Wendell Fertig - Post-war

Post-war

Some scholars question why Fertig did not receive the Medal of Honor, considering his considerable military achievements at great risk of his life. Others question why, when Fertig commanded so large an army of irregular guerrillas, he was not promoted to brigadier general when other men, who were never in combat, received that rank as the U.S. Army grew in size. William Manchester, in his 1978 biography of MacArthur, American Caesar, offers the opinion that MacArthur and his staff may have had their own agenda in minimizing the efforts of Fertig, other resistance leaders and the guerrillas themselves in liberating the Philippines. For example, The American Joint Chiefs of Staff had authorized General MacArthur to liberate the island of Luzon, but had not given him authority to do so to any of the other Philippine islands. However, after Luzon, MacArthur made unauthorized invasions of numerous other islands and only later did the Joint Chiefs give retroactive endorsement. Manchester writes "He (MacArthur) wanted to become the liberator of the Philippines." The Japanese Army's practice of referring to Fertig as "Major General Fertig, Commander in Chief in the Philippines" throughout the occupation period and its use of Japanese military notation in referring to the 10th Military District as the "10 Army Group" did not endear Fertig to MacArthur's headquarters.

Manchester also relates that Lieutenant Colonel Courtney Whitney, an "ultraconservative Manila corporation lawyer" was assigned to MacArthur's staff, promoted, and assigned responsibility for Philippine civil affairs. Manchester states that:

...from the standpoint of the guerrillas he was a disastrous choice. Undiplomatic and belligerent, he was condescending toward all Filipinos, except those who, like himself, had substantial investments in the Philippines... and by the time MacArthur was ready to land on Leyte, Whitney had converted most of the staff to reactionaryism. At his urging the General (MacArthur) barred OSS agents from the Southwest Pacific, because Whitney suspected they would aid leftwing guerrillas.

By minimizing the efforts of the guerrilla movement in freeing the Philippines, Whitney also robbed it of political clout after the war to make any substantial liberal changes in Philippine government and society after the war.

In May 1946, Colonel Fertig was awarded the U.S. Army Distinguished Service Medal. The citation reads in part:

Constantly engaged with vastly superior enemy forces, he engendered Filipino faith and confidence in their ultimate deliverance, instilled in them the will to resist, and united them in the cause of freedom. By his outstanding courage, tireless determination, and brilliant leadership, Colonel Fertig made an inestimable contribution to the liberation of the Philippine Islands.

After the war, Fertig spent four years as the officer-in-charge of ROTC at the Colorado School of Mines, a surprisingly low-level post after such a distinguished war time career.

However, when the Korean War began, he spent two years at the Pentagon with a psychological warfare unit. From July 1951 to June 1952, he was the Special Forces Plans Officer in the Office of the Chief of Psychological Warfare with Headquarters U.S. Army. Then from June 1952 to August 1953, he served as Deputy Chief of Psychological Warfare. It was during this time that he helped establish the Army's Psychological Warfare Center at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, which later became the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School. Due to his wartime experiences and post-war work, Fertig is one of three men who "used their wartime experience to formulate the doctrine of unconventional warfare that became the cornerstone of SF ," and is considered one of the founding fathers of the U.S. Army Special Forces.

Colonel Fertig was released from active duty in the mid-1950s.

Fertig was widely regarded as a hero by the people of Mindanao. In June 1958, Wendell Fertig and his wife returned to Mindanao on a business trip. As the inter-island freighter pulled into Cagayan, the ship's captain approached Ferting and said, "Sir, I think friends await you." As numerous small craft full of shouting men surrounded the ship, Wendell and Mary Fertig saw:

...thousands of Filipinos waiting at the waterfront at Cagayan... They had come from every corner of Mindanao... There were masses of women in the white uniforms of the Women's Auxiliary Service, and men wearing caps of the Philippine Veterans Legion, and the red fezzes of the Moros... The men were shouting and the women were singing...

It was then that they saw the huge banner over the pier:

Wendell Fertig ran a successful mining company in Colorado until he died in 24 March 1975.