Wonderful Lug

Through the rain a company of battle-seasoned Philippine Scouts slopped up toward the Bataan front, rifles aslant. Against the downpour they held their heads high. They had a reason. Leading them, just out of the hospital and headed for more Japs, was their company commander, Captain Arthur Wermuth of Chicago, the One-Man Army of Bataan (TIME, Feb. 23).

Heavy-footed, unbashful Captain Wermuth splashed great spurts from the puddies as he strode, and the front files grinned at his equipment: a tommy gun slung across his back, two revolvers (he does not trust automatics) snugged by their horsehide lanyards to his long legs, grenades bulging his pockets and haversack. The little Scouts knew this was no showcase equipment. Bataan's One-Man Army, who brags a heap but always makes good, is officially credited by his regimental commander with killing at least 80 Japs singlehanded. Flamboyant Captain Wermuth, who often works alone, claims 116. His men do not question his count.

This time he was going back to the front with handsome recognition from his country: the Distinguished Service Cross* and Silver Star Medal for gallantry, the Purple Heart with two clasps, signifying his three battle wounds. Two of his wounds were still bandaged; the third did not show. In his last brush with the Jap, Arthur Wermuth had been shot in the chest, close to the heart. When he announced that he was going back to the front, the doctors in the tent hospital shook their heads and let him go. The wound was still open and draining as Wermuth sloshed through the rain to his next appointment.

Back home, his wife told reporters that she was proud of "that wonderful lug."

*To equal his father's World War I record, he still needs an oak leaf for his D.S.C.

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