Charles M. Smith escaped from Mindanao to Australia during WW2

In January 1943, Charles M. Smith was a mining engineer in the Philippines and was nearing the end of his three year contract which had a large completion bonus. When Americans surrendered the archipelago he was trapped in the Philippines. He had earlier sent his wife Kathryn and their two young sons back to their former home in Texas.

After several months in the jungles of Mindanao, Charles M. Smith and fellow mining engineers Jordan Hamner and A. Y. "Chick" Smith, decided to sail to Australia with two Filipinos as crew to escape their uncertain predicament.

In January 1943, the five men set sail in a 21 foot sailboat with an 8 foot beam from Mindanao and traveled 1,200 miles to Darwin in the Northern Territory in northern Australia. They added some weight to the keel to provide more stability in the open waters and a small Japanese engine. As they could only carry a small amount of fuel the engine was only to be used in emergency situations.

They travelled through areas patrolled by the Japanese Navy, using only a simple map of the Far East and a Brunton compass owned by Charles M. Smith. Twice they were in view of a Japanese Task force that was making its landings on Borneo.

Lieutenant Colonel Wendell Fertig, another former mining engineer and then head of the guerilla forces in Mindanao made arrangements with Hamner and Charles M. Smith to take call letters and a code book to Australia, allowing Fertig to establish an American radio station in Mindanao. They promised Fertig that they would try to convince General Douglas MacArthur to send supplies from Australia to the guerrillas. Charles M. Smith and Wendell Fertig had met General MacArthur in Manila from time to time before the war started.

Charles M. Smith was enlisted as a Captain in the US Army Corps of Engineers in Australia and took on a very important role working with Commander "Chick" Parsons. With his knowledge of the Philippines and Filipinos he was given the responsibility for managing the security arrangements for transporting large quantities of supplies to the guerillas in the Philippines mainly using a very large ex WWI submarine USS Narwhal. It was almost twice the size of other US Navy submarines.

Jordan Hamner, also enlisted in the US Army as a Captain. He later led a penetration party into Tawi Tawi and Borneo. The much older A. Y. "Chick" Smith returned to the United States as a civilian.

Captain Charles M. Smith and Commander "Chick" Parsons were inserted into Mindanao by operational submarine late in February 1943. Parsons and Col. Wendell Fertig worked out security details for USS Narwhal's upcoming landing on Mindanao.

Charles M. Smith setup a radio station overlooking Davao harbour. The radio station sent out valuable reports of Japanese shipping and other intelligence information throughout the war. Smith and Parsons returned to Australia soon after the radio station became operational.

Captain Charles M. Smith travelled to the United States to locate material suitable for clandestine jungle missions. He commandeered radios and supporting equipment for urgent shipment to Brisbane. He returned to Australia and was promoted to Major in November 1943. By then he was organising another invasion party to go to the Philippines to install more radio stations and a spy network on Samar Island and southern Luzon. Smith and Parsons were responsible for the security of USS Narwhal to carry weapons, ammunition, and other supplies to the guerrilla movement on Mindanao, where his party went ashore. Colonel Whitney presented Major Charles M. Smith to General Douglas MacArthur in his office in Brisbane at 7:45pm on Friday 19 November 1943. Smith was about to leave on his special mission to the Philippines.

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