The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Information Series
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The Association for Diplomatic Studies and Training Foreign Affairs Oral History Project Information Series CLIFF FORSTER Interviewed by: G. Lewis Schmidt Initial interview date: May 29, 1990 Co yright 1998 ADST TABLE OF CONTENTS Biosketch artime Internment by Japanese Army 1943: Repatriation ) Japanese Shipping to Portuguese Goa, Then Gripsholm to the States ,ew .ork: E0tensi1e Debriefing by Na1al Intelligence and 2ater in ashington Comments on Philippines4 Collaboration with Japanese 1945-1948: Post- ar Acti1ity and Education 1949: Entrance into Bureau of Public Affairs8 Department of State 1949: Assignment as Branch Public Affairs Officer, Da1ao on Island of 9indanao8 Country in Chaos8 Huk Rebellion at Peak Summer 1952: 2anguage Training at .ale Followed by 1953 Assignment to Japan 2ong Term Contribution of E0change of Persons Program USIS Role in 9o1ing Japanese 2abor from Radical 2eft 1955: Transferred to Kobe as Regional PAO for Kansai Area8 2ong Range Aftermath of ,agano Seminar 1958: Information Officer in Rangoon, Burma ,e in4s >Second Coming? and Resultant Descent into Repressi1e, 2eftist Dictatorial Rule Defection of So1iet Information Officer 1950: Regulations ReAuire Stateside Assignment8 Assigned to USU, on Public Affairs Staff8 Soon the Bay of Pigs 1 2ater in 1951, Desk Office, USIA ashington for Japan and Korea Impact of Kennedy4s Pre-Recorded Tele1ised 9essage to Japan as First US Satellite Beamed to Japan Passed O1er that Country Aired Just after Assassination 1954: Reassigned to Japan as Field Program Super1isor 1970: Back to ashington ) State Department4s Senior Seminar 1971: Public Affairs Officer, Tel A1i1, Israel Ciolent Anti-Israel Terrorism And Israeli Counter Strikes 1973: Forster4s Return to Israel for Second Tour Canceled8 Becomes Deputy Director for 9iddle Eastern Affairs 1974: Both Payeff DDirectorE and Forster DDeputyE 9o1ed from 9iddle East to Run East Asia and Pacific Area During hich Period Cietnam Fell Beijing Opens Up for USIA 1977: Forster Returns to Japan as PAO Re1ising the Alan Carter Established I,FO9AT System 1981: Final Assignment ) Director, Office of East Asia and Pacific Affairs 1983: Retirement INTERVIEW &: Cliff, I(m going to as) you to start by giving us the bac)ground on where you came from, what your general education was, and how it was that you got into the US Information Agency. FORSTER: Fine 2ew. First let me gi1e you a hearty GalohaG here in Hawaii and welcome you to our island paradise. ItHs 1ery good to ha1e you here with us, and I shall do my best to respond to your Auestions. 2 Biosketch I might begin by simply pointing out that I was born in Asia, actually in the Philippines, in 9anila, in 1924. 9y father was sent out to 9anila in 1923 to manage the American Red Cross operation there. Concurrently, he had the position of field director for the American Red Cross in the Far East, so that through the years, I was able to tra1el with him to China and Japan during a 1ery interesting but critical period, the period of the Sino-Japanese undeclared war. Father, during those years, was trying to bring about a closer working relationship between the American, Chinese, and Japanese Red Cross societies, to assist non- combatants and to e1acuate non-combatants from critical areas. He worked on the Tokyo earthAuake before he came out and was 1ery well recei1ed by the Japanese Red Cross when he came through. All that by way of background. A. artime Internment By Japanese Army I spent most of my boyhood in the Philippines and elsewhere in the Far East, mostly China and Japan, and when the Japanese occupied the Philippines we were interned by them first at the Santo Tomas camp in 9anila, and later at the 2os Banos camp in the southern Philippines. &: I have several ,uestions about your internment. -irst of all, were you interned as an entire family. Secondly, I would li)e to )now what )ind of treatment you got in the cam . /ere you mistreated, other than having short rations, which were partly the fault of the 0a anese and partly just general wartime conditions. 2r did you have some severe treatment in the cam . FORSTER: .es, 2ew, to answer your first Auestion, we were all interned as a family. If you recall that occupation, it came 1ery fast. The Japanese actually in1aded the Philippines, the 14th Army, under General 9asaharu Homma, in late December. But from December 8th on they had complete control of the skies. Our planes, including the newly-arri1ed B-17s, were caught on the ground at Clark Field. Our P-40s simply could not take on the Iero fighters. e were in a bad way. And yet 9acArthurHs forces held on 1aliantly, trying to stem that tide. There were two major in1asions, one at the 2ingayen Gulf to the west, the other on the 2amon Bay side to the east, and it was a pincers mo1ement on 9anila. So almost until the week 9anila was declared an open city, which was just about Christmas Day, those of us in the ci1ilian community had actually been led to belie1e that we were holding the line. e were told that e1eryone should stay in 9anila, keep calm and stay off the main highways. e then could see the trucks coming through from the south in large numbers with American troops speeding north. e did not know they were on their way to Bataan, this deployment to escape capture and surrender in 9anila. 3 HommaHs objecti1e was to take 9anila, and he had been gi1en his orders by general headAuarters in Tokyo to capture 9acArthur in fifty daysH time. Of course, he did not due to 9acArthurHs strategic mo1e into the Bataan peninsula. That conflict went on until Corregidor fell in early 9ay of 1942. Back to 9anila, to get to your Auestion. On December 30th, we were all instructed to mo1e from our homes, to go into selected hotels, and the one we were all put into, about a thousand of us, was the Bay Ciew Hotel, which still is there, across from the American Embassy. The United States High Commissioner, Francis Sayre, by that time had gone with 9acArthur to Corregidor. The President of the Philippines, 9anuel Juezon, had also gone to Corregidor. e had no knowledge of all this. e knew that something was happening, because 9anila had suddenly been declared an open city by 9acArthur, and there was a large banner o1er the city hall declaring 9anila was now an open city. e tried to reason that out. It was ob1ious to us it was an open city and that meant the Japanese could come in at any time. And they did. They came in the day after New .earHs E1e. ,ow, on December 31st, New .earHs E1e, I accompanied by father down to the military pier, Pier 1, for the e1acuation of the last, most se1erely wounded Americans and Filipinos aboard an old inter-island ship, the 9actan. Cery little is known about this first mercy ship of orld ar II. 9y father was instructed by 9acArthur to get the wounded out of Sternberg Hospital which was a military hospital right in 9anila, and he didnHt want to ha1e them captured by the Japanese. So about the only boat that was still afloat was this old inter-island 1essel which had been in the Battle of Jutland. In no time at all, he was able to get Filipinos together to paint that boat white and red crosses on the side. On New .earHs E1e, 9anila was ringed by fires Dwe were submitting it to scorched earth tactics all the week beforeE and I went down with Dad to board the 9actan. .ou had the wounded from 2ingayen and the fighting in the south and it was a 1ery sad, 1ery historical time. I remember the captain was a Filipino captain, Julian Tamayo. 9y father was concerned about his being able to clear the minefield at Corregidor. He asked Tamayo if he felt he could manage that all right, and Tamayo said, no problem, he had the US Na1y charts, heHd get them through. His destination for the wounded was Sydney and the ship pulled slowly away from the pier just hours before the occupation of the city. 9y father had final clearance from the International Red Cross in Gene1a. He ne1er did get a response from then Prince Shimadzu, the director of the Japanese Red Cross in Tokyo, although Shimadzu had informed him earlier that they would respect this ship. Then there was silence. At that point, mind you, the Japanese forces were just on the outskirts of 9anila. e could hear the artillery firing. e watched the little ship mo1e out across the bay that night. It was a dramatic sight, with the city on fire, this little white ship with the red crosses on the hull lit up with spotlights. 4 9y dad ne1er knew until he returned to the States--he was later e0changed aboard the Gripsholm--whether that ship had managed to get through. It was always on his mind. They did make it. They had a few close calls in the Celebes, but Captain Tamayo got the 9actan limping into Sydney and the Aussies were up on the bridge singing G altzing 9atilda,G a tremendous welcome to the sur1i1ors who managed to get through on that ship. ThatHs getting away from your Auestion, but I just wanted to share some of that background, because you ha1e to realize the suddenness of the whole thing, how Auickly it hit us. &: I(ve never heard most of this story. I thin) it will be a very interesting addition to the interview.