Thord-Robinson: soldier of fortune

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Part of The American Chamber of Commerce Journal

Title: Thord-Robinson: soldier of fortune
Language: English
Source: The American Chamber of Commerce Journal Volume XIII (No. 7) July 1933
Year: 1933
Rights
Fulltext: 18 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL July, 1933 Thord-Robinson: Soldier of Fortune By H. W. Lombard In command of a company of the famous Philippine Constabulary with which I had been in the field in the north central part of Luzon, I had been called to Manila and told that certain military steps were to be taken in Mindanao with a view to putting a stop to a general unrest which seemed to be affecting the Moros. This meant that I was to bring my company into Manila, draw new equipment and supplies and sail for the Northern Coast of Mindanao. A short period in Manila and off we went for Mindanao. We sailed for Iloilo, on the Island of Panay, and there we were to wait for a CoastGuard Cutter which was to pick us up and take us to a point on the Northern Coast of Mindanao and-there dump us off on the edge of the jungle to shift for ourselves. The prospect was pleasing to me and the men were tickled pink with the prospect of field service in Mindanao. On the trip down, their principal talk was of fighting in general and more specifically of the new women whom they would conquer. When we got to Iloilo we found no coast guard cutter so I put my men up in the local Constabulary cuartel and myself went to live with Captain Bobby Page, the provincial com mander. He was quite a little older than I and much senior. We were good friends and I settled down to wait for our boat. The following Sunday morning, Page and I were sitting on his veranda when the whistle announcing the arrival of the boat from Manila sounded. He lived on the main road leading from the muelle to the town and soon the passengers came drifting by all intent on getting quickly to their respective destinations. We watched them pass, a heterogeneous kalaidoscopic crowd shading from sun blackened field hands through the paler clerk class to paler aristocrats. Page replying in kind to the friendly salutations and greetings shouted by those who knew him. At the very last, up the road in the distance came a tall figure which we knew intuitively and instantly to be that of •a white man. He strode briskly along under the blazing sun and I shall never forget the way his brilliantly polished riding boots glistened and gleamed as his legs moved back and forth. They were without doubt the shiniest booths I have ever seen. As he came nearer we could see that he was tall, erect and rangy; and that while well worn his riding breeches and khaki shirt were immacu lately clean and well starched. He also wore at the correct military angle a well weathered campaign hat. He was followed by an Ilongo boy who carried a clothing and a bedding roll. As he approached, Page stepped to the edge of the porch and called to him, inviting him to come up and have a drink. He accepted, and when he got to us it was easily seen that here was an educated man, a man of breeding and we felt that in his acceptance he had conferred a favor on us. It is difficult for me to describe a man’s face. His was striking, thin, weather beaten, intelligent and attractive. His voice was of beautifully modulated Oxford quality. He was, in all, a gentleman who knew how to be a guest. Page explained ov.er the whiskey-soda that he was the provincial commander, that he would have to report to him on the morrow and fill in a personal questionaire, since the government at Manila insisted on knowing where all white men in the Philippines were. The idea seemed normal to him and he gave his name as Ivan Thord-Robinson. Aside from his name and the fact that he was thirty-four years old, single and English, he gave us no formal personal history. But later, at lunch, his conversation indicated that he had been in South America, although he left us in the air as to what coun tries he had visited. Lunch that day was an enjoyable function and stands out as one of the most interesting at which I have ever assisted. I don’t know why, since nothing out of the ordinary was said by any of us. Our guest was a charming conver sationalist, but aside from telling us why he had come, said nothing about his past. It was just an occasion when three strangers who found each other thoroughly congenial had met under the roof of a genia;l host in a far country. I shall never forget the charm of Thord-Robinson nor my admiration of his style of speech, his choice of words and his calm easy mannerism. He seemed to be intensely interested in us and in our service. So interested that almost during the entire lunch he devoted himself to drawing us out. And we, so proud of the feats of our men, their bravery under fire, their shoot ing ability, their soldierly qualities, the heroism of our outstanding officers, the traditions of our corps, were led to story after story, viewing with each other, Page florifying his Visayan troops and I my soldiers from northen Luzon until his eyes were shining, and his voice rang with a splendid toast to the men of the khaai and red. His story was short, and after he finished we found that all we knew about him was that he had come to the Philippines because he had heard that here was a native army officered by white men and he wanted to join it. Great was his disappointment at learning that in order to secure a commission one must be an American citizen and a graduate of an Amer ican college or university. Having heard that a railroad was being built on the Island of Panay, he had come to the headquarters of the American engineer to secure employment. That was his story and told us why he was with us. The next morning took him over to the office of the chief engineer, where he was taken on as a time-keeper for one of the up-country grading camps at $75 a month. We saw him off, and as the construction train rolled out of Iloilo I felt that I had seen the last of a soldier of fortune and a gentleman but such was not to be. In due course my coastguard came, picked us up, and in a few days dumped us on a lovely beach at the edge of a jungle as beautiful and alluring as a siren—and as faithless. There followed a few months of hard and interesting campaigning and then into the “jewel town” of Zamboanga and back to our station at Dagupan to pick up again the threads of assisting in the preservation of law and order among the 500,000 souls of the great province of Pangasinan. Time went on. Except for minor disturbances of no importance and the occasional pursuit of roving bands of cattle thieves, interspersed with the regular round of drills, guard mounting and social contacts at the provincial capital, 13 kilometers away, nothing happened and I took leave and visited Manila. Page had been to the States, married. On his return to Manila he had resigned and was now comfortably settled as the resident secretary of a large Canadian life insurance company. His home became a daily heaven of refuge at tea time. After I had left Iloilo for Mindanao, he told me, an inspection trip had taken him up-country. He had met Thord-Robinson and had invited him to spend his week-ends at Iloilo. His invitation had been accepted and Page said that he had enjoyed the visits more than ne ever had with any other man. Thord-Robinson had never told any more about himself, but had proved to have those masculine qualities which enabled him to radiate companionship even though he and Page did nothing but sit together with their pipes and smoke. One day, several months later, he had appeared with his clothing and bedding roll and told Page that he was away. He had heard that the French had a native army in French Indochina, that it was officered by whites and he was off to give it a whirl. Page had heard from him several times and dug out his most interesting letters for me to read. To me they were all too brief and told a fascinating story. He had arrived at Saigon and there found that it was true that the French had native troops, but the officers were all French. There was no room for him and nothing to do but move on, so he had boarded a dirty little Chinese trading steamer captained by an Englishman who had spent 30 years on the China coast and had gone to Java. In some way he had found that the Dutch had native troops officered by white men and that they were busily engaged in punitive expeditions against the Achmets, wild tribes of Java or Sumatra, who had made themselves trouble some. There it was the same story. It was true that the Dutch were having trouble with their wild tribes, and it was true that they had a native army. But the officers and leading non commissioned officers were Dutch and the positions were only available to whites of that nationality. Here was an impasse. Thord-Robinson had traveled far and long to achieve his purpose. His quest had led him across a continent and wide seas and he had met nothing but set-backs. His letters said nothing about disappointment, however, but here was action which he had determined to get in on in some way or other. Taught by his experience in Saigon, he had not made the mistake of applying to the Dutch commandant. In conversation around town and at the hotel he had satisfied himself as to his ineligibility, but the will to stay and see was indomitable. At first he decided to represent himself as a writer and ask to be allowed to go to the turbulent area in search of material. This impulse was stifled in time and he abandon ed the idea upon learning that Dutch officialdom was unalterably opposed to publicity in con nection with any other activity than that depict ing industry, agriculture and the generally peaceful conditions in their overseas empire. However, he did hear that their transport in the mountains was faulty and unsatisfactory in that they depended on cargadores, which meant that all ammunitions, equipment and food supplies were carried on the backs or heads of friendly natives. Here was his chance. Calling on the chief quartermaster, he told him of the wonderfully satisfactory work done by mules in other armies. Working desperately against apathy, indifference and disbelief, and carrying his fight to higher quarters he finally persuaded them to try it out in a limited way. This meant employment in a civilian capacity, a short trip to China with a Dutch officer to buy the mules, and their training, together with personnel, on his return. Altogether he had spent about 9 months, had visited and worked in the troublesome sector and was now ready to seek other fields wherein he could be active as a belligerent. About this time Italy was having trouble with her colony in Algiers. Among her troops was a foreign legion and there in the first contingent to leave for African shores was Ivan ThordRobinson, gentleman and soldier of fortune. His letters did not say how long he had been in Africa, nor how long a legionnaire. But they did contain a small photo showing a field piece, a few' spiggatty soldiers lined up, and out in front our friend, now a captain in Madera’s army in Mexico. Back to my station. The interesting and busy routine of company administration; forma tions, patrols, inspection and supervision of the 23 municipal police forces in my district together w’ith hunting and sports absorbed my time and I thought infrequently of our gentlemen adven turer. Others had swum in and out of my life and his memory dimmed. Came 1914. The drums of war were beating and I felt that we were losing out. The jungle of accountrements, the roll of the guns, the smell of the powder were incessantly with me in our peaceful country and when in 1917 Amer ica went in I was soon a civilian en route to the (Please turn to page 25) July, 1933 THE AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE JOURNAL 25 Stocks: Stocks in the U.K., U.S., Cuba, Java and European statistical countries were reported on June 29th as 7,671,000 tons, com pared with 7,764,000 tons in 1932 and 7,634,000 tons in 1931. Philippine Sales: Sales and resales of P. I. centrifugal sugar were reported in New York during the month as follows: Long Tons Cents per lb. From To Sales................................. 17,725 3.40 3.50 Resal*............................. 21,500 3.45 3.50 Local Market: Although exporting houses raised their quotations to P7.80—P8.15 per picul, very little business was transacted at this level during the first three weeks owing to scarcity of present-crop sugar. During the last week, however, large sales of centrifugal sugar ag gregating over 7000 tons were made to an ex PHILIPPINE CENTRIFUGAL SUGAR PRODUCTION FOR 1932-33 (Compiled by the Philippine Sugar Association, July 11, 1933) Centrals on Negros 1. Bacolod-Murcia Milling Co................................................................ 2. Binalbagan Estate, Inc....................................................................... 3. Central Azucarera de Bais........................................... .................. 4. Central Azucarera del Danao (*)...................................................... 5. Central Bearin..................................................................................... 6. Central De la Rama........................................................................... 7. Central Leonor..................................................................................... 8. Central Palma.............................................................................. 9. Central San Isidro............................................................................... 10. Hawaiian-Philippine Co...................................................................... 11. Isabela Sugar Co., Inc....................................................................... 12. La Cariota Sugar Central.'................................................................ 13. Lopez Sugar Central Mill (*)............................................................ 14. Ma-ao Sugar Central Co................................................................... 15. North Negros Sugar Co. (*).............................................................. 16. San Carlos Milling Co., Ltd.............................................................. 17. Talisay-Silay Milling Co.................................................................... 18. Victorias Milling Co........................................................................... Centrals on Luzon 19. Bataan Sugar Co................................................................................ 20. Calamba Sugar Estate....................................................................... 21. Central Azucarera de Calatagan...................................................... 22. Central Azucarera de Tarlac............................................................. 23. Central Azucarera del Norte............................................................. 24. Central Azucarera Don Pedro.......................................................... 25. Central Luzon Milling Co................................................................. 26. Hind Sugar Company......................................................................... 27. Luzon Sugar Company....................................................................... 28. Mabalacat Sugar Co........................................................................... 29. Mount Arayat Sugar Co.................................................................... 30. Nueva Ecija Sugar Mills, Inc.......................................................... 31. Pampanga Sugar Development Co.................................................. 32. Pampanga Sugar Mills....................................................................... 33. Paniqui Sugar Mills............................................................................ 34? Philippine Sugar Estates Dev. Co.................................................... Central on Mindoro 41. Philippine Milling Co......................................................................... Centrals on Cebu 42. Bogo-Medellin Milling Co.................................................................. 43. Cebu Sugar Company........................................................................ Central on Leyte 44. Ormoc Sugar Company (♦)............................................................... Total............................................................................. 6,019,703 374,732 Centrals on Panay 35. Asturias Sugar Central, Inc............................................................ 293,391 18,264 36. Central Lourdes................................................................................... 15,000 934 37. Central Santos-Lopez (*)................................................................... 266,000 16,559 38. Central Sara-Ajuy............................................................................... 109,027 6,787 39. Philippine Starch & Sugar Co............................................................ 141,910 8,834 40. Pilar Sugar Central............................................................................. 224,010 13,945 (*) Latest estimates, still grinding. porter at P8.00 per picul for delivery up to October 31st. Crop Prospects: The locust menace in the sugar districts, particularly of the southern islands, has not abated in spite of the active campaign being conducted by the government entities, and it is feared that the growing crop may suffer serious damage from the winged pest. The production for the 1933-34 crop, according to the preliminary estimates received from the individual Centrals, as cabled to Washington by the Philippine government authorities, is placed at 1,327,564 long tons equivalent to 1,486,871 short tons. The 1932-33 crop which has already been harvested except in the case of five Centrals, which are still grinding, will probably aggregate 1,149,044 long tons equivalent to 1,286,929 short tons. The production of each individual Central is tabulated in the attached statement compiled by the Philippine Sugar Association. Piculs Long Tons 722,343 664,719 769,971 220,000 167,280 85,000 60,000 141,096 166,500 1,060,221 449,680 1,209,296 500,000 700,522 1,279,000 696,867 823,910 936,065 10,652,470 663,126 73,000 748,222 75,743 1,193,571 45,000 463,802 464,383 51,210 87,872 38,577 176,543 50,991 1,130,433 1,172,405 167,648 80,303 1,049,338 163,053 208,904 174,788 383,692 190,000 i 4,715 74,301 2,801 28,872 28,909 3,188 5,470 2,402 10,990 3,174 70,371 72,983 10,436 4,999 65,323 10,150 13,004 10,881 23,885 11,828 18,458,256 1,149,044 Philippine Exports: Export statistics for the month of June as reported to us from private sources are as follows: Long Tons Centrifugals............................................. 33,847 Refined..................................................... 6,395 Total for the month.................... 40,242 Exports of these two grades of sugar from the Islands to the United States for the first eight months of the current crop year from November 1, 1932, to June 30, 1933, are as follows: Long Tons Centrifugals............................................. 929,052 Refined................................................... 45,351 Total exports to date.................... 975,403 It has been reliably estimated that a total of approximately 1,073,000 long tons equi valent to 1,090,000 metric tons will be ex ported to the United States from the Islands during the calendar year 1933. The amount exported from the Islands to the United States during the first half of the calendar year totals 746,124 long tons, indicating a balance of about 327,000 long tons still available for export to the United States during the last half of this year. Thord-Robinson: Soldier of Fortune (Continued from page 18) naval station at Cavite to enroll for active duty in my old outfit, the navy. Upon arrival at Manila, I phoned Page who insisted that I come out to the house to stay overnight. After a wonderful dinner, to me, Mrs. Page said, “Well, I know you boys want' to wade around in blood awhile and wave the banner, so I’m leaving. ” She had hardly gone when Page passed me a large envelope contain ing a folded sheet which read as follows: cMlaJaa an el^o'id-eR.o^inAan and 5Lu*tecntR ^Battalion, lJLacaIma incite jau to pfaAent at 5iefd SpaitA to on tK< ^SfainA of X X X X X X at Cai-10, 6^pt I cannot remember the name of the plains nor the date but the salient point was that he must at last have realized his dream; and I felt that he was back in the service from which I had always felt he had come. In 1921 I was back to the Philippines under orders for duty ashore at Olongapo. Page was still in Manila. We had corresponded some during the war. I had hardly gotten settled when he came into my room with an Illustrated London News, on the back cover of which appeared a three-quarter length picture of a splendidly military looking officer in dress uniform. Beneath was the following: “His Majesty, the King, has been graciously pleased to brevet Major Ivan Thord-Robinson a leftenant colonel in the Royal Fusileers. ” Page and I filled our glasses and drank to Major Thord-Robinson.’s continued good fortune.