Rescue Raids of Luzon
Aug 11, 2021 7:30 AM
Joe Huber, Jr.
Rescue Raids of Luzon

Joe Huber Jr spent most of WWII as a prisoner of Japan in the Philippines, which he describes in his book Rescue Raids of Luzon.  Though a civilian child, he was reclassified by Japan into the same category as their military prisoners.  Beginning at the age of 8, he had to mature quickly and take on responsibilities for the family, even earning money.  A student of history, his book traces their experiences with the parallel events in the Pacific war in that saved their family and other prisoners from massacre or starvation

Between January 26th and February 23rd of 1945 on Luzon in the Philippines, America made its greatest rescue of civilians and military prisoners from deep behind enemy lines. Three quickly organized raids by different hastily formed groups, saved 7,700 lives. Raids were necessary because a decoded Japanese order stated that prisoners were to be killed before rescue, an order executed in December ’44 on Palawan Island in the Philippines. This book summarizes these raids and describes the prison camp experience of the author and his family. Photos, drawings, and old documents help tell the tale. In the largest raid on the prison at Santo Tomas in Manila, his family had ‘ringside seats’. Theirs is a representative story of the prewar, war with its wretched conditions and postwar, and includes their experience under fire during the Battle of Manila. The book is a remembrance of the bravery, skills and organizing abilities displayed by American soldiers and Filipino/American guerillas, whose achievements are not likely to be surpassed. And of his parents, who pulled them through magnificently and were recognized, with others, by order of Gen. MacArthur with campaign ribbons with a battle star.