We Remained: Three Years Behind Enemy Lines in the Philippines

An adventure-packed narrative, unique in American military history.

"We remained" was the answer to General MacArthur's famous promise, "I shall return." It was the answer of the American-Filipino guerrillas of Northern Luzon. It was the motto of those who refused to surrender and who escaped to carry on the fight behind enemy lines. Colonel Russell W. Volckmann commanded this guerrilla force.

This is Colonel Volckmann's account of his personal experiences in guerrilla warfare and in the resistance movement against a ruthless enemy. He tells of the many events that led up to the final open conflict with the Japanese occupation forces. Colonel Volckmann recounts for the reader the fateful decision not to obey the surrender order at the fall of Bataan; the tortuous escape from the Japanese and the long flight through the jungle to the north; the friendship of the headhunting Igorots and the dead-shot Hugaos who provided hideouts; the slow building via the underground from the original four men to a guerrilla force of over 20,000 Filipinos and Americans which crushed the Japanese forces is Northern Luzon.

This book reveals a side of modern warfare about which little has been told. It is a phase of war that calls for unusual devotion to cause, unswerving determination and courage, true patriotism, and the ingenuity to overcome insurmountable obstacles.

R. W. Volckmann was brought up in Clinton, Iowa. He graduated from the United States Military Academy in 1934 and from Infantry School in 1938. After World War II he attended the Armed Forces Staff College and the National War College. Colonel Volckmann's decorations include the Distinguished Service Cross with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Distinguished Service Medal, the Silver Star, the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star with Oak Leaf Cluster, and the Distinguished Service Star, Philippine Republic