1. Wendell Fertig was an American civil engineer, in the American-administered Commonwealth of the Philippines, who organized and commanded an American-Filipino guerrilla force on the Japanese-occupied, southern Philippine island of Mindanao during World War II.
Wendell Fertig faced about 50,000 Japanese soldiers, mostly garrison troops in towns and cities.
Almost as soon as he arrived, the US Army forces on Mindanao surrendered, but Wendell Fertig refused to do so.
Wendell Fertig used his knowledge of the Filipino people to organize them into a guerrilla army and civilian government.
Wendell Fertig used his engineering knowledge to solve problems in supply and construction.
Wendell Fertig led the guerrillas against the Japanese and their collaborators, mostly in hit-and-run raids and vital coast watching activities.
At those times, Wendell Fertig had his forces retreat and disperse before the Japanese advance and respond with pinprick attacks on small, isolated Japanese units.
Wendell Fertig spent four years as commander of the Reserve Officers Training Corps detachment at the Colorado School of Mines, his Alma mater, and served in a US-based psychological warfare unit during the Korean War.
Wendell Welby Fertig was born in La Junta, Colorado, where he lived until he completed high school.
Wendell Fertig then attended the University of Colorado before transferring to the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado to study engineering.
Early in 1941, Wendell Fertig was on leave in Manila from his job on Samar.
Colonel Wendell Fertig was ordered off Corregidor to join General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters in Australia.
Wendell Fertig arrived on Mindanao on April 30,1942, and was assigned to supervise the demolition of main roads and bridges to prevent their use by the Japanese.
Wendell Fertig consented, but then used his knowledge of the Filipino people and the current situation in Mindanao to take over the command of that group and then others.
Wendell Fertig used his engineering skills and the skills of other escaped Americans and resisting Filipinos to create many supplies from scratch.
Wendell Fertig assigned him the task of building a radio even though Almendres had never handled one.
Part of this investigative process involved Mary Wendell Fertig, who was contacted for personal information on her husband's life.
Mrs Wendell Fertig was in receipt of a letter that her husband had sent on the last American plane leaving Mindanao.
In February 1943, with tenuous communication established, General MacArthur appointed Wendell Fertig as Commanding Officer of the 10th Military District on Mindanao.
Wendell Fertig admitted that gathering intelligence was an important mission that he would support.
However, due to the numerous atrocities that the Japanese were committing against the Philippine population, the only way that Wendell Fertig could continue to recruit and maintain a guerrilla force was to attack the Japanese when and where the guerrillas had a chance of winning, so as to provide the Filipinos an outlet for revenge against the Japanese.
Wendell Fertig stated that if he ordered his men to stop killing the Japanese, then his men would follow other leaders who would probably not be willing to cooperate with MacArthur's headquarters and its directives.
Wendell Fertig knew that leaders would emerge from the Filipinos, some guerrilla bands already had strong leaders, but he needed them now.
Wendell Fertig told many that they would be returned when a means was found, but that they would never be allowed to return.
Colonel Wendell Fertig slowly assumed control over more of the existing, rival guerrilla units on Mindanao and turned them to harassing the Japanese.
However, to retain the loyalty of his forces in the wake of Japanese atrocities, Wendell Fertig had to wage an active campaign to kill Japanese and their collaborators, as well as disrupt activities aimed at civilians.
Attacks against Japanese troops often initiated terrible reprisals by the Japanese against local civilians, so Wendell Fertig issued orders that the guerrillas on Mindanao were to avoid situations that would result in such reprisals.
Wendell Fertig even created a navy by arming several small merchant vessels, which he used to protect convoys of small vessels that helped distribute supplies brought in by Allied submarines.
Wendell Fertig soon issued orders that pilots were not allowed to go on patrol with the guerrillas, as some of the more enthusiastic pilots were doing.
Wendell Fertig knew they were more important flying missions against Japanese targets.
Besides, Colonel Wendell Fertig now had a good supply of experienced, battle-hardened American and Filipino leaders for his combat patrols.
Wendell Fertig did not preside over the guerrillas on Mindanao without controversy.
In 1942, Wendell Fertig was persuaded to take leadership of the incipient guerrilla movement by a Filipino policeman named Luis Morgan who realized that an American leader was necessary to get support from the American military.
Wendell Fertig resigned his position as chief of staff on August 10,1943, claiming that Fertig undermined him and other Filipinos by favoritism to Americans.
McCoy concluded that Wendell Fertig wasn't used to dealing with equals.
Wendell Fertig's opinion was that McClish and Childress were "disloyal, incompetent," and had done little for the guerrilla movement on Mindanao.
McClish and Childress were among several American officers serving under Wendell Fertig who requested transfers from the guerrillas to regular US army commands which became possible after the US invasion of the Philippines on October 20,1944.
Wendell Fertig relieved, at their request, Childress on December 29,1944, and McClish on January 23,1945.
Some scholars question why Wendell Fertig did not receive the Medal of Honor, despite his considerable military achievements at great risk of his life.
In May 1946, Colonel Wendell Fertig was awarded the US Army Distinguished Service Medal.
Colonel Wendell Fertig was released from active duty in 1956 after serving as deputy director of the joint staff for the provisional military assistance advisory group in South Korea from 1954 to 1955.
Wendell Fertig was widely regarded as a hero by the people of Mindanao.
Wendell Fertig ran a successful mining company in Colorado until he died on March 24,1975 at the Lutheran Hospital in Wheat Ridge.