Post by Bob Hudson on Dec 11, 2012 16:51:09 GMT 8
I wish to share with this group a story that has been 71 years in the making and will conclude next Sunday the 16th of December. Prior to the outbreak of the war, my father had been stationed in Manila with the 31st Infantry since 1936, then transferred into the Quartermaster Corps. While there he fathered a daughter with his fiancee. He was going through the paces of marrying this woman through Army channels when the Japanese attacked. Not long afterward,he was moved to Bataan and never to see his fiancee again.
After being liberated after the war and being released from Madigan General Hospital in Washington State in March of 1946, he made his way, with the help of the Army, back to Manila. Manila was almost unrecognizable and he made his way to his fiancees family home. After meeting with her family, he discovered that she had been raped and murdered by the Japanese early in the war. Her family had not the means to care for his daughter so they took her to the Hospicio de San Jose Catholic orphanage on the Pasig river in Manila and left her there for the Catholic sisters to care for.
My father went to the orphanage and with their help found out that she had been adopted by a Filipino Dr. by the name of Augusto Cortes and his American wife Blanche Brinker. The Dr. worked at the San Juan de dioa Hospital in Manila. He discovered where they lived and contacted them and explained who he was and made an appointment to meet with them at their home on Taft Ave. That evening he met with the doctor and his wife. He had the right to take his daughter but he could also tell how much the doctor and his wife loved his daughter. She lived in a nice home in a good neighborhood.
They cried and pleaded with my father and he decided he didn't have the heart to take his daughter from the only family she had ever known. She was nearing seven years old. He informed the adoptive family of his decision to leave her but he wanted to meet her. They introduced my father to "Angela" as Uncle Dick from the U.S. My father added a caveat to leaving her there and it was that the family would send him photos of Angela and letters about her as she matured. When he left, he took a photo of his daughter with him and for as far back as I can remember it always stood on the nightstand next to his side of the bed. The Doctor and wife faithfully sent my father photos of Angela until 1960 or 1961 when they suddenly stopped and he never heard from anyone again.
In 1988, my father developed esophageal cancer and checked into the VA hospital to die. The day before he died, he asked me to find his daughter, my sister. I promised I would but knew I had no idea where to begin. With the invention of the internet and my first computer in the late nineties, I began to search but got absolutely nowhere. In 2004, I contacted a friend in Manila by the name of James Litton. James is an attorney, a businessman and was 12 years old when the Japanese attacked in 1941. He agreed to help me and hired an investigator. The investigator discovered some information but nothing that helped me find my sister. In 2007 I began my blog which I named BataanSon. In my blog I told the story of my sister and posted the photo I had that my father had on his night stand for 42 year of his daughter.
Nothing happened for five years and I had all but abandoned any hope of finding my sister. Five years of my blog on the internet and suddenly on November 8th, 2012, I received an email from a man who had read my blog. He was a Filipino who lived near Manila. He said he read my blog and saw the picture of my sister whom he recognized as his mother because he has an oil painting of that same photo hanging on the wall of his living room which was painted by his grandfather Dr. Augusto Cortez. He was baffled because although he knew his mother wa adopted, she had told him she was an only child. He also said he didn't recognize the name Angela for his mother name was Leonida. Apparently after adoption, they renamed her. After a few emails back and forth and exchange of more information which convinced him I was his uncle, he opened up to me. My sister was married twice. She had four children with her first husband, three daughter and a son. She and her second husband had two sons and it was one of these two sons who contacted me. He has a brother in Manila. Charlie, my new nephew, told me my sister died of cancer in 1999 and is buried in the Loyola Cemetery south of Manila.
The information brought me to tears. For a moment I thought I was so close to meeting my sister and telling her about her father and what he went through and what he gave up for her. But, it was not to be and this is what it has come to. Next Sunday, the 16th. my friend James Litton will pick me up and take me to a restaurant south of Manila where I will meet two of my fathers grandsons, my nephews. We will meet at a restaurant for lunch and then proceed to the cemetery where my sister lies and this long journey will end with a wreath of flowers on my sisters grave. I think my father would have been happy with the outcome. I have yet to communicate with my other nephew and three nieces, but that will come in time. The war has officially ended for me.
Never give up if you're looking for something. It's out there somewhere. It took 24 years for me.
--
After being liberated after the war and being released from Madigan General Hospital in Washington State in March of 1946, he made his way, with the help of the Army, back to Manila. Manila was almost unrecognizable and he made his way to his fiancees family home. After meeting with her family, he discovered that she had been raped and murdered by the Japanese early in the war. Her family had not the means to care for his daughter so they took her to the Hospicio de San Jose Catholic orphanage on the Pasig river in Manila and left her there for the Catholic sisters to care for.
My father went to the orphanage and with their help found out that she had been adopted by a Filipino Dr. by the name of Augusto Cortes and his American wife Blanche Brinker. The Dr. worked at the San Juan de dioa Hospital in Manila. He discovered where they lived and contacted them and explained who he was and made an appointment to meet with them at their home on Taft Ave. That evening he met with the doctor and his wife. He had the right to take his daughter but he could also tell how much the doctor and his wife loved his daughter. She lived in a nice home in a good neighborhood.
They cried and pleaded with my father and he decided he didn't have the heart to take his daughter from the only family she had ever known. She was nearing seven years old. He informed the adoptive family of his decision to leave her but he wanted to meet her. They introduced my father to "Angela" as Uncle Dick from the U.S. My father added a caveat to leaving her there and it was that the family would send him photos of Angela and letters about her as she matured. When he left, he took a photo of his daughter with him and for as far back as I can remember it always stood on the nightstand next to his side of the bed. The Doctor and wife faithfully sent my father photos of Angela until 1960 or 1961 when they suddenly stopped and he never heard from anyone again.
In 1988, my father developed esophageal cancer and checked into the VA hospital to die. The day before he died, he asked me to find his daughter, my sister. I promised I would but knew I had no idea where to begin. With the invention of the internet and my first computer in the late nineties, I began to search but got absolutely nowhere. In 2004, I contacted a friend in Manila by the name of James Litton. James is an attorney, a businessman and was 12 years old when the Japanese attacked in 1941. He agreed to help me and hired an investigator. The investigator discovered some information but nothing that helped me find my sister. In 2007 I began my blog which I named BataanSon. In my blog I told the story of my sister and posted the photo I had that my father had on his night stand for 42 year of his daughter.
Nothing happened for five years and I had all but abandoned any hope of finding my sister. Five years of my blog on the internet and suddenly on November 8th, 2012, I received an email from a man who had read my blog. He was a Filipino who lived near Manila. He said he read my blog and saw the picture of my sister whom he recognized as his mother because he has an oil painting of that same photo hanging on the wall of his living room which was painted by his grandfather Dr. Augusto Cortez. He was baffled because although he knew his mother wa adopted, she had told him she was an only child. He also said he didn't recognize the name Angela for his mother name was Leonida. Apparently after adoption, they renamed her. After a few emails back and forth and exchange of more information which convinced him I was his uncle, he opened up to me. My sister was married twice. She had four children with her first husband, three daughter and a son. She and her second husband had two sons and it was one of these two sons who contacted me. He has a brother in Manila. Charlie, my new nephew, told me my sister died of cancer in 1999 and is buried in the Loyola Cemetery south of Manila.
The information brought me to tears. For a moment I thought I was so close to meeting my sister and telling her about her father and what he went through and what he gave up for her. But, it was not to be and this is what it has come to. Next Sunday, the 16th. my friend James Litton will pick me up and take me to a restaurant south of Manila where I will meet two of my fathers grandsons, my nephews. We will meet at a restaurant for lunch and then proceed to the cemetery where my sister lies and this long journey will end with a wreath of flowers on my sisters grave. I think my father would have been happy with the outcome. I have yet to communicate with my other nephew and three nieces, but that will come in time. The war has officially ended for me.
Never give up if you're looking for something. It's out there somewhere. It took 24 years for me.
--