The Ranger Mission

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Following the surrender of the Bataan Peninsula to Japan on April 9, 1942, the Japanese directed the arduous 65-mile trek of 76,000 American and Filipino soldiers to designated prison camps elsewhere in the Philippines. Three years later, the American army's Ranger force, Alamo Scouts, Filipino guerrillas, and Filipino civilians combined to become the rescue team for the Raid of Cabanatuan. This rescue mission was one of the most challenging and complex operations of World War II, but it was also one of the most successful. General MacArthur described it as being "magnificent and reflect[ed] extraordinary credit to all concerned."

By the time of the rescue, 511 prisoners were being held captive; 486 were American, twenty-three were British, three were from the Netherlands, and one was from Norway. In the group there were sailors, pilots, mariners, soldiers, and civilians.

Most men had been brought there after Bataan Death March. This …show more content…
The soldiers were a diverse group of volunteers. Their preparation, directed by General Mucci, began in December 1943. He prepped his team for the operation for a year in New Guinea's mountains, and even directed three raids in the Lefeyte Gulf of October 17, 1944 for more realistic training. The men were previously big athletic farm boys, and Mucci pushed their physical, capable bodies to the limit. He taught them how to fight, throw knives, and shoot a gun. John Richardson admitted, "I thought he was going to kill us. He called us rats, he called us everything but a child of God...I wondered why he was putting us through so much, but before it was over, there was no question about it, I knew why. And once he got us trained and picked out, he loved us to death..." Robert Prince: "He made a Ranger battalion out of a bunch of mule skinners, and he inspired us and trained us -- and any success we had belongs to Colonel
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