Harold D. Collipriest: an interview by Winston P. Erickson, June 10, 2000: Saving the legacy tape no. 61

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Harold D. Collipriest lunch over here." un 10 20 0 It was the lunch hour period, so all of the general's staff were having their lunch. But he took me out to kind of a little screened veranda off to the side where he said "Your uncle wants to speak to you privately." And uncle Lloyd came in. And, as I mentioned, he was a colonel, and then we sat down and he told me. He said "I have to bring you bad news. Alan is missing in action." And, of course, that was devastating. WIN: Sure. HAL: We were really close. We were only 2-1 /2 years apart. We grew up very close. And we just visited for awhile. I was broken-hearted. He said that because of the army regulations I couldn't be sent to a division now, so I would be going back to Manila. He said since General MacArthur was the supreme commander of the allied forces in the Pacific that under his orders they had requested a continuing search for Alan. My uncle said he had personally spoken with Admiral Nimitz, the Naval Commander in Chief in the Pacific, and he had sent out further search and rescue. They had not found him. So after my Uncle and I were through with our meeting, they sent me back to Manila, and I was actually assigned to General Frayne Baker's office. General Baker was later transferred to another assignment. However, I stayed in Manila until the end of the war, so it wasn't too long. I was overseas for about thirteen or fourteen months. That's when I eventually came home. The A-bomb was dropped on Hiroshima while I was there in Manila, and that was a huge experience. Every ship in the Manila harbor sent off rockets and guns and 17