← Previous – RS26 – Next → Chapter 26SUMMING UP••••• Wreath-laying is a year-round affair and a deeply ingrained custom in the Philippines, but the most important and lengthiest speeches that accompany these ceremonies are reserved for April 9, the date of Bataan’s fall.
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← Previous – RS25 – Next → Chapter 25SUMMING UP••••• At Letterman Hospital before my discharge I was happy to meet with many of those who had survived with me the Death March and nearly three years of prison. It was great to see
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← Previous – RS24 – Next → Chapter 24HOMEWARD BOUND••••• The U.S. drive into the Cagayan Valley ended the last offensive on Luzon in June 1945, but enemy pockets of resistance were not cleared out until August 15, when hostilities officially ended. The US.
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← Previous – RS23 – Next → Chapter 23RESCUE FROM BILIBID••••• The Japanese commander, Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, had a force of some 350,000 men in the Philippines and despite his great numerical superiority (the US. troops numbered only 68,000), he was unable to hold
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← Previous – RS22 – Next → Chapter 22FROM CABANATUAN TO BILIBID PRISON••••• Manila’s Bilibid had been a civilian prison long before the Japanese invaded the islands. A high concrete wall surrounded the old prison, and the buildings inside were arranged around a square.
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← Previous – RS21 – Next → Chapter 21BOMBERS IN THE SKY••••• The struggle to recapture the Philippines, vital to General MacArthur’s war plans, began on the morning of October 20, 1944, when four divisions of the U.S. Sixth Army under Lt. Gen.Walter Krueger
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← Previous – RS20 – Next → Chapter 20FOOD RELIEF THAT NEVER CAME••••• Filipino agencies repeatedly attempted to bring food to our camp but were unsuccessful. We frequently saw trucks loaded with supplies turned away from our gates. No Red Cross or international representatives
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← Previous – RS19 – Next → Chapter 19THE BLACK MARKET DEATH SENTENCE••••• In spite of severe punishment meted out by the Japanese to prisoners involved in black market activities, there were those who would not give up. They not only bought and sold
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← Previous – RS18 – Next → Chapter 18CHANGING THE GUARD••••• Life continued, but barely, in Camp Cabanatuan. It would be difficult to say if things got better or worse; we only knew that to preserve life we had to learn to tolerate conditions
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← Previous – RS17B – Next → Chapter 17BLearning to Survive••••• As the months passed, we learned ways to improve our diet. For instance, we began getting carabao soup once a week. We were rationed one carabao for the camp, for 50,000 men. We
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