From mid-1941, following increased tension between Japan and several other powers, including the United States, Britain and the Netherlands, many countries in South East Asia and the Pacific began to prepare for the possibility of war. By December 1941, the combined defense forces in the Philippines were organized into the US Army Forces in the Far East (USAFFE), led by General Douglas MacArthur.
The 59th Coast Artillery Regiment that Saunders belonged to was led by Major General George F. Moore. He had commanded the seacoast and antiaircraft artillery, beach defenses, and inshore patrol to prepared for possible Japanese attack since mid-1941. On December 8, 1941, following the attack on Pearl Harbor on the previous day, the Japanese 14th Army began its invasion with a landing on Batan Island, 120 miles, off the north coast of Luzon by selected naval infantry units. Two days later, the Japanese landed on Camiguin Island and at Vigan, Aparri, and Gonzaga in northern Luzon. First word of the Japanese attack against Pearl Harbor reached General Moore from Navy radio intercept station on the Corregidor at 3:40 A.M., December 8. The garrisons of the four fortified islands had been on the alert for eight days and all battle stations were manned. At 6:20 A.M. official notification that a state of war existed between the United States and Japan came from MacArthur’s headquarters, and the Navy temporarily closed Manila Bay to outbound traffic. About four hours later the first air-raid attack came. Saunders was taken as a prisoner of war (POW) on the day of the Japanese invasion of the Philippines. Records of the War Department showed that he had been in a beleaguered status from December 8, 1941 to May 6, 1942. His absence was terminated on May 7, 1942 by a report from the Japanese Government through the International Red Cross of a POW status on December 15, 1942. On January 7, 1943, the War Department made public the names of 336 American soldiers, including Saunders, held prisoners of war by the Japanese in the Philippine Islands. He was interned in the islands placed in the Davao Penal Colony, one of the POW camps located in the Southern Philippines. |