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Post by okla on Feb 2, 2012 5:29:29 GMT 8
Hey Darth....I used to know this guy who was with the First Cav when they broke into Santo Tomas. He told an interesting story of how some of the young American girls who were 14 or 15 years of age when the conflict started had grown into great looking young ladies while behind the wire. According to my friend these girls threw themselves at some of the young, healthy looking GIs, "saying you guys look like young Gods". Roy, my friend, said the GIs responded with, "you all don't look too bad to us either". I suppose this is true, even if the young gals were somewhat emaciated,etc after being penned up since Jan 1942. Thought you might be interested in this little yarn. When you reach my age you have accumulated quite a store of this kind of stuff. Being an ex-GI, I always try to pick the mind of those fellows who have been thru the mill. My service wasn't as extensive as some of the people I have grown to know over the years. Many of my friends, growing up, had Dads, Uncles and older brothers who saw a lot during WW 2. I had a few cousins/uncles all fighting in the Pacific. I never missed a chance to ask questions, if they were willing to talk, but the ones who really intrigued me were the ones I served with in the USAF (1951-55) who had suffered thru the 1942 ordeal in the PI. Some spilled their guts, others were reluctant to go into details. I never pressed it with the latter guys. Cheers.
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Post by darthdract on Feb 2, 2012 12:56:35 GMT 8
Okla thanks for Sharing --When I studied in UST, I saw some wartime Photos at the Library museum, all the men where emaciated no different from the Jewish people at Auschwitz and other concentration camps stricken with Dysentery, And it seems some young girls are not that Emaciated, I guess with food rationing they Prioritized the children and we all know having good looks gives us some sort of advantage when we negotiate things ( no disrespect intended ) I am not generalizing here but it seems people will have the greatest remorse for the Beautiful.
The Sto.Thomas internment camp stories has some personal flavor for Aside from being a member of that University My Great Grand Father was one of the Internees, I just can't Imagine how he look like my grandma who use to sneak in food at the camp said that he was already Skin and bones during liberation, its amazing how he recovered he is already 71yrs old when he got out yet he recovered quickly.I guess being a member of Teddy Roosevelt made him that though.Our own family structure was affected directly by the war,there is one side of my family that where Massacred by the Japanese, And my Grand mother has shrapnel Injuries in her head. There are a lot of Stories like that here a lot of Filipinos tend not to tell those stories and just want to bury that painful part of their history.
I guess we need to talk about this in a separate topic maybe we should create A thread about UST internees, and Manila Survivor stories, Pardon me if post is too long and a bit out of topic. Sometimes this stories gets me emotional.
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Post by JohnEakin on Feb 2, 2012 21:24:23 GMT 8
Thanks for posting that, darthdract. There are so many facets to the war and the effects on the civilian population are to easily overlooked. My wife used to work with a fellow from the Philippines who lost his entire family to the Japanese when he was a child - while he watched. That's much different from the military experience, which we tend to glorify.
I think that kind of brutality is beyond the comprehension of most of us (at least I hope it is) so perhaps it is good to be reminded. I'm sorry to learn of your family's loss, but perhaps some good can come from insuring that the future generations are aware of what war is really about.
BTW, I would like to hear more Manila survivor stories. When I was tracking down the families of Cabanatuan victums I talked to a woman who was a teenager during the war who told how her family convinced the Japanese that they were Italian and were left alone. Actually, her father was an American engineer working for the Navy who died in Cabanatuan, but they had no idea what had happened to him after the Japs took him away.
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Post by okla on Feb 2, 2012 21:47:12 GMT 8
Hey Guys...It's stories, such as these, that tend to keep me from getting too "misty eyed" when Hiroshima and the "firebombing" are too overly criticized. The Japanese acted and performed, in general, as complete "brutes", especially in regard to the Filipino people. I suppose some of this brutality toward the people of the PI was because the Japanese regarded them as traitors to their Asian "brothers". Brothers??? That is complete BS. The Japanese regarded all other Asian people as their inferiors in all things, only using "race" when it was to their benefit when fighting the Western"Intruders". I have ranted long enough about this, but it always irks me to no end when I contemplate the atrocities committed by the folks from the North. The atrocity element is always present in any conflict, but I think most historians will agree that the Japanese had honed it into a fine art. Who else would burn POWs alive rather than shooting them as happened down on Palawan Island. Give me a break. Postscript...I might add that I have an in-law, married to a Japanese girl since 1960, and the "bride" and I get along quite famously. We converse at length about everything but the actual fighting part of the Pacific War.
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Post by darthdract on Feb 2, 2012 23:27:26 GMT 8
JohnEakin.. Thanks ,My Grandfather never talk about the war to my Mother and aunts,We don't even know the Names of his Daughters from his first Wife. My GrandMother never forgave the Japanese she went to live in the USA, During the 80s she stayed there until the year 2000, when she returned to the P.I. already 89 years old, She was very mad to find out that all the cars here where Japanese, And almost every Family Reunion they would talk about the WW2 and Liberation era, After dinner, They would tell stories of their friends getting beheaded in the Singgalong District, Bomb Shelter Jokes are the Lighter side of these stories. They even have first hand accounts of December 8, 1941 bombings, The Highschool where I graduated was used as a Execution ground during 1945, We live in the South side of Manila.one of the more devastated part of the city in terms of civilian death. And the Japanese burned some houses in this area.My Uncle to this day can't forget the smell of burning bodies inside the church, h was 10 years old back then. Most of the youth today including my Generation don't know that there is ton of history and first hand accounts within the city sadly those firsthand accounts will be forgotten. The Folk who have witnessed the War are now getting old, and most old people in Manila don't use the Computer so no way to document their stories, I am sorry if this may sound like a rant. I don't want to hi Jack this thread. so I may create a new thread for Surivor stories or post it in an open thread that maybe existing here in Heritage,
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Post by okla on Feb 3, 2012 6:04:20 GMT 8
Hey Darth....I will make this quick since I usually get wound up and ramble on. This author, writing about the Death March, POWs,etc, attended this POW convention in LA, and noted that he saw NOT ONE Japanese auto in ex-POW parking lot. On the other hand one of the Death March survivors that I knew while in the AF was married to a Japanese woman. Go figure. Cheers.
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Post by darthdract on Feb 3, 2012 16:40:06 GMT 8
Hey Darth....I will make this quick since I usually get wound up and ramble on. This author, writing about the Death March, POWs,etc, attended this POW convention in LA, and noted that he saw NOT ONE Japanese auto in ex-POW parking lot. On the other hand one of the Death March survivors that I knew while in the AF was married to a Japanese woman. Go figure. Cheers. okla thanks for sharing that. I will talk about that later in the New thread I have created.
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Post by chadhill on Feb 5, 2012 9:40:51 GMT 8
Very nice post, Karl, with great photos. I always regret never having been able to travel to and pay my respects at Cabanatuan. Please keep up the good work, all of us stateside appreciate it. This photo is from "Philippine Expeditionary Force" (1943). The translated caption says "The railroad line from Cabanatuan to Batangas is opened in June" (1942). As we know, many POWs arrived at Cabanatuan station on the train, or at the camp via truck.
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Post by dmether on Feb 17, 2012 19:07:19 GMT 8
Pangatian is Cabanatuan. Attachments:
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Post by dmether on Feb 17, 2012 19:14:41 GMT 8
Rangers on the way to Cabanatuan Attachments:
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