Following the Second World War, there were a number of military officers and generals
who were executed after being found guilty of being involved in war crimes.
In the Pacific theatre, a number of Japanese generals were executed for ordering executions
of civilians, causing terror and also being responsible for large scale atrocities.
Some of the fighting in the Pacific was some of the most intense, brutal and terrifying
of the whole conflict and the Japanese became a fearsome and incredibly dangerous enemy
for the Americans.
Often they captured Allied soldiers and forced them into terrible conditions in captivity,
and large scale war crimes such as the Baatan Death March occurred under their jurisdiction.
But there was one American born general officer, who became the only General to have been executed
by enemy forces in the Second World War.
Guy O Fort fell into the hands of the enemy, and defiantly he went to his death at the
hands of the Japanese.
Join us today as we look at the Horrific execution of the American General Slaughtered During
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Guy Osborne Fort was born in 1879 in Michigan.
But at the age of 20, after the family had moved to New York, Guy enlisted in the US
Army at the turn of the 20th century.
He had dropped out of school to do this, and then he went to the Philippines, and whilst
here he settled with his first wife Marguerite, who tragically died in 1927 following giving
birth to Guy’s second son.
When he arrived in the Philippines, he served for three years in the 4th US Cavalry unit
before he was discharged and decided to settle there.
Two years after, he was commissioned as a 3rd leftenant in the Philippine Constabulary,
a police force which was under the control of the Americans.
He worked as a member of the police force, and he would help to suppress a number of
rebellions, and also deal with a number of other crimes.
Guy Fort got stuck in to his life inside of the Philippines, which was a long departure
from his early life in America.
He worked also as a plantation manager, and he would stay inside of the Constabulary until
the Second World War broke out, and he had risen to the rank of a Colonel.
He was based in Mindanao, and as an officer he was known for being a very respectful man,
who accepted the customs and beliefs of the local people, and he was also instrumental
in convincing rebels to stop fighting and to give up.
He became an expert in the people, and he was an asset to the Americans.
But the Japanese had planned an occupation of the Philippines as part of their plans
for a huge Greater East Asia War.
They would launch an invasion by sea from formosa, and the defending forces at the time
did outnumber the Japanese forces, but they were very ill prepared.
Some had hardly any experience, and during the battle of the Philippines, around 23,000
American military personnel were killed and captured, along with around 100,000 Filipino
soldiers.
The fall of the Philippines was considered one of the worst military defeats in Us Military
history.
In the aftermath of the campaign, it marked a beginning of a three and a half year period
in time where allied survivors were treated terribly, and the Japanese conducted war crimes
such as the Baatan Death March.
Japanese prison camps were also regarded as hell on earth, and American and Allied men
were sometimes also sent to Japan to be used as slave labour in mines and favourites.
Thousands were held in the holds of crowded Japanese ships without food water and ventilation,
and there were large scale deaths.
But in November 1941, the Constabulary Guy Fort was part of was absorbed into part of
the Philippine Army under the control of the United States Army Forces in the Far East.
Fort was then sent to Bohol, and was ordered to take command of the 81st Division based
there, and on the 20th December 1941 he was promoted to Brigadier General.
He took his division to Lanao province and he organised a number of battalions of Moro
soldiers that were given weapons and uniforms.
He was part of planning the defence in his area, however he saw that the task in fighting
the Japanese would be too much.
With this, he knew that there was a need for guerrilla warfare, and he made preparations
for his men to take part in this when it was needed.
The 81st Division overseen by Guy Fort started fighting on the 29th April 1942, and early
on it was clear that the Japanese had better equipment, vehicles and also organisation,
but the division did not give up.
They continued to fight constantly, and did inflict heavy losses and casualties onto the
Japanese, but still they were being pushed back by the might of the Japanese army.
Fort’s division was valiant, and stood firm longer and the other army groups in the area,
and despite knowing they would soon have to surrender, Guy Fort made preparations before
this.
He ordered his soldiers to use demolitions charges before they surrendered to close one
of the main roads through the island, and to make things difficult for the Japanese
following their waving of the white flag.
However a last ditch stand came against the Japanese on Mindanao, and Fort was then given
orders from his higher command to surrender and to give the fight up.
Fort was not a fan of this, and he did not want to surrender and he protested heavily
with his superiors but there was nothing that could be done.
Because of this he obeyed the orders, and surrendered his soldiers on the 27th May 1942
to the Japanese.
The Moro people and his soldiers were incredibly angry, and they did not want to surrender,
but Fort would let his native soldiers keep US Army rifles and equipment, which they would
then use for the guerrilla warfare.
Following the surrender, Fort was taken captive and he was shipped north on a small ship with
other captured generals, including Fort’s commander.
One man who was transported with him would then later become the first president of the
Philippines.
But Fort was taken to Manila, and he was held by the Japanese there in tough conditions
for a number of months.
In November 1942, the Japanese wanted to use Fort to speak with the Moro people, who had
began to start a large rebellion against the Japanese occupation.
Fort’s skills in speaking with the Moro it was believed would help bring the rebels
to heed, and Fort was supposed to tell them that as the US Army had surrendered, they
must also give up arms and surrender too.
Fort was then take from Manila to Mindanao and he was ordered to tell the Moro to surrender,
but he refused to do this.
Because of his refusal, the Japanese then decided Guy Fort was a lost case, and they
decided then to execute him.
The order to do this had come from Leftenant Colonel Yoshinari Tanaka, who after the Second
World War would later be executed by hanging for executing Guy Fort and three other American
soldiers.
Guy Fort on the 11th November 1942, near to where he’d been asked to speak to his former
forces, was brought into a clearing where a firing squad had gathered.
He stood there defiant, and he spoke to his firing squad saying’ You may get me, but
you will never get the United States of America.’
Shortly after this, the firing squad shot straight and killed him, executing the only
American born general officer.
Fort’s body was never recovered, and still today his family are seeking to recover his
remains so they can be repatriated back and be given a proper burial.
But Guy Fort was a brigadier general who fought in the Philippine Army under the control of
the United States.
He was given his own division to command, who fought valiantly against the Japanese
but ultimately he could not work for the Japanese and help their war effort, and because of
this he was sentenced to death and he was forced to face the firing squad.
He is remembered as the only American born general officer to have been executed by enemy
forces during the Second World War.
His story is one which deserves to be well known.
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