1945: El Paso Hero Released From Prison Camp

08/29/1945

Capt. William C. Porter, El Paso hero, is among prisoners released from the Japanese at Camp Hoten, Mukden, Manchuria, the War Department notified his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Asa Porter of 3201 Piedmont avenue, today.

Col. Charles G. Sage of Deming commander of the New Mexico 200th Coast Artillery which trained at Ft. Bliss, and Col. Harry M Peck of Albuquerque, commanding officer of the 515th Regiment which was in the same brigade with the 200th, are among the other prisoners freed.

Wife Notified

Mrs. Sage, who is living at Deming, said the War Department notified her yesterday. She had not heard from her husband since Aug. 5, 1944.

Mrs. Peck, wife of Colonel Peck, has been living in Albuquerque recently, friends said. Mrs. Peck made her home in El Paso for several years after the colonel went to the Philippines.

"I'm not a cry baby, but I wept for joy this morning," Mrs. Porter said.

"I had never lost hope, but sometimes I got a little shaky when news of other prisoners came in. I thought, who am I that my prayers should be answered and Bill saved. Or who is Bill that he should eventually come home when so many others should lose their lives."

Mrs. Porter said her most uneasy moments during the years of waiting were several months ago when news came of the American men killed when the Japanese prison ship was sunk Dec. 14, 1944, off the Philippines.

Mrs. Porter had heard from Lieut. Jerome Triolo and others, who had been liberated, that Captain Porter was on the ship.

Captain Porter won fame as the "Sergeant York of World War Il" in defending a bridge with a .30

caliber rifle to permit an American unit cut off by the invading Japanese In the Philippines to make an orderly withdrawal.

An American commander said the withdrawal was made possible only by the valiant stand at the bridge by Porter and a company of Filipinos.

"This 'second Sergeant York’ picked off all members of the enemy machine gun nest with a rifle" the

Commander said.

Mrs. Porter has received several cards from her son. In one card, he said he had received a radiogram from his family in April, 1942, and that he had received one package of food.

Captain Porter attended El Paso High School, the Union High School in Las Graces' and the New Mexico

State College at Mesilla. He was commissioned a second lieutenant in May, 1940, and was made a first lieutenant Oct. 20, 1940.

He went into active service at Ft. Sam Houston with the 57th Infantry and was commanding a Filipino company when captured.

Mrs. Sage, wife of Col. Charles G. Sage, said she has had six letters from her husband. "In each one, he said his health was good and that his morale was high," she said.

When Mrs. Sage last heard from her husband, he was being held on Formosa. She was later notified by the War Department that he had been transferred to the Manchurian camp.

Trained at Ft. Bliss

Colonel Sage, commander of the 200th Coast Artillery in the Philippines, trained at Ft. Bliss, He left the United States Aug. 30, 1941, for the Pacific and was captured by the Japanese on Bataan.

On Nov. 6, 1942, he was awarded a Distinguished Service Medal for exceptionally meritorious, service.

The medal was presented to Mrs. Sage in a ceremony at Santa Fe, in December, 1942, by Brig. Gen. R. C. Charlton.

During her husband's absence, Mrs. Sage has been managing the Deming Headlight, one of the three newspapers published by Colonel Sage before he was called to active service with the New Mexico National

Guard.

Mrs. Sage said she was waiting to hear from her husband before deciding If she will go to the West Coast to meet him.

20 N. M. Men Freed

With liberation reported imminent for American prisoners of war held in Japan, Southwestern relatives hopefully awaited more War Department notices today naming additional fighting men freed from the enemy in Manchuria.

Already 27 soldiers from New Mexico had been officially listed as among those rescued from a Japanese prison camp near Mukden.

One was Lieut. Le Moyne Stiles of Albuquerque, whose family had been advised by the War Department that he was presumed to have been lost in the prison ship sinking.'

Others liberated in Manchuria were said by the Bataan Relief Organization to have been transferred there months ago from the Philippines. BRO officials in Albuquerque estimated there might have been 25 to 30 New Mexico men at the Japs' Hoten camp near Mukden.

War Department telegrams listed these others as liberated In Manchuria:

ALBUQUERQUE—1st Sgt. Roy Chaffin, S/Sgt. Leslie Evans, Pfc. Elias Salas, Pvt. Abel Garcia, Cpl. Ernest Montoya, S/Sgt. William W. Phebus.

BERNALILLO—Cpl. Joe Sanchez.

CARLSBAD—Capt. James McMinn, S/Sgt. Claborn C. Buckner, Sgt. Jesse W. Crabb

CLOVIS—Capt. Cash Skarda, Sgt Dale W. Walker.

DEMING—Lieut. Dan McCartney, Sgt. Haskel Byrne, Sgt. Pat Poe, Sgt. Angel Sakalaris, Capt Gerald Greenman, Capt. Walter Donaldson, Sgt. Dick Nunn, Cpl. Alvin Garrett.

SANTA FE—Pvt. Fred Mignardot.

SILVER CITY—Capt. Al Wheeler, Sgt. Walter Upchurch Jr., Pvt. Alfonso Lucero (formerly of SilverCity).

Comments

[Elizabeth "Hondey" McAlmon]

Dear Trish,
I don't know if you are aware that Bill Porter was also on the Bataan Death March. Besides being a hero he had to be very brave and tough just to survive all that he went through.

[Trish Long]

Thanks Elizabeth, Mrs. Porter was interviews for this article. I'll see if I can find an article on Bill Porter himself.