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"Wilson was in abundance what the Army wants in its men—strength of character." These words were included in his brief biography in the 1937 <em>Howitzer</em>. William Edwin Wilson Farrell’s entire, albeit brief, military service was to be a shining extension of this strength of character.</p>
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Wilson, affectionately known by his classmates and many friends, as “Willie,” was born at Nlonteagle, Tennessee, on 10 August 1915, the son of Colonel Louis Farrell and Mallie Wilson Farrell. As an Army "Brat” he grew up and attended school at various locations. He entered the first grade at Pulaski, Tennessee, entered high school at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, continued high school in Washington, D. C., and graduated in Berkeley, California. At Berkeley he also attended the University of California for one and a half years before entering the Army West Point Preparatory School. He was baptized at Starkville, Mississippi, in 1915 and joined the Presbyterian Church in 1924. He actively participated in the activities of his church throughout his lifetime. It was during this very important period in his life that Wilson developed the extremely high spiritual and moral standards that were to be his hallmark in the trying days to come.</p>
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Willie led an active life as a cadet. He was on the basketball squad four years and the track squad for three. More important were his four years on the “academic” squad as a coach. He was always ready to help classmates and other cadets who were having difficulties, and in the words of a roommate, always seemed to get around to his own studies at about first call. Yet, due to his astonishing mental capacity he stood very high in his class, easily earning an opportunity at the Engineers. However, Infantry had been his goal throughout and, upon graduation, Wilson was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Infantry. “Duty, Honor, Country,” already so strongly ingrained in his basic behavior, became even more an integral part of Willie and were to uphold him during his coming experiences.</p>
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Willie’s first assignment was with the 23d Infantry, 2d Division, at Fort Sam Houston, Texas. His arrival at Fort Sam in September 1937, coincided with the kickoff of the first field testing of the triangular division, and he participated in all of these PID tests as well as similar tests in 1938. Wilson was most enthusiastic about this opportunity to get the best infantry field training that was available at that time. His enthusiasm for his chosen branch was obvious, and his eagerness to leam all aspects of his job even more so. One officer, twenty-five years his senior, was heard to say that Willie Farrell was a most unusual “engineer” to be just out of the Point, for he showed no “know-it-all” attitude. Instead he showed his ready eagerness to learn.</p>
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During his two and a half year assignment with the 23d Infantry Wilson was recognized as a very promising young officer. He was sought after for various assignments, and his immediate superiors were extremely reluctant to release him for other assignments. Socially, he was popular with all who knew him, always a welcome addition to any group.</p>
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Willie was ordered overseas and arrived in Manila in February 1940. He was assigned to the 31st Infantry where he perfonned the usual company duties in garrison and in maneuvers on Bataan. His experiences and observations during this period led him to a very pessimistic view of their chances in the event of an attack. Despite these convictions he declined an opportunity to return to the United States in November 1941 (three months before normal tour end) as an aide to a general officer. His stated reason was that, if an emergency occurred, and one seemed imminent, he wanted to be with troops.</p>
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At the time of the Japanese attack, Willie was on temporary duty with the Provost Marshal of Manila. This duty continued for one month and would have been permanent, resulting in an immediate promotion to Major—except for the fact that Willie’s regiment was on the front line—and Willie wasn't. A letter from the Gl, Philippine Corps, described a visit in his office with Willie arriving “hopping mad.” He continues: “He demanded to go up there and told me in no uncertain terms that if I didn’t arrange it he would go anyway. He rejoined his regiment that night per orders.”</p>
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After a brief assignment as a company commander, Wilson was assigned as Executive Officer, 2d Battalion. In March he was selected by his regimental commander as S2. His performance of these duties has been described and praised in numerous communications to Willie’s parents but are admirably summed up in the words of Chaplain Robert P. Taylor, 31st Infantry:</p>
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“He served faithfully and fearlessly in those (2d & 3d) battalions during the early days of Bataan. He had such unusual skill and ability that the men of his battalion loved him and were always anxious and thrilled to follow him in his leadership and orders. He was surely a consecrated Christian man. We discussed religion and church life very often. One day he said ‘We, out here, have certainly learned to think about and appreciate more and more the things of life that count and are eternal.’ He had reference of course, to the fact that, out there, all material blessings had vanished but one's faith and religion remained firm to bless and comfort in the hours of war, starvation, and death. . As S2, Willie did a superb job. He was our best. Colonel Brady could always rely on him to get the information that he desired regardless of the perils and dangers in the path of duty. I have never seen anyone work harder and who was more faithful to duty than Willie. During the days of 3-9 April, he was going day and night. This is the time Colonel Brady referred to in his diary when he spoke of recommending Captain Farrell for the Silver Star. 5 April was Easter Sunday, and Willie on that afternoon went through enemy sniper territory to get vital information for Colonel Brady and the Regiment...Our troops had to fight their way through the same territory over which he had passed.”</p>
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Indeed Colonel Brady, his Regimental Commander, had noted in his diary his intention of recommending Willie for the Silver Star, not just once but twice (on 5 April and again on 7 April). The War Department Decorations Board rejected the diary entries as insufficient since no confirmatory evidence was then available (Colonel Brady died in prison camp) but did award a Bronze Star Medal.</p>
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When Bataan fell on 9 April, Wilson decided to escape and either become a guerilla or work his way southward in the hope of getting ultimately to Australia. In company with ten others of a similar mind he made his way across Manila Bay in a native boat at night to the vicinity of Cavite. They tried to make their way southward along the coast, but this was too risky both as to route and numbers, and they split into smaller groups. Willie’s group, ultimately reduced to three, reached the Lake Taal area southwest of Manila and near the coast opposite the island of Mindoro. Before they could make good their escape, they were surprised by a Japanese patrol. Alert thinking by Willie diverted the patrol’s attention to him, and his two companions were able to escape unnoticed.</p>
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Following his capture in early August, Willie was taken to Bilibid Prison in Manila where the minor wounds incurred during capture and the subsequent beating were allowed to heal. He was then transferred to Cabanatuan Prison Camp where he was held until October 1944.</p>
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Much has been written and said to Wilson’s parents concerning his actions while a prisoner at Cabanatuan. It can be summed up by saying that under the most extreme and trying circumstances Wilson continued to be an officer and a Christian gendemen in the strictest sense of the words. During this period Willie was assigned two different tasks.</p>
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As Mess Officer at Mess #1 he fell heir to a job that automatically brought distrust under the circumstances. Rations were extremely short, and the mess officer and his crew were in a position where favoritism could be shown and diversion to personal use commonplace. The following comments are selected to show Willie’s status with those he fed: “Willie’s mess was considered the most honest in the camp. The men always kicked about the food they did get, but his mess, I think, was considered the best in the camp. What I’m trying to say is that he did a damn good job under the most trying circumstances you can imagine. And he was honored by everybody for doing it.”</p>
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“One interesting feature of his mess—He made a list of the birthdays of all the men that ate at Mess #1, and after the Red Cross supplies arrived in 1943 (we did not receive a very large amount, but he used the cocoa as follows) he contrived through a small meat issue and rice flour (ground his own rice), and he gave every man on his birthday a small steak and a small chocolate-iced cake. This raised the morale extremely high in his mess group. I do not know of any man for whom the prisoners had greater respect than they did for Willie. As you both would expect, he was extremely conscientious, always a gentleman, these two both imply honesty which was a rare virtue in our camp but as was commonly heard there: ‘Willie Farrell bends over backward to be honest.’ ”</p>
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In 1944, Willie was chosen by his old regimental commander, Colonel Brady, to be his executive officer of a work and utility crew of some five hundred prisoners. A United States Navy officer wrote: “I hope that Colonel Brady lives to tell you what I tell you now about Willie in that capacity. He so dealt with the Japanese and the Americans that this work project, which could easily have grown into a day-in and day-out atrocity of an affair, was actually about the easiest in the Philippine Islands. Willie told them that if they would keep their guards away, he could get more work accomplished. I do not believe that a beating ever occurred on that detail. I feel sure that the shade shelters that were erected for the men’s comfort during their lunch and siesta hours were the result of Willie’s intercession with the Japanese. The officers in charge of most details in and around camp were criticized by at least some of the officers and men under them. I can truthfully tell you I have never heard anything but the finest and sincerest praise of Willie.”</p>
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Wilson was very active in organizing a church while at Cabanatuan and was authorized by Chaplain Oliver to conduct services which he did on several occasions. He was continuously a member of the Board of Stewards and served as its chairman during his last year there.</p>
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The return of the United States Navy to the Philippine area with its attacks on shipping apparently convinced the Japanese that loss of the Philippines was imminent, and they embarked on efforts to move the maximum number of able-bodied prisoners to Japan. In October 1944 over sixteen hundred were moved from Cabanatuan to Bilibid in Manila to be ready when a ship was available. Wilson was one of those moved. Here he met several old friends of Bataan days who later were able to pass on to Willie’s parents the experiences that he related.</p>
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Finally, on 13 December, a ship that had been able to get through the blockade was available, and prisoners from Bilibid were herded into the holds like cattle to a point that many suffocated in the stifling heat. Due to the shortage of food and water the physical condition of all the prisoners had deteriorated during their stay at Bilibid. The ship sailed that night but was bombed off Subic Bay as it attempted to evade the blockade. Of the eighteen hundred prisoners that had been aboard, some twelve hundred were able to leap overboard from the ship as it burned and sank, and they made their way ashore. There they were herded on to tennis courts of a former United States Marine Base and held for six days in such close proximity to each other that a change of position of one required changes on the part of many of his neighbors. Finally the group was transported by truck and railroad to northern Luzon where they were loaded into a cattle boat for Formosa and re-shipment to Japan.</p>
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A letter from Colonel Harold K. Johnson, Infantry, to Willie’s father, best covers the final phase of Wilson’s travail—and triumph: “Willie was in the same group with me on the trip to Japan. I know that he was instrumental in assisting in subduing various individuals who were out of their heads in our hold the first two nights out of Manila. On the tennis court at Olongapo he was one of a group that supervised our water line. We had one spigot in the area to provide water for thirteen hundred people, and it was necessary to organize distribution in order that all might share.</p>
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“At San Fernando La Union, we were moved to the yard of the provincial school where no water was available within the grounds. It was necessary to carry water in five-gallon cans from a source about two hundred yards away and dump it in large crocks from which it was distributed after being treated. On the beach at Miramonte, the 26th, he again carried water, this time in a pail for distribution. On the way to Fonnosa he assisted in the distribution of food. He continued on this duty while on Formosa. It was while performing this duty that he was wounded. The bombers struck at meal time. Food was served on the covered hatch, and the bombs threw the hatch covers in every direction. Several servers fell into the hold below. Willie was not one of these, however, but he did get a blow, I think in the arm. After he received his wound, he was not able to perform any strenuous labor, although he assisted in maintaining guard over a cargo of sugar that we had in the hold below. On moving to the last ship, he continued to help where he could but moved to the area that we had reserved for the wounded and sick, which was a little bit warmer than the rest of the hold. He passed away there. While we knew that he was not strong and had suffered from his loss of blood, where every drop was precious, it was still a shock to find that he had died. He has a rugged constitution, and we felt that he would pull through. He had apparently given too much of his own strength assisting others. I know that he had a tremendous will to live. So many others gave up when the road was rough, all the way through, but Willie was not that way.</p>
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“I am sure that anything you have heard about Willie has not been exaggerated. He was a tower of strength all the way through, and maintained himself always as an officer and a gentleman. I knew him only slightly before the war, but I am proud to have known him and treasure my very brief friendship with him in prison camp.”</p>
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Wilson died during the night and was buried at sea the following day. His date of death was officially set at 23 January 1945 but could have been a few days later.</p>
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Wilson Farrell was continually an inspiration to all about him while he lived and lives on as a continuing inspiration to all who had the privilege of knowing him. In one of the two letters that his parents received from him (written in March 1944) Willie wrote: “I’ve been a good soldier, Dad. Really as good as you hoped that I would be. I write that—not bragging—but because I know my word on it will mean more to you than anyone else’s could.</p>
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“God has been with me in my ups and downs, and my faith in him has grown.”</p>
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I’ve been a good soldier. Everyone who knew William Edwin Wilson Farrell agrees. Would that all of us could stand with him in making that statement.</p>
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