ALPINE BERT FULLER POST #9578

A BRIEF HISTORY OF BURT FULLER VFW POST #9578

Collected by Yolanda Andermatt of the Ladies Auxiliary

This Post’s Charter was signed January 13^th 1973, and held their meetings at the Casino Inn on old Hwy 8.  The Post slowly outgrew the Casino Inn and then Tom Dyke, generously donated to the Post his property at 844 Tavern Road, to our Post as it’s permanent home.

Tom Stanley was the first Commander, from 1972-1976.  Leo Manulakos was Commander for more years than any other member, and did an excellent job.

John Ronlie and his wife Marie were the most active couple in the Post, for many years. Andy Urias was the Canteen Manager and did a fine job keeping the Canteen running smoothly and making money. Byron Flagg was Quarter Master for several years and did a great job.

Our Charter Board indicates we had 38 members in the beginning, and there are 3 Charter members still active in the Post. They are George Charles (Past Commander), Pete Perez, and Tom Stanley (Past Commander). We now have 326 Members of which 276 are Life Members.

The Ladies Auxiliary Charter was signed May 23, 1976 with 28 members. We now have 134 members, 84 of which are life members.

About 1989 our Memorial Wall was built by Daugherty L. “Pappy” Phipps. Leo Manulakos arranged for the cell phone towers to be erected on the property.  Which went a long ways to making the Post financially strong and growing stronger every day.

2003 Establishes Internet Presence  

2004 on Flag Day June 14th we erected the Largest Flag in Alpine  The Flag is 20' x 30' made of tough polyester, it has individually embroidered stars with sewn stripes, and it was made in the USA.

New web Site with our own Domain name (vfw9578.0rg) was created in September of 2007

Services Set Tomorrow For Ex-POW Bert C. Fuller                   Wednesday June 17, 1970

Services will be at 10 a.m. tomorrow in Paris Mortuary for Bert C. Fuller Sr., 65, a retired Navy lieutenant commander and a hero of World War II, in which he was imprisoned by the Japanese for two years but escaped to lead a large force of guerrillas on Luzon.

Fuller was stricken at his home, 4025 highway 80, and was pronounced dead Sunday at an El Cajon hospital.  Pathological tests are being made to determine cause of death, the coroner's office reported.

Holder of the Silver Star and the Distinguished Service Cross, awarded by the Army, Fuller was a native of Missouri who served in the Navy from 1922 to 1953. He held many other service ribbons and medals.

Fuller, who was only 5 feet 5, won international recognition as commander of a force of 1,300 Filipino rebels after he and three enlisted Army men escaped May 13, 1944, from a prison camp on Corregidor.

As a chief petty officer in the Navy, Fuller survived the fall of Bataan and Corregidor but was captured May 6, 1942 by the Japanese at Ft. Hughes, a small island off Corregidor.  Because his captors needed a radioman to maintain their equipment, he was held on the small island until Jan 12, then was moved to Corregidor.

On a ruse arranged through an American Army radioman, a prisoner of the Japanese on Carabao Island 10 miles south of Corregidor. Fuller was talking ostensibly to repair radio equipment. He and the three other Americans escaped while enemy guards slept.

HEADED LIBERATORS

Reaching Luzon by a makeshift raft, which bad been secretly assembled, the men, the men trudged for 18 days through the dense Philippine jungles before coming upon a friendly Filipino camp. There, Fuller organized the so-called Liberators of the Field guerrilla force, harassing the Japanese and relaying vital information to Filipino and American commands and setting up a system of rescuing downed airmen.

Nov 22, 1944, Fuller’s guerrillas were consolidated with ROTC guerrilla forces and a month later the San Diego Navy man left by Army plane for home.

WON PR0MOTION

During his six months of guerrilla activity, Fuller was listed as “missing in action."  In the same period, however, he was promoted in absentia from chief petty officer to chief warrant officer in the Navy. He later was commissioned a lieutenant, junior grade.

Fuller, who had been wounded on Bataan, dropped to 90 pounds in weight while in the Japanese prison camp but thrived on guerrilla action, regaining 30 pounds.

The Alpine man is survived by a son, Bert Jr., of Spring Valley; a daughter, Mrs. Ethel D. Straub of San Diego, and four grandchildren.

Fuller was president of Branch 258, Fleet Reserve. Association, Alpine, and a member of  Black Mountain Post, Veterans of Foreign Wars, which will officiate at the services. Military interment will be in Alpine, Cemetery.