At noon Aug. 11,1944 a very unfortunate incident occurred in the rear of Bks 15 Group II. Lt. Robert [Hughcutt ] of Bks 36 Group I was working in his garden which is near theguard path. The guard in the tower leveled down and shot him at a distance of not more than 75 ft. He shot again and of course, Bob was killed. what was done with the guard we don’t know, but the excuse given by the Japs was that Bob was out of bounds which we who saw the incident, know is false. A very weak excuse. It was nothing but pre-meditated murder. Sure makes you want to get hold of these dirty little so & so. Our day is coming and we will do all we can to even it up for Bob. He was a very popular fellow. Educated at Cornell andmember of Phi Beta Kapps, on High Commissioner Sayre’s Staff here in the Philippines. He gave many interesting talks which were well received and we shall all miss him a lot. A yet, nor formal protect has been launched and I doubt if it will be, as out own command is of a too weak character. I’ll have plenty to write about the American administration of this camps someday.
Philip H. Meier
Major, U.S. Army, Company I, 3rd Battalion, 57th Infantry Regiment, 21st Infantry Division, Philippine Scouts. P.O.W. in Cabanatuan. Perished on the Hell ship Enoura Maru in December, 1944.
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