A TALE
OF THREE CAVALRY TROOPERS
James S. "Jim" Hufnall,
La Grange, TX
Weldon S. Hoyle,
Olathe, KS
Stanley M. "Stan"
Jankiewicz, St
Petersburg, FL
Patriots, Chapter 1919
(ARMY,
WWII, Pacific) Article January 2000
After many years in
which two of these veterans had unsuccessfully tried to assist in getting a
Purple Heart award for their combat-wounded WWII buddy, they turned to our
Chapter Commander, Frank Cortez, for help. That was in 1997. After Frank
also had several follow-up submissions denied; finally, on November 23,
1999, the Army Board of Corrections announced the award of the Purple Heart
to Stanley M. Jankiewicz for wounds received February 3, 1945 during
the battle for Manila. All three then immediately signed up with Frank as
Life Members of MOPH, and we couldn't wait to share with the readers
this very small part of what rightfully deserves to be a very long story....
These three men were
enlisted into the Army, just a few months apart, a year before the attack on
Pearl Harbor put us into WWII. Coming from Missouri, New Jersey, and
Houston, Texas, they were soon together in training at Fort Bliss, Texas and
assigned to Headquarters Troop, 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division. That was
back during the "horse cavalry" days.
After some
reorganization and much training the 1st Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division,
shipped out from the west coast on Ju1y 2, 1943. As part of the division,
they were in combat in the Admiralty Islands, the Bismark Archipelago, and
in New Guinea prior to the Philippine Campaign. The division then took part
in General Kruger's 6th Army invasion landing of the Philippines, on Leyte,
on October 20, 1944. Three months later they again took ship and moved up
to Northern Luzon. They landed north of Manila, at Lingayen Gulf, in January
1945.
After the landing, the
fighting pressed to the south, towards Manila. The 1st Brigade received
orders to break through enemy defenses and move to free several thousand
POW's held in Santo Tomas Seminary in Manila. Fearing the Japanese might
soon start killing the prisoners, they had to reach the POW camp, 66 miles
away, as quickly as possible. They broke through the lines on February 3rd
in a “Flying Column” that drove rapidly down the road through enemy
territory. Resistance increased as they approached Manila and
Stanley
Jankiewicz
was wounded by shell fragments. The wounded had no
alternative other than to remain with the column moving more rapidly than
the enemy could react. They reached the outskirts of the city just before
dark and then were held up by Japanese fire (wounding General Chase, the
brigade commander) coming from Far Eastern University. That finally brought
the “Charge of the First Brigade” to a halt. They then bypassed the
university, and reaching Santo Tomas after darkness, liberated the
prisoners. This brought to a successful close one of the most daring rescue
missions of WWII.
The next day
Weldon
Hoyle was wounded in the fighting in Manila.
Jim Hufnall was
wounded much later in combat on Luzon, shortly before the Japanese
surrender. Both Weldon and Jim were routinely awarded the Purple Heart.
But, because Stanley had been wounded when the “Flying Column” was operating
deep in Japanese territory and cut off from supporting troops,
administrative paperwork simply couldn’t be done at the time. In Stanley’s
case that documentation never did get caught up until 1999 when Weldon and
Jim helped set the record straight and the Army Board of Corrections finally
issued the long overdue Purple Heart Medal to
Stanley M. Jankiewicz. |
