This week, 58 years ago, they laid Captain James Fisher MD to rest under a fruit tree in the village where he breathed his last. He was medic to the 120 US Army Rangers led by Col. Mucci on an audacious mission to that part of the Philippines. They marched 30 miles behind Japanese lines to emancipate American prisoners of war suffering at the cruel Cabanatuan prison camp.
Early that Wednesday evening the first shots commenced the joint attack by the rangers and 330 Filipino guerillas. The Rangers concentrated on the sacking of Cabanatuan itself. By time the final rounds were spent a thousand Japanese soldiers had perished. Most of these were slain by the Filipinos. It was a superbly executed raid and every prisoner was freed. The gruesome place of suffering lay wasted and humiliated. Captain Prince, the assault commander, went from barracks to foul smelling barracks to be sure that every captive was out. During the fight to subdue the camp's guards Captain Fisher was mortally wounded when a guard lobbed three mortar rounds into the crowd of soldiers and POW's at the camp gate.
He came there to free 500 gaunt stick figures that had languished 3 years in a hellhole. Many of them were survivors of the notorious death march from Bataan. When General McArthur fled the Philippines after his famous 1942 promise: "I shall return" General King was left to preside over the surrender of his 78,000 man Army. Homma, the Japanese commander moved them out of the combat zone for his final onslaught on Corregidor Island. He greatly underestimated both the size of the capitulating American and Filipino army and the condition of their health. 750 Americans and 5,000 Filipinos perished from disease and exhaustion on that grim trek. Others were slain by their guards when they faltered. The camp was little better. 20 perished each week.
By the end of 1944 the tide of war in the Philippines had changed. The returned McArthur army was driving back the Japanese. American High Command learned that POWs were executed during the retreat. Mucci's rangers were to save Cabanatuan's gaunt garrison. Fisher died to offer those men a chance at new life. His last words unselfishly wished his comrades: "Good luck on the way out"
I know another young healer who journeyed from heaven to hell. Along the way He said that the Spirit of the Lord was upon him to recover the sight of the blind and to set captives free. He was wounded too - wounded for my transgressions. He died that my prison doors might swing open. Meeting that doctor changed my life.
Dr. Fisher, a Harvard man, was the son of a famous author and teacher. Yet he greatly disliked the pomp demanded by some army doctors. "Just call me Dr. Jimmy," was his oft-repeated introduction to the rangers. Humility was his mark. The Doctor that saved my life humbled Himself too. They carried Fisher to the nearby village after the battle and dosed him with morphine. At one point became conscious and asked: "The prisoners - did we get them all?" "Every last one of them." was the reply. In dying agony - he was still thinking about the mission.
The aircraft they had been promised, the one for who's arrival the villagers toiled all night to construct a runway ÿ
never came. There was no last minute deliverance from death for Dr. Jimmy. The mission to free the captives was sealed
in his blood. My Captivity to sin ended when I believed that Jesus came and died for me. "Sacred Hands of Jesus, they
were bound for me. Wounded hands of Jesus stretched upon a tree, ever interceding, mercy is their plea; their effectual
pleading brings grace to me." There was no other way to save you and me.