They alsso learned ho
ow to “pinch” oiil lines to bearings; leave a ho
ole in a gas tank, etc that caused great frustration with the Japanese in charge. Their was to take 1
150 of the reaction w
worst offeenders, inclu
uding Bob, back to Japan and thee Lead Mines; wh
here they eaach had a cart that tthey had to ffill each day before theey could leavve; or they stayed another 8 hours. Bo
ob Vogle
er B
B ob was b
born in Seatttle, WA, but grew up in Southern
n California. He enlissted in the m
military service in the A
Army Air Corrps in January 1940
0, without an
ny “Boot Cam
mp” train
ning. He was almostt immediately ppines arriviing sent to the Philip
940. His miliitary theree May 21, 19
train
ning there co
onsisted of watcching the serrgeant show
w how to sh
hoot the Springfield rifle
e and a maachine gun, w
which he use
ed on Bataaan in combaat. Lifee in the Philiippines at th
hat timee was some w
what relaxed
d. He was off duty eacch day by noon so he atttended the Philippine Univversity in thee afternoonss. His know
wledge of airrcraft instrruments gave him a chan
nce to workk on airplanees of KLM, Philippine Airlinees and any o
others who needed corrrection of th
heir planes instruments. On
n Dec. 7th hee was assigned to the 1
17th Pursuit Squadron, commanded by the first Ace
e of W
WW II, “Buzz”” Wagner. Laater he m
met the crew
w of the B‐17
7 pilotted by Colon
n Kelly the M
Medal of Ho
onor winnerr. Ho
owever thinggs got bad when the JJapanese Forces took ovver WWW
W.SDPOW.ORG
G th
he islands an
nd Bob and 1,800 o
others went i
in the hold o
of a ship to
o Formosa, aand then to Korea. T
This miserabl
le trip in thee hold of a Japanese frreighter lasteed 22 days. Where the body waaste was hauled out in
n the same container in
n which the meager food
d was delivered. They were ssent to a Jap
panese ndustrial maanufactory co
omplex; in
called Mukdeen, Manchurria. Here hey lived in ssod covered
d barracks th
and walked five miles to work and back at n
night; wheree teemperatures reached 45
5 below zeero. They were tthere to build ocomotives ffor the Japanese war lo
in
ndustries. Th
hese guys managed to
o learn how to do the w
work even th
hough few h
had any machine w
work experie
ence. 1 At war’ss end this bigg 6’ 3” guy came back to the stattes at 80 pounds; reetired from the Air Force afteer 20 years aas a Master Sergant. Bob wass employed b
by General Dynamics, for 20 yearrs as a Manufacturing Develo
opment Engineer, retired and still resides in San Dieego.