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About John P. Horan IV

About the author: John Paul Horan IV (July 5, 1891 — July 31, 1985) from Port Arthur, Texas, was a Colonel, USA. 21st Infantry Regiment, Philippine Army, 21st Division, Philippine Army. Commanding officer of Camp John Hay at the outbreak of World War II.  Received USAFFE permission to organize a guerrilla unit, the 121st Infantry Regiment. Promoted on April 17, 1942 from lieutenant colonel to the rank of colonel. Surrendered on or about May 10, 1942 as ordered by Gen. Wainwright. POW in Taiwan and Manchuria for 44 months, liberated at Mukden. commanding officer of Fort Crockett, Texas, in 1948, retiring as a full colonel. Had a wife, Edna; a son, Lt. Col. John P. Horan V; a daughter-in·law, Mrs.Robert M. Horan of San Antonio; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

About the diary: The diary is from a 25 page manuscript photostat copy labeled “Diary of Col Horan,” in Box 258, Entry 1094, Philippine Archive Collection, Record Group 407, National Archives, College Park, MD as digitally reproduced in the PVAO Digital Collection. It begins on December 8, 1941 and ends May 1, 1942. The diary was subsequently made the basis of a longer work, The First Five Months of Guerrilla Warfare in Northern Luzon, which Horan shared with historians. See also “The Miner Warriors of the Philippines” by Donald Chaput in Philippine Studies, vol. 35, no. 1 )1987) pp. 51-70.