Son of Albert Edward Washington King (21 December 1887 Vienna, Austria - ?, Chemist) and Dr. Paz Garcia King (24 January 1892, Manila Philippines - 08 December 1989, Contra Costa County, California). They were married 01 May 1911 in Manila, Philippines. Albert and Paz had at least five children, Josephine (1912), Albert, Carmen, Mercedes and Bobby. They divorced in November 1945 in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Paz King was living in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California in 1951.
A number of reports say that Mr. King was a miner (including the memorial found at Central Philippine University). He was, however, a salesman for the Goodyear Rubber Company in Iloilo, Panay. He was married to Margit Gans (10 February 1913 Nagykanizsa, Zala, Hungary - after 1996) and they had a son, Guy Gilbert King (21 March 1940, Iloilo, Philippines - 12 September 1994, San Bernardino County, California).
War with Japan came to the Philippines on 08 December 1941. After the first bombing of the city of Iloilo on 18 December the King's decided they would "make for the jungles". They chose not to surrender after Panay fell to the Japanese on 20 April 1942.
After 18 months on the run Albert decided to join the guerrilla movement on the island. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay).
Second Lieutenant Albert W. King, Jr.
Inducted From: Philippines
Organization: Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay), United States Armed Forces in Pacific
In February 1943, the guerrillas ambushed a convoy carrying Lt. Gen. Shizuichi Tanaka, the new Commanding General of the Japanese 14th Army who was visiting the island. Though the general escaped unharmed, the Japanese were embarrassed. "From then on, the army staff decided on a policy meant to annihilate the Panay guerrillas" and they were "rigorously instructed to crush the Panay guerrillas completely." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, former Japanese Adjutant and Captain of the Panay Garrison at the end of the war (1977), Chapter 3.2.
"The Japanese plan was simple: several hundred soldiers would march cross-country, burning towns and villages as they went. The first expedition took to the field that July, led by 39-year-old Captain Kengo Watanabe, who came to personify brutality in the eyes of the Panayans. The captain would make his prisoners kneel on the ground, hands tied behind their backs. Using a two-handed samurai sword, he would move methodically down the line, beheading each person in turn. It didn't take long for Captain Watanabe to earn the name the Butcher of Panay. In the words of a war crimes investigator, writing after the war, "No living creatures, man or beast, were spared. No distinctions between soldiers and civilians, man or woman, old or young were respected. All that lived were killed. In its wake lay scenes of terror, inhuman torture, mass murder and wanton destruction." Source: Moving Target by Steven Trent Smith (https://www.historynet.com/moving-target.htm).
"The Butcher of Panay had transformed the paradise island of Panay into the island of mud and blood." Source: Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett (Brown Books Publishing, Dallas Texas, 2016).
"The number of deaths of civilian residents was 10,042 between July and until end of December 1943". Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
Lt. King was captured by the 170th Independent Infantry Battalion (Tozuka Unit) while they were on their six-month punitive expedition against the Filipino guerrillas on Panay.
"In December of 1943, as the punitive force was moving south along a tributary of the Aklan river, we bumped into a bushy-bearded American. He was in a torn pair of shorts, bare-footed and limping. Captain Watanabe himself sternly investigated this man. He identified himself as Mr. King, and said, "I used to be a guerrilla officer, but with the Japanese campaigns, my unit scattered. Since I am conspicuously an American, neither the guerrillas nor the locals want to take me in. So I have been wandering along the river." From what he said further, Captain Watanabe found out there were more Americans near Egue near the town of Tapaz, 13 kilometers north of Calinog. Watanabe instantly dispatched the whole company and found more than ten Americans..." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
"It was a member of the Kumai platoon that bumped into Mr. King, who was walking in a tributary of the Aklan River. He was exhausted, weak, and limping. After interrogation by Captain Watanabe, he was with the Kumai platoon while the whole company was approaching Tapaz. While they sat around a fire in a hut, relaxing King beautifully sang some Filipino songs like "Mama Yo Quiero", which the platoon enjoyed. When they came close to Tapaz, he was summoned by Captain Watanabe, and pointed toward an area around 500 meters ahead." Source: "Hopevale Martyrdom" as Mr. Toshimi Kumai Knows (http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Ibuki%20Kumai.htm), Chapter 6.1.
On the morning of Sunday, 19 December 1942 the Japanese surrounded and captured a place called Hopevale in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines where a group of missionaries and miners had been hiding out.
"Lt. King who was captured in the Aklan District and brought down as a guide was seen spending the day (Sunday) in the creek with water to his neck. Japs pelted him with stones." Source: Report on Deaths of Americans at Katipunan, Capiz Province, 21 December 1943 (Report written 27 April 1944 by Cyril L. Spencer). He and his family were able to escape just before the Japanese came into camp.
He along with the 16 other Americans were held prisoners Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday most of the group were killed. Albert King and Mark Walsh Cardy were the last two executed (beheaded), they were killed on Wednesday, 22 December 1944. Most of the bodies were dragged into a couple of the houses, which were then set on fire. In addition "ten to fifteen Filipinos including women and children, living nearby, were killed". "There were other bodies scattered about the surrounding country, none recognizable." Pillaged and burned, the Japanese left Hopevale later that day.
"A: ...And there was another man there. I did not see him, but he was there with the group and he was killed, by the name of Lieutenant King.
"Q: Was that Albert King?
"A: I am not sure of his first name but I heard only the name King.
"Q: In what army was Lieutenant King?
"A: He was supposed to be with the guerrillas.
Source: Testimony of Engraacio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, page 344.
Interestingly enough, Toshimi Kumai, whose platoon was sent after the *escaped Americans before the 17 were executed, had this to say when they returned to Hopevale. "We managed to return to the field headquarters at midnight and slept like the dead under the hut. Next morning, when the company was getting ready, there were no Americans in sight. I asked an NCO attached to the unit headquarters, and he told me, 'Captain Watanabe executed them all.' I had thought that all the captured Americans would naturally be sent to the internment camp in Manila, so I felt furious about the cruel approach of Captain Watanabe. On hearing the story, my subordinates were all compassionate and outraged: 'How could he kill the family of three since they were obviously civilians?' Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
*"the Americans, had already disappeared"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first Albert King's remains were not able to be identified by friendly Filipinos who came back on Friday, 24 December, to Hopevale after the carnage. "Proximo (trustworthy Filipino orderly of Mr. Spencer) could not identify any body as that of Lt. King. Only bones and skeletons were left as a result of the burning.
But then in the middle of January 1944 Pastors Engracio C. Alora and Delfin Dianala and another Filipino went to Hopevale to recover the remains. They also found a number of documents not burned in the fire.
This is from his testimony at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka:
"Q: Did you identify a body, or remains, as that of Lieutenant King's?
"A: Among the skulls that we discovered back of the supposed headquarters of the Japanese, we discovered two skulls quite different from the other skulls that we discovered there -- bigger with long bones of the nose. And we tried to ascertain by asking questions of the mountaineers and they told us the Lieutenant King and Mr. Clardy were not killed with the missionaries but they were killed later on and killed back of that house.
"Q: So from this information which you received, those two skulls are Lieutenant King's and Mr. Clardy's?
"A: Besides that, we were also able to say that one of the skulls was Mr. King's because someone described Mr. King's clothing as this native fabric, abaca, and we discovered with the skulls there that there were parts of the cloth that he wore as short pants.
Source: Testimony of Engracio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, pages 352-353.
They secretly buried the remains in the dirt floor of Pastor Dianala's Katipunan Evangelical Church. After the war the remains of Lt. Albert Edward Washington King, Jr. were interred near the Hopevale site in a crypt beneath the cross with the rest of the Hopevale victims in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Albert's wife, Margit King and 3½ year old son, Guy, along with 56 other American citizens (including the Fertig and Spencer families who were able to escape the Japanese when they came to Hopevale that December morning) were rescued from Panay on 20 March 1944 by the American submarine, U.S.S. Angler (SS-240).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"In May 1945, in a battle with US forces east of the town of Silay on Negros Island, a mortar shell hit and killed Major Kengo Watanabe. He was a leading man of merit in the war of Panay and died a glorious death as a Japanese soldier. Nevertheless, his notoriety as 'Captain Watanabe' is still remembered there. Mr. Osamu Yokoi of Oita Prefecture wrote, 'I attended the burial of Senior Adjutant Watanabe. We dressed him in a new uniform, laid his sword on his chest, and a bottle of his favorite whisky beside him. After cutting his hair and little finger to be sent to his family, we buried him, praying that his soul will sleep in peace. Tears came into my eyes.'" Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 7.1.
A number of reports say that Mr. King was a miner (including the memorial found at Central Philippine University). He was, however, a salesman for the Goodyear Rubber Company in Iloilo, Panay. He was married to Margit Gans (10 February 1913 Nagykanizsa, Zala, Hungary - after 1996) and they had a son, Guy Gilbert King (21 March 1940, Iloilo, Philippines - 12 September 1994, San Bernardino County, California).
War with Japan came to the Philippines on 08 December 1941. After the first bombing of the city of Iloilo on 18 December the King's decided they would "make for the jungles". They chose not to surrender after Panay fell to the Japanese on 20 April 1942.
After 18 months on the run Albert decided to join the guerrilla movement on the island. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay).
Second Lieutenant Albert W. King, Jr.
Inducted From: Philippines
Organization: Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay), United States Armed Forces in Pacific
In February 1943, the guerrillas ambushed a convoy carrying Lt. Gen. Shizuichi Tanaka, the new Commanding General of the Japanese 14th Army who was visiting the island. Though the general escaped unharmed, the Japanese were embarrassed. "From then on, the army staff decided on a policy meant to annihilate the Panay guerrillas" and they were "rigorously instructed to crush the Panay guerrillas completely." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, former Japanese Adjutant and Captain of the Panay Garrison at the end of the war (1977), Chapter 3.2.
"The Japanese plan was simple: several hundred soldiers would march cross-country, burning towns and villages as they went. The first expedition took to the field that July, led by 39-year-old Captain Kengo Watanabe, who came to personify brutality in the eyes of the Panayans. The captain would make his prisoners kneel on the ground, hands tied behind their backs. Using a two-handed samurai sword, he would move methodically down the line, beheading each person in turn. It didn't take long for Captain Watanabe to earn the name the Butcher of Panay. In the words of a war crimes investigator, writing after the war, "No living creatures, man or beast, were spared. No distinctions between soldiers and civilians, man or woman, old or young were respected. All that lived were killed. In its wake lay scenes of terror, inhuman torture, mass murder and wanton destruction." Source: Moving Target by Steven Trent Smith (https://www.historynet.com/moving-target.htm).
"The Butcher of Panay had transformed the paradise island of Panay into the island of mud and blood." Source: Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett (Brown Books Publishing, Dallas Texas, 2016).
"The number of deaths of civilian residents was 10,042 between July and until end of December 1943". Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
Lt. King was captured by the 170th Independent Infantry Battalion (Tozuka Unit) while they were on their six-month punitive expedition against the Filipino guerrillas on Panay.
"In December of 1943, as the punitive force was moving south along a tributary of the Aklan river, we bumped into a bushy-bearded American. He was in a torn pair of shorts, bare-footed and limping. Captain Watanabe himself sternly investigated this man. He identified himself as Mr. King, and said, "I used to be a guerrilla officer, but with the Japanese campaigns, my unit scattered. Since I am conspicuously an American, neither the guerrillas nor the locals want to take me in. So I have been wandering along the river." From what he said further, Captain Watanabe found out there were more Americans near Egue near the town of Tapaz, 13 kilometers north of Calinog. Watanabe instantly dispatched the whole company and found more than ten Americans..." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
"It was a member of the Kumai platoon that bumped into Mr. King, who was walking in a tributary of the Aklan River. He was exhausted, weak, and limping. After interrogation by Captain Watanabe, he was with the Kumai platoon while the whole company was approaching Tapaz. While they sat around a fire in a hut, relaxing King beautifully sang some Filipino songs like "Mama Yo Quiero", which the platoon enjoyed. When they came close to Tapaz, he was summoned by Captain Watanabe, and pointed toward an area around 500 meters ahead." Source: "Hopevale Martyrdom" as Mr. Toshimi Kumai Knows (http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Ibuki%20Kumai.htm), Chapter 6.1.
On the morning of Sunday, 19 December 1942 the Japanese surrounded and captured a place called Hopevale in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines where a group of missionaries and miners had been hiding out.
"Lt. King who was captured in the Aklan District and brought down as a guide was seen spending the day (Sunday) in the creek with water to his neck. Japs pelted him with stones." Source: Report on Deaths of Americans at Katipunan, Capiz Province, 21 December 1943 (Report written 27 April 1944 by Cyril L. Spencer). He and his family were able to escape just before the Japanese came into camp.
He along with the 16 other Americans were held prisoners Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday most of the group were killed. Albert King and Mark Walsh Cardy were the last two executed (beheaded), they were killed on Wednesday, 22 December 1944. Most of the bodies were dragged into a couple of the houses, which were then set on fire. In addition "ten to fifteen Filipinos including women and children, living nearby, were killed". "There were other bodies scattered about the surrounding country, none recognizable." Pillaged and burned, the Japanese left Hopevale later that day.
"A: ...And there was another man there. I did not see him, but he was there with the group and he was killed, by the name of Lieutenant King.
"Q: Was that Albert King?
"A: I am not sure of his first name but I heard only the name King.
"Q: In what army was Lieutenant King?
"A: He was supposed to be with the guerrillas.
Source: Testimony of Engraacio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, page 344.
Interestingly enough, Toshimi Kumai, whose platoon was sent after the *escaped Americans before the 17 were executed, had this to say when they returned to Hopevale. "We managed to return to the field headquarters at midnight and slept like the dead under the hut. Next morning, when the company was getting ready, there were no Americans in sight. I asked an NCO attached to the unit headquarters, and he told me, 'Captain Watanabe executed them all.' I had thought that all the captured Americans would naturally be sent to the internment camp in Manila, so I felt furious about the cruel approach of Captain Watanabe. On hearing the story, my subordinates were all compassionate and outraged: 'How could he kill the family of three since they were obviously civilians?' Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
*"the Americans, had already disappeared"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first Albert King's remains were not able to be identified by friendly Filipinos who came back on Friday, 24 December, to Hopevale after the carnage. "Proximo (trustworthy Filipino orderly of Mr. Spencer) could not identify any body as that of Lt. King. Only bones and skeletons were left as a result of the burning.
But then in the middle of January 1944 Pastors Engracio C. Alora and Delfin Dianala and another Filipino went to Hopevale to recover the remains. They also found a number of documents not burned in the fire.
This is from his testimony at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka:
"Q: Did you identify a body, or remains, as that of Lieutenant King's?
"A: Among the skulls that we discovered back of the supposed headquarters of the Japanese, we discovered two skulls quite different from the other skulls that we discovered there -- bigger with long bones of the nose. And we tried to ascertain by asking questions of the mountaineers and they told us the Lieutenant King and Mr. Clardy were not killed with the missionaries but they were killed later on and killed back of that house.
"Q: So from this information which you received, those two skulls are Lieutenant King's and Mr. Clardy's?
"A: Besides that, we were also able to say that one of the skulls was Mr. King's because someone described Mr. King's clothing as this native fabric, abaca, and we discovered with the skulls there that there were parts of the cloth that he wore as short pants.
Source: Testimony of Engracio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, pages 352-353.
They secretly buried the remains in the dirt floor of Pastor Dianala's Katipunan Evangelical Church. After the war the remains of Lt. Albert Edward Washington King, Jr. were interred near the Hopevale site in a crypt beneath the cross with the rest of the Hopevale victims in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Albert's wife, Margit King and 3½ year old son, Guy, along with 56 other American citizens (including the Fertig and Spencer families who were able to escape the Japanese when they came to Hopevale that December morning) were rescued from Panay on 20 March 1944 by the American submarine, U.S.S. Angler (SS-240).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"In May 1945, in a battle with US forces east of the town of Silay on Negros Island, a mortar shell hit and killed Major Kengo Watanabe. He was a leading man of merit in the war of Panay and died a glorious death as a Japanese soldier. Nevertheless, his notoriety as 'Captain Watanabe' is still remembered there. Mr. Osamu Yokoi of Oita Prefecture wrote, 'I attended the burial of Senior Adjutant Watanabe. We dressed him in a new uniform, laid his sword on his chest, and a bottle of his favorite whisky beside him. After cutting his hair and little finger to be sent to his family, we buried him, praying that his soul will sleep in peace. Tears came into my eyes.'" Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 7.1.
Son of Albert Edward Washington King (21 December 1887 Vienna, Austria - ?, Chemist) and Dr. Paz Garcia King (24 January 1892, Manila Philippines - 08 December 1989, Contra Costa County, California). They were married 01 May 1911 in Manila, Philippines. Albert and Paz had at least five children, Josephine (1912), Albert, Carmen, Mercedes and Bobby. They divorced in November 1945 in Chicago, Illinois. Dr. Paz King was living in Walnut Creek, Contra Costa County, California in 1951.
A number of reports say that Mr. King was a miner (including the memorial found at Central Philippine University). He was, however, a salesman for the Goodyear Rubber Company in Iloilo, Panay. He was married to Margit Gans (10 February 1913 Nagykanizsa, Zala, Hungary - after 1996) and they had a son, Guy Gilbert King (21 March 1940, Iloilo, Philippines - 12 September 1994, San Bernardino County, California).
War with Japan came to the Philippines on 08 December 1941. After the first bombing of the city of Iloilo on 18 December the King's decided they would "make for the jungles". They chose not to surrender after Panay fell to the Japanese on 20 April 1942.
After 18 months on the run Albert decided to join the guerrilla movement on the island. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay).
Second Lieutenant Albert W. King, Jr.
Inducted From: Philippines
Organization: Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay), United States Armed Forces in Pacific
In February 1943, the guerrillas ambushed a convoy carrying Lt. Gen. Shizuichi Tanaka, the new Commanding General of the Japanese 14th Army who was visiting the island. Though the general escaped unharmed, the Japanese were embarrassed. "From then on, the army staff decided on a policy meant to annihilate the Panay guerrillas" and they were "rigorously instructed to crush the Panay guerrillas completely." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, former Japanese Adjutant and Captain of the Panay Garrison at the end of the war (1977), Chapter 3.2.
"The Japanese plan was simple: several hundred soldiers would march cross-country, burning towns and villages as they went. The first expedition took to the field that July, led by 39-year-old Captain Kengo Watanabe, who came to personify brutality in the eyes of the Panayans. The captain would make his prisoners kneel on the ground, hands tied behind their backs. Using a two-handed samurai sword, he would move methodically down the line, beheading each person in turn. It didn't take long for Captain Watanabe to earn the name the Butcher of Panay. In the words of a war crimes investigator, writing after the war, "No living creatures, man or beast, were spared. No distinctions between soldiers and civilians, man or woman, old or young were respected. All that lived were killed. In its wake lay scenes of terror, inhuman torture, mass murder and wanton destruction." Source: Moving Target by Steven Trent Smith (https://www.historynet.com/moving-target.htm).
"The Butcher of Panay had transformed the paradise island of Panay into the island of mud and blood." Source: Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett (Brown Books Publishing, Dallas Texas, 2016).
"The number of deaths of civilian residents was 10,042 between July and until end of December 1943". Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
Lt. King was captured by the 170th Independent Infantry Battalion (Tozuka Unit) while they were on their six-month punitive expedition against the Filipino guerrillas on Panay.
"In December of 1943, as the punitive force was moving south along a tributary of the Aklan river, we bumped into a bushy-bearded American. He was in a torn pair of shorts, bare-footed and limping. Captain Watanabe himself sternly investigated this man. He identified himself as Mr. King, and said, "I used to be a guerrilla officer, but with the Japanese campaigns, my unit scattered. Since I am conspicuously an American, neither the guerrillas nor the locals want to take me in. So I have been wandering along the river." From what he said further, Captain Watanabe found out there were more Americans near Egue near the town of Tapaz, 13 kilometers north of Calinog. Watanabe instantly dispatched the whole company and found more than ten Americans..." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
"It was a member of the Kumai platoon that bumped into Mr. King, who was walking in a tributary of the Aklan River. He was exhausted, weak, and limping. After interrogation by Captain Watanabe, he was with the Kumai platoon while the whole company was approaching Tapaz. While they sat around a fire in a hut, relaxing King beautifully sang some Filipino songs like "Mama Yo Quiero", which the platoon enjoyed. When they came close to Tapaz, he was summoned by Captain Watanabe, and pointed toward an area around 500 meters ahead." Source: "Hopevale Martyrdom" as Mr. Toshimi Kumai Knows (http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Ibuki%20Kumai.htm), Chapter 6.1.
On the morning of Sunday, 19 December 1942 the Japanese surrounded and captured a place called Hopevale in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines where a group of missionaries and miners had been hiding out.
"Lt. King who was captured in the Aklan District and brought down as a guide was seen spending the day (Sunday) in the creek with water to his neck. Japs pelted him with stones." Source: Report on Deaths of Americans at Katipunan, Capiz Province, 21 December 1943 (Report written 27 April 1944 by Cyril L. Spencer). He and his family were able to escape just before the Japanese came into camp.
He along with the 16 other Americans were held prisoners Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday most of the group were killed. Albert King and Mark Walsh Cardy were the last two executed (beheaded), they were killed on Wednesday, 22 December 1944. Most of the bodies were dragged into a couple of the houses, which were then set on fire. In addition "ten to fifteen Filipinos including women and children, living nearby, were killed". "There were other bodies scattered about the surrounding country, none recognizable." Pillaged and burned, the Japanese left Hopevale later that day.
"A: ...And there was another man there. I did not see him, but he was there with the group and he was killed, by the name of Lieutenant King.
"Q: Was that Albert King?
"A: I am not sure of his first name but I heard only the name King.
"Q: In what army was Lieutenant King?
"A: He was supposed to be with the guerrillas.
Source: Testimony of Engraacio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, page 344.
Interestingly enough, Toshimi Kumai, whose platoon was sent after the *escaped Americans before the 17 were executed, had this to say when they returned to Hopevale. "We managed to return to the field headquarters at midnight and slept like the dead under the hut. Next morning, when the company was getting ready, there were no Americans in sight. I asked an NCO attached to the unit headquarters, and he told me, 'Captain Watanabe executed them all.' I had thought that all the captured Americans would naturally be sent to the internment camp in Manila, so I felt furious about the cruel approach of Captain Watanabe. On hearing the story, my subordinates were all compassionate and outraged: 'How could he kill the family of three since they were obviously civilians?' Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
*"the Americans, had already disappeared"
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
At first Albert King's remains were not able to be identified by friendly Filipinos who came back on Friday, 24 December, to Hopevale after the carnage. "Proximo (trustworthy Filipino orderly of Mr. Spencer) could not identify any body as that of Lt. King. Only bones and skeletons were left as a result of the burning.
But then in the middle of January 1944 Pastors Engracio C. Alora and Delfin Dianala and another Filipino went to Hopevale to recover the remains. They also found a number of documents not burned in the fire.
This is from his testimony at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka:
"Q: Did you identify a body, or remains, as that of Lieutenant King's?
"A: Among the skulls that we discovered back of the supposed headquarters of the Japanese, we discovered two skulls quite different from the other skulls that we discovered there -- bigger with long bones of the nose. And we tried to ascertain by asking questions of the mountaineers and they told us the Lieutenant King and Mr. Clardy were not killed with the missionaries but they were killed later on and killed back of that house.
"Q: So from this information which you received, those two skulls are Lieutenant King's and Mr. Clardy's?
"A: Besides that, we were also able to say that one of the skulls was Mr. King's because someone described Mr. King's clothing as this native fabric, abaca, and we discovered with the skulls there that there were parts of the cloth that he wore as short pants.
Source: Testimony of Engracio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, pages 352-353.
They secretly buried the remains in the dirt floor of Pastor Dianala's Katipunan Evangelical Church. After the war the remains of Lt. Albert Edward Washington King, Jr. were interred near the Hopevale site in a crypt beneath the cross with the rest of the Hopevale victims in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Albert's wife, Margit King and 3½ year old son, Guy, along with 56 other American citizens (including the Fertig and Spencer families who were able to escape the Japanese when they came to Hopevale that December morning) were rescued from Panay on 20 March 1944 by the American submarine, U.S.S. Angler (SS-240).
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"In May 1945, in a battle with US forces east of the town of Silay on Negros Island, a mortar shell hit and killed Major Kengo Watanabe. He was a leading man of merit in the war of Panay and died a glorious death as a Japanese soldier. Nevertheless, his notoriety as 'Captain Watanabe' is still remembered there. Mr. Osamu Yokoi of Oita Prefecture wrote, 'I attended the burial of Senior Adjutant Watanabe. We dressed him in a new uniform, laid his sword on his chest, and a bottle of his favorite whisky beside him. After cutting his hair and little finger to be sent to his family, we buried him, praying that his soul will sleep in peace. Tears came into my eyes.'" Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 7.1.
A number of reports say that Mr. King was a miner (including the memorial found at Central Philippine University). He was, however, a salesman for the Goodyear Rubber Company in Iloilo, Panay. He was married to Margit Gans (10 February 1913 Nagykanizsa, Zala, Hungary - after 1996) and they had a son, Guy Gilbert King (21 March 1940, Iloilo, Philippines - 12 September 1994, San Bernardino County, California).
War with Japan came to the Philippines on 08 December 1941. After the first bombing of the city of Iloilo on 18 December the King's decided they would "make for the jungles". They chose not to surrender after Panay fell to the Japanese on 20 April 1942.
After 18 months on the run Albert decided to join the guerrilla movement on the island. He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant, Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay).
Second Lieutenant Albert W. King, Jr.
Inducted From: Philippines
Organization: Headquarters, 6th Military District (Panay), United States Armed Forces in Pacific
In February 1943, the guerrillas ambushed a convoy carrying Lt. Gen. Shizuichi Tanaka, the new Commanding General of the Japanese 14th Army who was visiting the island. Though the general escaped unharmed, the Japanese were embarrassed. "From then on, the army staff decided on a policy meant to annihilate the Panay guerrillas" and they were "rigorously instructed to crush the Panay guerrillas completely." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, former Japanese Adjutant and Captain of the Panay Garrison at the end of the war (1977), Chapter 3.2.
"The Japanese plan was simple: several hundred soldiers would march cross-country, burning towns and villages as they went. The first expedition took to the field that July, led by 39-year-old Captain Kengo Watanabe, who came to personify brutality in the eyes of the Panayans. The captain would make his prisoners kneel on the ground, hands tied behind their backs. Using a two-handed samurai sword, he would move methodically down the line, beheading each person in turn. It didn't take long for Captain Watanabe to earn the name the Butcher of Panay. In the words of a war crimes investigator, writing after the war, "No living creatures, man or beast, were spared. No distinctions between soldiers and civilians, man or woman, old or young were respected. All that lived were killed. In its wake lay scenes of terror, inhuman torture, mass murder and wanton destruction." Source: Moving Target by Steven Trent Smith (https://www.historynet.com/moving-target.htm).
"The Butcher of Panay had transformed the paradise island of Panay into the island of mud and blood." Source: Wounded Tiger by T. Martin Bennett (Brown Books Publishing, Dallas Texas, 2016).
"The number of deaths of civilian residents was 10,042 between July and until end of December 1943". Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
Lt. King was captured by the 170th Independent Infantry Battalion (Tozuka Unit) while they were on their six-month punitive expedition against the Filipino guerrillas on Panay.
"In December of 1943, as the punitive force was moving south along a tributary of the Aklan river, we bumped into a bushy-bearded American. He was in a torn pair of shorts, bare-footed and limping. Captain Watanabe himself sternly investigated this man. He identified himself as Mr. King, and said, "I used to be a guerrilla officer, but with the Japanese campaigns, my unit scattered. Since I am conspicuously an American, neither the guerrillas nor the locals want to take me in. So I have been wandering along the river." From what he said further, Captain Watanabe found out there were more Americans near Egue near the town of Tapaz, 13 kilometers north of Calinog. Watanabe instantly dispatched the whole company and found more than ten Americans..." Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
"It was a member of the Kumai platoon that bumped into Mr. King, who was walking in a tributary of the Aklan River. He was exhausted, weak, and limping. After interrogation by Captain Watanabe, he was with the Kumai platoon while the whole company was approaching Tapaz. While they sat around a fire in a hut, relaxing King beautifully sang some Filipino songs like "Mama Yo Quiero", which the platoon enjoyed. When they came close to Tapaz, he was summoned by Captain Watanabe, and pointed toward an area around 500 meters ahead." Source: "Hopevale Martyrdom" as Mr. Toshimi Kumai Knows (http://www.us-japandialogueonpows.org/Ibuki%20Kumai.htm), Chapter 6.1.
On the morning of Sunday, 19 December 1942 the Japanese surrounded and captured a place called Hopevale in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines where a group of missionaries and miners had been hiding out.
"Lt. King who was captured in the Aklan District and brought down as a guide was seen spending the day (Sunday) in the creek with water to his neck. Japs pelted him with stones." Source: Report on Deaths of Americans at Katipunan, Capiz Province, 21 December 1943 (Report written 27 April 1944 by Cyril L. Spencer). He and his family were able to escape just before the Japanese came into camp.
He along with the 16 other Americans were held prisoners Sunday and Monday. On Tuesday most of the group were killed. Albert King and Mark Walsh Cardy were the last two executed (beheaded), they were killed on Wednesday, 22 December 1944. Most of the bodies were dragged into a couple of the houses, which were then set on fire. In addition "ten to fifteen Filipinos including women and children, living nearby, were killed". "There were other bodies scattered about the surrounding country, none recognizable." Pillaged and burned, the Japanese left Hopevale later that day.
"A: ...And there was another man there. I did not see him, but he was there with the group and he was killed, by the name of Lieutenant King.
"Q: Was that Albert King?
"A: I am not sure of his first name but I heard only the name King.
"Q: In what army was Lieutenant King?
"A: He was supposed to be with the guerrillas.
Source: Testimony of Engraacio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, page 344.
Interestingly enough, Toshimi Kumai, whose platoon was sent after the *escaped Americans before the 17 were executed, had this to say when they returned to Hopevale. "We managed to return to the field headquarters at midnight and slept like the dead under the hut. Next morning, when the company was getting ready, there were no Americans in sight. I asked an NCO attached to the unit headquarters, and he told me, 'Captain Watanabe executed them all.' I had thought that all the captured Americans would naturally be sent to the internment camp in Manila, so I felt furious about the cruel approach of Captain Watanabe. On hearing the story, my subordinates were all compassionate and outraged: 'How could he kill the family of three since they were obviously civilians?' Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 6.1.
*"the Americans, had already disappeared"
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At first Albert King's remains were not able to be identified by friendly Filipinos who came back on Friday, 24 December, to Hopevale after the carnage. "Proximo (trustworthy Filipino orderly of Mr. Spencer) could not identify any body as that of Lt. King. Only bones and skeletons were left as a result of the burning.
But then in the middle of January 1944 Pastors Engracio C. Alora and Delfin Dianala and another Filipino went to Hopevale to recover the remains. They also found a number of documents not burned in the fire.
This is from his testimony at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka:
"Q: Did you identify a body, or remains, as that of Lieutenant King's?
"A: Among the skulls that we discovered back of the supposed headquarters of the Japanese, we discovered two skulls quite different from the other skulls that we discovered there -- bigger with long bones of the nose. And we tried to ascertain by asking questions of the mountaineers and they told us the Lieutenant King and Mr. Clardy were not killed with the missionaries but they were killed later on and killed back of that house.
"Q: So from this information which you received, those two skulls are Lieutenant King's and Mr. Clardy's?
"A: Besides that, we were also able to say that one of the skulls was Mr. King's because someone described Mr. King's clothing as this native fabric, abaca, and we discovered with the skulls there that there were parts of the cloth that he wore as short pants.
Source: Testimony of Engracio C. Alora (who went, recovered and buried the remains of the executed at Hopevale) at the trial of Lt. Col. Ryoichi Tozuka, (Reel 92) US Military Trial Reports 217-221_1882, pages 352-353.
They secretly buried the remains in the dirt floor of Pastor Dianala's Katipunan Evangelical Church. After the war the remains of Lt. Albert Edward Washington King, Jr. were interred near the Hopevale site in a crypt beneath the cross with the rest of the Hopevale victims in Barrio Katipunan, Municipality of Tapaz, Capiz Province, Panay Island, Philippines.
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Albert's wife, Margit King and 3½ year old son, Guy, along with 56 other American citizens (including the Fertig and Spencer families who were able to escape the Japanese when they came to Hopevale that December morning) were rescued from Panay on 20 March 1944 by the American submarine, U.S.S. Angler (SS-240).
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"In May 1945, in a battle with US forces east of the town of Silay on Negros Island, a mortar shell hit and killed Major Kengo Watanabe. He was a leading man of merit in the war of Panay and died a glorious death as a Japanese soldier. Nevertheless, his notoriety as 'Captain Watanabe' is still remembered there. Mr. Osamu Yokoi of Oita Prefecture wrote, 'I attended the burial of Senior Adjutant Watanabe. We dressed him in a new uniform, laid his sword on his chest, and a bottle of his favorite whisky beside him. After cutting his hair and little finger to be sent to his family, we buried him, praying that his soul will sleep in peace. Tears came into my eyes.'" Source: The Blood and Mud of the Philippines: the worst Anti-Guerrilla Warfare in the Pacific", written by Mr. Toshimi Kumai, Chapter 7.1.
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