In 1952, he and Celia were captured by government forces at Sitio Talba, Barrio Pias, Papaya (now General Tinio), Nueva Ecija in the Sierra Madre in the Philippines.
[2] He was deployed from California for the Pacific theater, arriving first at Brisbane in December 1943 where he was assigned as an aviation and engineering mechanic for the Fifth Bomber Group.
[2] Disgruntled at his post-military civilian life, Pomeroy decided to return to the Philippines in late 1947, leaving his parents and his brother at their residence at Rochester.
[3] In 1948, Pomeroy married Celia Mariano of Manila; a Bachelor of Science graduate at the same university who joined a communist group in the city in April 1940, and later the Huks—then the anti-Japanese resistance movement.
[5] In the end of January 1952, Pomeroy was reported seriously wounded in a military encounter while leading his group to a Huk conference somewhere in central[2] or southern Luzon.
[3] At the beginning of the campaign, on April 11, Good Friday,[3] Pomeroy, along with 14 fellow guerrillas, was the first to be captured by the Philippine 12th Battalion Combat Team in the part of Sierra Madre at Talbak,[3] near the provincial boundary of Bulacan and Quezon.
Magsaysay, in his U.S. visit in mid-June, reported that after Pomeroy's capture, there were three of four other Americans still with the Huks; and indicated the national government would not deport him who wanted to stay in the country.
[4] On June 7, the couple was charged in the Court of First Instance of Manila with rebellion[10]—a crime punishable by death[6]—with murder, arson, robbery, and kidnapping.
[7] On August 18, the couple filed petitions for writs of habeas corpus,[10] appealing the 1952 verdict and contending that they should be convicted of only simple rebellion, which is punishable of 12-year prison term.
[7] The Court of First Instance of Rizal, through its August 27 decision, ordered their release after finding that they were qualified for serving already the good conduct time allowance and a half of the preventive imprisonment.
[10] The order, however, was reversed by the SC on February 24, 1960, stating that the couple must serve their original prison term for taking part of the Huk rebellion, and that its 1958 ruling is not applicable for them because it is not retroactive.
[7] On December 29, 1961, the couple was reported pardoned by Garcia (whose presidential term was to end)[11] who also ordered the deportation of Pomeroy to the United States as a condition.
[13] He also published a collection of short stories, Trail of Blame, and poetry: Beyond Barriers and Sonnets for Celia (1963), the latter comprising love poems for his wife composed while they were in prison.