Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission

The C Company Rangers were moving closer to the main gate of Cabanatuan. Mucci was surprised that his request for an airplane decoy, a P-61 airplane known as the “Black Widow,” went through as intended. Twenty-six-year-old Kenneth Schrieber was the plane’s pilot. The flight received the desired reaction from the Japanese, “instill[ing] fear [and] attract[ing] attention” (321). The plane’s feint maneuvers even mimicked a crash-like scenario to further confuse the Japanese. Prince’s C Company reached the ditch across from the road leading to the locked gate at 7:30pm and waited for F Company to make the move in the rear.

Meanwhile, Juan Pajota’s 200 Filipino guerillas were already in position, hiding in a field along the highway outside the camp. They were close enough that they could hear the Japanese conversation carried by the wind. The guerillas left 20 landmines on the road because there were no Japanese guards on the Cabu River bridge. Pajota’s scouts also cut the telephone lines to the camp. Eduardo Joson’s men were in a position a mile from Pajota, “straight down the highway toward Cabanatuan City” (323).

As C Company was moving toward the front of the camp, Lieutenant John Murphy’s 30 Rangers from F Company crossed under the highway toward the back of the camp and used the ravine to conceal them.