, however, we have been careful to withhold the information
 
of military value brought out by those of us who escaped, and which
 
has already been placed in the proper hands.
 
     As for the final escape itself, this is still an un-
 
finished story as these lines are being written. At this time,
 
not every member of our party has actually reached the States,
 
although most have. Every one of the ten of us, however, is free
 
of the Japs, and with an even break in the fortunes of war all will
 
eventually be united with their friends and families. We all pray
 
 that this wi11 occur, and that it will not be too long delayed.
 
Naturally we do not intend even to hint at the manner in which we
 
got clear of the Philippines. It is a great pleasure to leave the
 
Japs an entirely free field in which to guess.
 
                                           - 88 -