<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
</head>
<body>
<p><em>Tony Chanco</em> came to West Point on 2 Jul 1934 from the Philippines. He was seventeen. He had finished two years at the University of the Philippines and earned the rank of first sergeant in ROTC. The USMA records carried him as a foreign cadet, but to us he was never a foreigner. He was one of us right from the start and still is, we are proud to claim. He graduated 65th in our class of 301 and was commissioned as a 2d lieutenant in the Philippine Army.</p>
<p>The time was June 1938. The winds of war were already stirring, but few took notice. The Philippines were struggling to identify themselves. Yearning for independence, their status had only recently changed from that of a U.S. protectorate to one of a self-governing commonwealth. Some upgrading of forces, both U.S. and Filipino, had already started but was progressing at a leisurely pace. In 1941, war reserve supplies were still concentrated in vulnerable depots. The Air Corps, though recently strengthened, was, nonetheless, parked wing tip to wing tip at Clark Field, and polo was still the major game among the officers of the 26th Cavalry.</p>
<p>By now a captain and not yet 25, Tony was on the staff of the Engineering School in Quezon City. One of his trainees and, later, a lifelong friend, Maximo T. Javalera, had this to say: “Tony was trying to whip a group of civilian engineers into tough Army Engineers. Initially, we resented [his efforts] to enforce discipline among us; particularly because we were older [and already had more experience in engineering than he did]. Our attitudes changed when [we realized we were preparing] for war. I was assigned to the 91st Engineer Battalion. Tony [was] the battalion commander. We were supposed to train as a complete battalion [but this was not to be]. The Japanese started hitting us early after 8 Dec 1941.”</p>
<p>What follows here is a paraphrase of Javalera’s account of his friendship with Tony and of postwar conversations between Tony and classmate David Sherrard.</p>
<p>There was Tony with a battalion of virtual recruits, albeit a select group of civilian engineers, never having trained as a team. They were attached to the Northern Luzon Forces as Corps Engineers. Their goal was to scorch the earth. Every bridge, every locomotive engine, and every communications facility was to be destroyed. Nothing of value to the Japanese should be left. They achieved that goal under Tony’s leadership. According to Javalera, even the Japanese, in a newspaper release during the Occupation, recognized the totality of the destruction. One Japanese general commented on the extravagance of the Fil-American Forces in their use of dynamite. But husbanding dynamite wasn’t important. An almost unlimited supply had been commandeered from Luzon mining operations. Tony told Dave it was great fun blowing up all those bridges and other stuff.</p>
<p>The Japanese were delayed by all the dynamiting, but still they overwhelmed the defenders who fell back onto the Bataan Peninsula. Bataan was like a horrible dream best forgotten. Hunger reigned. Malaria was rampant. Tony was one of its victims. Bataan fell in April 1942.</p>
<p>The prisoners, weak from hunger, tired from lack of sleep, and many wounded, underwent a brutal “death march.” Thousands died.</p>
<p>Tony, now down to about 80 pounds, was in that march but managed to escape. After several hours, he was recaptured by a Japanese NCO. But this Japanese soldier was really a smiling “Dame Fortune.” He not only spoke fluent English but also was horrified by the brutality of his comrades.</p>
<p>Instead of turning Tony over to the authorities, he took him to the Chanco home in Manila to be nursed back to health by his mother. Recovery took more than a year, but when the time was ripe, Tony eased out of Manila and joined Ramsey’s Guerillas. He became the G-1 on Ramsey’s staff. Coincidentally, two other classmates, Ralph B. Praeger and Joseph R. Barker II, also fought as guerillas. Unfortunately, both were captured and executed by the Japanese. The activities of Ramsey’s Guerillas are described in a book entitled <em>Lieutenant Ramsey’s War</em>. Tony is pictured on page 281.</p>
<p>The war in the Philippines ended in early 1945. In November back in the U.S., Tony met and married Pauletta Maralit, better known to ’38ers as “Dimps.” They returned to the Philippines, where he became Commandant of Cadets at the Phillipine Military Academy in Bagaio City. In 1947, Tony was Military Attache to the Philippine Mission to the U.N. and in 1951 became Chief of Engineers for the Armed Forces of the Philippines, serving in that capacity until his retirement as a colonel in 1956. He was then offered a position in the cabinet of President Magsaysay, but he declined and took up the profession of civil engineering. He served as vice president of the Vinnell Corporation in the Philipines and Guam and later as president of Vinnell Belvoir Corporation in the Philipines. He retired completely in 1989 and returned to live in the San Francisco area with dear Dimps, son Pedro, daughters Weeya and Pauletta, and five grandchildren: Wirawit, Supatee, Marieta, Natasha, and Will.</p>
<p>Tony was a compassionate man, a helpful friend, a loving father and grandfather, and a good husband to his OAO, Dimps.</p>
<p>At his funeral mass, daughter Weeya said, “Daddy, we won’t see you again but you will always be close to us. Because of you, we have a love of music and dance. We have seen the world because of you. We strive to do our best because of you. We value education and learning because of you. We love and provide for our families because of you. And, Daddy, we will always love you because of you.”<br /><br /><em>Gailon McHaney, fellow WFCB of F Company</em></p>
</body>
</html>