Atlanta Daily World

Three Liberated Manilans
Interviewed By War Writer

BY CHARLES H. LOEB
(War Correspondent of Atlanta
Daily World and NNPA

LUZON
As the smoke-filled
skies overhead told eloquently of
the partial destruction of Manila
by Jap demolition I sat
at crude table in a shoe factory on
the city's outskirts and talked to
the only three Negro prisoners of
war among several thousand soldiers,
sailors and civilians liberated
by our armed forces at Santo
Tomas.
Captain Chester Sanders, 65 of
24 N Park Avenue, Indianapolis,
Ind., who has spent 47 years in the
U. S. Army and who was superintendent
of subsistence branch, Philippines
Quartermaster Depot, has
been out of the United States for
36 years. His wife awaits his release
In Manila. When taken prisoner
April 8, 1942, he weighed 235
pounds. When I saw him he weighed
134. He helped evacuate the
Quartermaster Depot and was
on Bataan when it surrendered.
John M. Howell, 71, a native of
Sumter, S. C., came to the Philippines
in 1899 as a civilian barber
with the 41st U. S. Volunteers. He
proposed there and was a civilian
on Corregidor when imprisoned. He
was the only colored man of the
rock at the time. He was wounded
in the head during the bombing.
He and other prisoners were shipped
to Manila Bay, tossed overboard
in the harbor and made to
swim to shore. He has a sister in
New York City, Mrs. M. Gie
Springer, from whom he has not
heard since 1941.
Albert H. Knight, 62, still vigorous
despite a limp, was sprouting a
long beard. His eyes twinkled as
he recalled his former role in
motion picture in the state. He
appeared in bit roles in most of
the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Tarzan
pictures. He claims to speak 12
different languages and thirteen
African dialects and was born in New
York City. He prefers not to talk
about his relatives. He was at
Cavite when Pearl Harbor was attacked
and the next day lived
through the bombing of Cavite
where he was chief of Labor camps.
Sanders and Howell plan to remain
in the Philippines. Knight is undecided.