American history has a local face
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Photo by Franklin Hayes / Photo Illustration by Nikola Stamenkovich / Gulf Breeze News Ben Farrens stands infront of a portrait of himself in uniform painted by his talented wife, Juanita Farrens. The retired Airman served behind enemy lines in the Philippines for three years during World War II. Farrens and his American guerilla fighters lived in the hills of Mindanao and survived by eating boiled grasshoppers and wild monkeys.

The ancient Roman philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero once said: "History is the witness of the times, the torch of truth, the life of memory, the teacher of life and the messenger of antiquity."

Since the creation of Santa Rosa County's "Freedom," an American history textbook that includes input from local combat veterans, and the completion of the Veterans Plaza Park in downtown Milton, it's no secret that many residents of Santa Rosa County understand the sacrifices made by

members of the armed forces.

With that sense of respect for

those who served comes a hunger for greater knowledge that these experienced veterans can pass along.

Two local residents, Beverly "Ben" Farrens of Gulf Breeze and Fred Schneider of Milton, have incredible stories to share about their experiences in the South Pacific during World War II and what it means to serve the home of the brave during a time of war.

Schneider, who currently owns and operates a security business in Milton, joined the Navy in July of 1941 - five months before the bombing of Pearl Harbor. After serving throughout the Pacific for nearly four years, Schneider was aboard the USS Missoula on the morning of Feb. 23, 1945 as the United States Marines Corps began their devastating assault on the Japanese-held island of Iwo Jima.

"That morning, a Marine officer came up to me and wanted a flag," Schneider said.

The retired sailor believes a Life Magazine article verifies the flag he issued that brisk February morning could be the one memorialized in Joe Rosenthal's legendary, Pulitzer Prize-winning picture of six Marines rasing the stars and stripes on Mount Suribachi.

"It gives me a sense of pride that I had a hand in history," said Schneider, now 83.

Schneider added that he was thrilled and enthralled by Clint Eastwood's new film "Flags of Our Fathers" which depicts events surrounding the photograph of the marines atop the mountain.

"The basic story was as close to reality as you could get," he said. Schneider commented that the film was a great example of wartime sto- rytelling and highly recommended people see it. "Anything to do with honoring our veterans is something the general pubic should see," he said. "As a whole, the young men and women who serve their country should be remembered as someone who sacrificed a lot - but they are doing their duty. They should be honored for that. People have a tendency to forget."

Although Steven Spielberg may not yet have directed a film about Ben Farrens and the American Guerrillas of Mindano Island, he may want to look into it.

After enlisting in the Air Corps in 1939 in response to Hitler's invasion of Poland, Farrens did not return to the U.S. until 1945 after spending more than three years fighting from behind enemy lines in the Philippines. When approximately 75,000 other American and Filipino forces surrendered to the Japanese in the spring of 1942, Farrnes fled into the jungle and eventually caught a boat to the island of Mindanao, avoiding capture and the Bataan Death March. There, on the second largest Philippine island, Farrens and 13 other airmen sought refuge in the hills, lived off the charity of the Muslim and Pagan population and successfully evaded Japanese troops.

"Some guys walked 30 or 40 miles to surrender [to the Japanese]. We said 'the hell with that' and went into the hills," Farrens said with a burst of youthful enthusiasm in his eye.

Only five of his comrades survived the first year of fighting the enemy, disease, depression and starvation. However, the remaining soldiers weren't just running from the enemy, they were actively operating a guerrilla campaign that the Imperial Japanese Army never successfully compromised. Farrens and his group set up a spy/supply network of radio towers, dirt airstrips and command stations along the northern coast of Mindanao.

"I spent three years fighting guerilla warfare," Farrens wrote in a post-war letter addressing his surviving companions. "We had 16 submarines come in from Perth, Australia, made our own money, controlled the price of corn and other supplies. We had the best guerilla organization of the 7,000 islands. I got commissioned behind the lines and came home a captain," wrote Farrens, who began the war as a private.

Farrens also said his motley crew rescued 82 of 750 prisoners of war (POWs) from a destroyed Japanese ship, saved over 100 and buried 35 Airmen from decimated aircraft and rescued 22 POWs that escaped from a nearby Japanese prison camp.

Despite the success of the men who remained behind when Gen. Douglas MacArthur evacuated the Philippines in 1942, their stay was not without its tragedies and tribulations.

Farrens described in great detail episodes of recovering from malaria without medication

and eating boiled grasshoppers and wild monkeys to survive. At one point, a tropical storm passed through while the American guerillas were living in the jungles, Farrens said. The rag-tag yanks spent the night sleeping while standing up in knee-deep water around the base of a large tree as the storm passed. Farrens also said three of his men committed suicide on three different occasions as a result of their bleak circumstances.

"You might think I'm crazy, but the thought [of suicide] never crossed my mind," Farrens said. "I'd figured I'd made it this far, why give up now? I came home with my life. If you're not doing it [fighting a war], you don't have any idea what it was like. I did my share and I have no regrets, whatsoever."

While serving in the Philippines within enemy territory, Farrens met and married his wife of more than 60 years, Juanita Farrens, a native Filipino.