<p><em>Vincente Ebol Gepte</em> was born on May 29, 1917 to a Filipino military family. His father was a sergeant in the Philippine Scouts, and Vincent followed in his father’s footsteps by entering the fledgling Philippine Military Academy (PMA) in one of its first classes. Gepte was one of two PMA cadets selected to enter the United States Military Academy at West Point as a foreign cadet, and he reported with the Class of 1940 to the Academy in the spring of 1936. “Hep” (his cadet nickname) excelled at West Point in academics, boxing, and other pursuits and graduated near the top of his class in June 1940.</p>
<p>He married Betsy Todd Higgins, whom he dated during his time as a cadet, in Washington, DC shortly after graduation. On the eve of World War II, the newly minted Filipino lieutenant sailed back to his country of birth and entered the Army of the Philippines. The family settled in Manila, where their only child, Linda, was born.</p>
<p>When the Japanese invaded the Philippine Islands, he was serving as the executive officer for General Vicente Lim, the first Filipino West Point graduate (Class of 1914), who led the 41st Infantry Division. The division put up a stout defense against the invaders, attempting to stop the Japanese at the beaches at all costs, followed by an orderly withdrawal to Bataan on Christmas eve 1941. To their credit, the division entered Bataan intact and was able to creatively obtain supplies for the defense. For several months, the 41st Division fought gallantly under intense hostile fire, including massive artillery barrages and air strikes. At times, the division had to resort to hand-to-hand combat and bayonet fighting. These exploits have been memorialized in Philippine history, especially the gallant fight for Trail 2 near the Pilar River. After nearly four months of fighting, with supplies exhausted and sickness overtaking many of the soldiers, Bataan fell on April 9, 1942, and 80,000 American and Filipino soldiers surrendered to the Japanese.</p>
<p>Like tens of thousands of others, Captain Gepte was captured and forced on the deadly nine-day Bataan Death March. During this 105-kilometer march, POWs were repeatedly beaten and, if unable to continue, executed on the spot. Many perished from exhaustion and lack of water and food. Gepte, along with his mentor General Lim, survived, was herded into a boxcar, and was transported to Camp O’Donnell. This camp was designed to handle 10,000 POWs, but nearly five times as many were forced into it. Estimates are that over 10,000 men died during the march and the immediate aftermath.</p>
<p>At the conclusion of hostilities, the Japanese formally paroled a number of officers, requiring them to sign a waiver stating that they would not take up arms against the occupying force. Captain Gepte was among these. The intention of this release was to facilitate the formation of a puppet government. Following his release, Gepte was briefly reunited with his wife and daughter, but he proved to be a dedicated patriot and promptly joined an underground unit called the Manila Intelligence Group (MIG). He was credited with unmasking a spy and traitor, Franco Vera Reyes, whose infiltration of the MIG led to the deaths of many prominent Filipinos involved in the resistance.</p>
<p>Captain Gepte was again arrested by the Japanese, imprisoned, and subsequently beheaded with several of his comrades on August 30, 1944. His remains were allegedly hastily buried in the Chinese Cemetery in Manila but have never been found.</p>
<p>Following Captain Gepte’s execution, Betsy and their daughter, Linda, were sent to the Japanese internment camp at the University of St. Tomas until they were rescued by U.S. soldiers at the time of the liberation of Manila.</p>
<p>Gepte’s best friend at West Point, Brigadier General Paul D. Phillips ’40 (Retired), writes of his classmate:</p>
<p>The shortest cadet at West Point when we entered in 1936, he was big in every other way: brain power (graduated in top 10 percent of the class), fortitude (hazing during plebe year simply made him mentally and morally stronger), physical aptitude (on the boxing team two years), and social life (a constant delight to listen to and a real tiger on the dance floor). He needed all of these virtues and the values of Duty, Honor, Country ground into all of us for the short life he was to live in serving and dying for his country.</p>
<p>I have always felt a close kinship with Hep because, not only did he and I serve in close proximity before war’s outbreak—he at Camp Dau, and I in the adjacent Fort Stotsenberg, 57 miles north of Manila—but his daughter, who was to become the mother of the children and grandchildren, and mine were born the same month. This was a man who refused to stand by while his country was being occupied and took courageous action that ultimately resulted in his death.</p>
<p>Truly, he stood for and lived fully what West Point has always taught.</p>
<p>The life of Captain Vincent Ebol Gepte was honored at a memorial Catholic Mass at the West Point Most Holy Trinity Chapel, followed by a ceremony at the West Point Cemetery on October 5, 2017. </p>
<p>Although he lived only four short years after graduation from West Point, Vincent Ebol Gepte truly exemplified the motto “Duty, Honor, Country” and is an example that shall go down in the histories of the United States Military Academy, the United States of America, and the Republic of the Philippines for time immemorial.</p>
<p><em>— Joe Mislinski ’78 </em></p>