Charles S. Lawrence - Assignment To The Philippines

Assignment To The Philippines

By the start of World War II, Lawrence was a lieutenant-colonel in the United States Army Quartermaster Corps serving in the Philippines when Japan invaded the country on December 22, 1941, as part of the Asian nation's Pacific conquests, now known as the Battle of the Philippines. During this time, the quartermasters (including Lawrence) attempted to purchase as much food as possible to outlast the invaders, but were stopped by their own commanding generals. This accounted for losses of 10 million pounds of rice as a result in one instance. In Lawrence's case at Tarlac where he served as depot commander, he had planned on seizing about 2,000 cases of canned food, mostly fish and corned beef, and a large amount of clothing from Japanese firms stationed in the Philippines, but was refused by General Douglas MacArthur's headquarters claiming that Lawrence had no right to confiscate these items. In fact, MacArthur's staff threatened the lieutenant-colonel with court martial if he attempted to take those supplies. The supplies were not taken as a result and were later destroyed during the Battle of Bataan.