the blockade. Estimates were grim and there was considerable risk of being captured by the Japanese Navy. As if having slipped into the great black abyss of the South China Sea and the fog of war, little is known about what became of Miller and Wing from February 1942 until their capture in November 1943. It is known that they successfully circumnavigated the Japanese blockade, by starlight and sextant and under power of sail, ultimately reaching Leyte Island. Leyte Island would become the reinvasion point for American forces and Leyte Gulf the site of the largest naval engagement in world history in 1944. See Battle of Leyte Gulf. Capture on Leyte Island In Nov 1943, Commodore Eugene Wing and Hugo Herman Miller were captured during a major Japanese offensive against guerrilla and resistance forces throughout the Philippines. According to the military affidavits relating to their capture and execution, Wing and Miller were relocated to Samar Island where they were executed, by beheading, for their attachment to the Visayan Guerrilla resistance. Herbert Zipper's vow and concert Following the Battle of Manila in 1945, conductor/composer and Holocaust survivor Herbert Zipper held a victory concert in the ruins of Santa Cruz Cathedral. The military reviewer of the concert, William J. Dunn, recorded that on 10 May 1945, Herbert Zipper fulfilled the vow he had conceived at Dachau concentration camp seven years prior to commemorate the downfall of the Nazi regime with a performance of Beethoven's 3rd Symphony "Eroica". References People executed by Japan by decapitation Executed Filipino people 1883 births 1943 deaths People executed by Japanese occupation forces American civilians killed in World War II