Round Trip

In Three Rivers, Mass., where he was raised, Ronald Dorsey was a leader in the Young People's Association. Last week in Quezon City on the edge of Manila, blue-eyed, 20-year-old Ronald Dorsey was the Philippine army's most highly prized prisoner.

When Ronnie came to the Philippines in 1949 as a U.S. Army private, he expected to find life there exciting. He was bored by his duties as a clerk with the 29th Topographical Engineer Battalion at the U.S. Army base in Cavite. Last October Ronnie Dorsey and Benjamin Advincula, a Spanish-Filipino employee of the U.S. Navy, lit out for the local headquarters of the rebel Huks.

Private to Colonel. Once in Huk territory, said Ronnie last week, "everything went fast and systematic. First there was a period of candidacy during which they taught me to breathe, eat, work and fight like a Communist." After two months of training, Ronnie emerged as a Communist Party member and adjutant of Huk Command No. 4 in charge of operations in southern Luzon. A full colonel, he had under his direct command 25 bodyguards and 400 other Huk guerrillas.

"During my first six months up there," said Ronnie, "we were doing all right. The village people cooperated with us. We had clothes from a tailor in one town, shoes from a shoe factory in another town, and more than enough medical supplies from a government official."

But last March the Huks went on a village-raiding spree which cost them some of their popular support (TIME, April 10). Said Ronnie Dorsey: "The people began to tell on us ... and soon we found we couldn't go down to the villages without being exposed." In April the Philippine army took charge of the government's anti-Huk campaign. Since then, according to Dorsey's account, the Huks have been constantly on the run.* Sometimes the rebels were without food and water. "The officers got the gravy while the men killed one another over a few pesos. Morale was very low, and most of the boys were tired of hearing the high command tell them not to worry as victory was at hand."

Colonel to Private. Two weeks ago Ronnie Dorsey and Benjamin Advincula lit out again, this time to surrender. To Philippine army intelligence, Ronnie gave a roster of the men and officers in his Huk group, tips on the location of Huk hideouts. In Dorsey's testimony that the Huks' troubles were increasing, the harassed government of President Elpidio Quirino saw excellent propaganda for use against its critics.

Of less certain value were statements which Ronnie based chiefly on hearsay. Samples: the Huks are in regular radio contact with Peking; the Philippine Communist Party is masterminded by three unnamed but top-level officials in Quirino's government.

Last week adventurous Private Ronald Dorsey was remembering with nostalgia his quiet life with the U.S. Army. Said he: "I'd like to re-enlist ... if they'll take me back." He didn't like being called a deserter. "I didn't desert," he insisted. "I came back voluntarily."

*U.S. military authorities in the Philippines have called inaccurate a report (TIME, June 5) that Huks "boldly raided the U.S. air base at Clark Field" a few weeks ago. In an attempt to enter the central fenced-in area of the U.S. air base, unidentified prowlers did cut the fence wire, but were driven off by U.S. gunfire. Clark Field has had other and more serious troubles, however. For many months approaching airplanes, ground patrols and individual Clark Field personnel have been repeatedly fired on by bushwhackers lurking at night on the edges of the sprawling military reservation. Several U.S. airmen and Filipino civilian employees have been killed.

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