8/9/2019 Carlson Ray Imogene 1982 Philippines

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FRIDAY JANUARY 29 98

By

HM2

M ary D rake

. SUBIC BAY F o r Chief Wa r r e n t Officer 3

Larry Carlson, assigned to th e Navy Regional

Medical Center orthopedic clinic, being stationed

at Subic Bay is more than just another overseas

t o u r

Carlson has enjoyed a lifelong association with

the Philippines.

Born to Christian missionaries in Cebu in 1942

he spent most of his childhood and a good portion

of his adult years in the island nation. For the

first three years of his life he was incarcerated,

along

with his

parents,

in

various

Japanese

prisoner of war camps.

The saga of the Carlson family and their

involvement in the Philippines began in March

1941 when Ray and Imogene Carlson, along with

their 2-year-old son Robin, arrived In Cebu. Their

goal was to star t a Christian mission to serve the

island's population.

Plans altered by war

Origina ll y, the Car lsons had planned to travel

to China and establish a miss ion a long the Tibetan

border. However, th e Sino-Japanese War was then

in

full

sway, and entry

to

China

was

difficult.

As

an alternative, they decided to work in the

Philippines temporarily, until things settled down

in China

After arrival in Cebu, the Carlsons

settled in

and began their missionary work. Everything

went f ine unti l December 1941 when the Japanese

invaded the Philippines.

Cebu City, the site of the Carlsons' mission,

was heavily attacked by th e Japanese, and air

raids soon became part of their daily routine.

M any times the Carlsons were forced to seek

shelter in caves , r et urn ing to their home only

a f t e r d a r k

I t w a s a m id these c irc um s ta nc es th at th eir

second son, Larry, was bom on Feb. 24,1942.

In early April Japanese a ir attacks against

Cebu City reached a peak. American forces were

evacuating the area, and refugees

clogged th e

roads, seeking to escape from tlie Japanese. Ray

Carlson had earlier volunteered to help dispose of

telegraphic equipment to p revent i ts

capture by

the Japanese, and v/hile engaged in this activity

became separated from Imogene.

Fear fo r ehildrens' safety

Unable

to

contact her husband, Imogene

abandoned th e missi on and , w it h the two children

in tow, sought shelter In the countryside. Afraid of

capture, and concerned for th e safety of her

children, she kep t constan tly on the move.

She

received assistance from friendly Filipinos along

'h e way, and managed to

avoid Japanese patrols.

.Vfler a harrowing journey by foot she finally

succeeded in reaching a camp in Sudlon, where

other Americans were in hiding. It was here tliat

she heard Gen. Jonathan Wainwright's broadcast

calling on all American t roops to surrender. Like

the other Americans in the camp she was

stunned. The country had

fallen

While in Sudlon Imogene learned that Ray had

been taken prisoner by the Japanese. A short

while later as part of a prisoner exchange, Ray

also arrived at Sudlon and the family was

r e u n i t e d

From Swdlon the Japanese moved the Carlsons

to the Cebu City provincial jail, a massive stone

structure erected by th e Spanish in the I6th

CW03 Larry Carlson

century. The re wer e a to tal of 120 American and

Filipino prisoners housed in the jail and living

conditions were primitive. Imogene's diary

reca ll s: When two high iron gates clanged shut

beh ind us, we realized we were prisoners. There

were

no electric lights, thanks to the complete job

done by our demoli tion teams before retreating to

th e hills. One tiny kerosene lamp glowed in the

center

of

the courtyard, the only light for the

whole camp.

Two weeks later 97 of the prisoners, th e

Carlsons among them, were moved

to the Cebu

Junior College, which the Japanese had converted

into a POW camp. Food shortages and

. Larry Carlson felt right at home

when he arrived in the Philippines.

The small Pacific Island was his

place of

birth

during

World War

and was home for him an d his

missionary parents for many years

before he joined the Navy.

contaminated water were among th e problems

e n c o u n t e r e d

On Oct. 13 1942 the Carlsons were moved

again, this time to the Club Filipino. Although this

camp had running wa^er and e lectr ic ity , t he

Japanese s ta ff was

poorly organized.

As

Imogene

noted in her diary, They had no plan for th e care

of the prisoners. . . . Arrangements were ail left

to us again. This camp a lso housed Norwegian

a n d Br i t i sh P O W s in addit ion to t h e m e r i c a n s

. On Dec. 13 the Carlsons and 144 otlier internees

were sen t by ship to Manila. After disembarking

they bused to Santo Tomas University,

which the Japanese had converted into a hi^e

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PACIFIC

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internment camp.

Santo Tomas was better than

the previous camps, however, and. included a

market and a hospital, as well as the large

university library. Along with the other inmates,

the

Carlsons

weathered the huge

typhoon

that hit

in November 1943 and leveled much of the camp.

T h e C a r l s o n s r e m a i n e d

in S a n t o T o m a s unti l

April 1944 when they were moved to Los Bancs,

42 miles south of Manila. It was at this camp that

Larry, now 2 came

down with pneumonia while

Imogene was afflicted with beri-oeri.

Most of

the

other prisoners suffered. frommalnutrition and

diarrhea, due to the poor food and water. While

the Carlsons were at Los Banos, the prisoner

population grew to 2 000..

On Sept. 21 1944 the prisoners spotted an

American plane overhead, the Hrst they had seen

since the Japanese takeover. Rumors were ripe

over the next few months, and the magic word

freedom was on everyone's tongue> On Jan. 7

9 5^ as American forces drew near, the Japanese

abandoned the camp and fled. When American

forces failed to appear .as

expected, the Japanese

r e t u r n e d a f t e r

a

week

a n d r e s u m e d

control

over

the camp.

Imogene's diary bears witness to the trials of

this period: With each new loss for Japan and

more and more victories for the Americans, our

guards became frustrated. News through the

grapevine

reached

us of

tragedies

all

around

us.

So at last, we had to tell the boys of the real

reason we were in Los Banos and that the guns

and bayonets were not for the 'robbers.' Robin

and Larry had started asking, 'If the soldiers are

really our friends, why do they carry guns, even

in the daytime?' We kept the children inside,

beside

us all the time. Their

innocence

had

protected them for a long time, but it was time

for the moment of truth. To a 5-year-old and

another not quite 3 it must have come as a real

s h o c k to l e a r n t h a t t h e i r f o r m e r f r ie n d s w e r e

really not friends at all.

Liberty

at

last

The camp Was finally liberated in the early

morning hours of Feb. 23 1945 when American

paratroopers arrived and caught the Japanese off

guard.

When the war ended some months later, the

Carlsons decided

to remain

in

the

Philippines.

Anxious to resume their spiritual work, they

r e t u r n e d to C e b u a n d r e b u i l t t h e i r m i s s i o n

Both

boys grew up in Cebu City, practiced local

customs, and learned to speak fluent Cebuano.

When Larry was 12 the family moved to Chicago

for

several years,

then

returned to

Cebu.

Carlson joined the Navy in 1960. He served as a

hospital corpsman for 17 years, and was initially-

trained as a preventive medicine technician. In

1963 he returned to Cebu to marry his childhood

sweetheart, Yolanda, whom he had grown up

with. He later spent a number of years assigned

to

the Fleet Marine Force, and

flew

medevacs

during the Vietnam conflict. He served a previous

tour at Naval Hospital Subic Bay, from 1965 to

1966. In 1978 h e received his commiss ion

a s a

warrant officer, under the auspices of the

Physician's Assistant Program.

Carlson

c a n

still

r e m e m b e r e v e n t s

in

t h e

prison camps, especially the day of liberation. He

enjoys discussing how he grew up in the

Philippines, and can talk at length on Philippine

history, his main avocation. He plans to retire in

the Philippines, nnd one of his goals is to write a

detailed booka^ut his family s experiences here.