192nd Tank Battalion

[2] On 21 December 1941, the 192nd Tank Battalion, under the command of Major Theodore F. Wickord, was ordered to move north.

Major Wickord sent Company B, commanded by Captain Donald Hanes, ahead,[2] most likely as an advanced guard.

The 26th Cavalry had just recently been under enemy aerial attack, and was operating in the area currently being traversed by B company tanks.

General Wainwright, commander of US/allied forces in the Philippines during its final period, received reports that the town of Damortis was fast being approached by mechanized elements of the Japanese Army; and he ordered Captain Hanes to engage them.

[2] Since Hanes had not been able to re-fuel at Gerona, his Stuarts were nearly out of gas, so he had to consolidate the fuel from the whole company in order to "top-off" just one platoon of five light tanks.

The remaining four Stuarts also received hits, but withdrew from the field, only to be destroyed by enemy aircraft later on.

[9] The activated Army National Guard 192nd Tank Battalion initially received training at Fort Knox, and Polk.