Joining the
21st Pursuit Squadron at
Hamilton Field, San Francisco, Dyess led the squadron to Nichols Field,
Manila, Philippines, in November 1941. The war began for Hunt midday on 8 Dec. 1941, when the Japanese strafed Nichols Field. Finally retreating to Bataan, his unit fought in the
Battle of Bataan, before surrendering and starting the
Bataan Death March after the surrender on 9 April 1942. Hunt states, "I don't remember how many of those days I actually spent marching down the road accompanied by Japanese guards: seven or eight most likely, possibly ten", before he escaped on 21 April. Starved from his normal weight of 150–160 pounds down to 100, and suffering from
malaria,
beriberi and
jaundice, Hunt spent the next five months recovering in the
Fassoth Camps. These camps in the
Zambales Mountains, were organized by the rice and sugar planter American William Fassoth, with his
Filipina wife Catalina, and son Vernon, along with the Spanish-
mestizo sugar planters Vincente and Arturo Bernia. Hunt escaped capture when the Japanese raided the camp on 26 Sept. 1942. Over a hundred Americans spent some time in the Fassoth Camps, before William Fassoth surrendered in spring of 1943, spending the remainder of the war in the
Cabanatuan Prison Camp. Following his second escape, Hunt was cared for by the Franco Filipino family in Tibuc-Tibuc, western
Pampanga, before he headed north with an
Igorot, Jose Balekow, his future bodyguard. Hunt recruited a small guerrilla force at San Jose, near
Tarlac City, and then linked up with
Robert Lapham's forces, becoming Capt. Albert C. Hendrickson's executive officer. The Japanese put bounties on both their heads: $50,000 for Hendrickson and $10,000 for Hunt. Thorp's former girlfriend, Herminia (Minang) Dizon, then became Hunt's after Thorp's capture. In the spring of 1944, Gregorio S. Agaton became Hunt's bodyguard, just before Hunt took command of
Pangasinan that summer. He named Tom Chengay captain of his northern district, Antonio Garcia in the west, Emilio Hernandez in the central, Antonio Hernandez in the east, Severino M. Obana as second in command, Jimmy Galura as supply officer, and Juan Utleg as chief of intelligence. Hunt received a radio for communicating with Australia in July 1944, and regular supplies from submarines. On 4 January 1945, Hunt received orders to implement Operations Plan 12, which called for five days of attacks in preparation for the
Luzon invasion, including an attack on the San Quentin Japanese garrison. Just during the five days before the American landings on Luzon, the guerrilla battalion under Hunt's command was credited with killing over 3,000
Japanese soldiers in numerous ambushes and raids. On 10 January, he made contact with General
Walter Krueger, and on 22 January, received orders to proceed to 25th Division headquarters in Manoag, to meet Lapham for the first time. ==Afterwards==