South from Corregidor

Title

Identifier

Philippine Bookshelf

Language

English

Source

Philippines 3 (3) May 6, 1943

Year

1943

Subject

Philippines--History

Philippines—History—Japanese occupation, 1942-1945

Rights

In Copyright - Educational Use Permitted

Fulltext

SOUTH FROM CORREGIDOR.B} Lt. Comdr. John ,\lorrill. l.:S.N., ,md P.-:;e ,,!.irtin. Neu· )·ork: Simou ,md SclJ11s1cr, 1943. 252 pp. $2.50. lieucenanr Commander Morrill, U.S.N., SJ.w the bst days of Corregidor: from his precarious grandsrand seat on a banered ;rnd beached rug. he saw a boot, leasing Corregidor; "packed with Filipino civilians, and carrying large white flags in the stern and bow"; later another boat "lefr the dock at Corregidor and wenr in the direction of Fore Drum. It also carried white flags and its passengers were white instead of brown:· The only reason he was not one of these passengers was rhar he had been ordered ro scuttle the mine sweeper "Quail" and when he had accomplished his mission and wanred to go back ro Caballo Island he saw that the white flag had already been run up on chat fortress. The story of his escape in a 36-foot boar from Manila Bay to Australia is one of rhe most thrilling that has come out of rhe Philippines. In it the authors. like others who had eluded the Japanese, pay tribute to rhe loyalty of the Filipinos and their open and acth·e help, without which escape would nor have been possible. The book is full of intimare incidenrs thar, sometimes pathetically, always poignantly, reveal how deep was the Filipino's faith in America and how sraunchly he stood by his comrade in arms. There was the Filipino messboy who rook rhe Commander's hand in his own and v:iped his face with it and then shoved a roll of one hundred pesos inro the hand before the surprised officer could take it back. "You will need it more," he told rhe protesting American. Wherever they stopped, in wellhidden coves and unfrequented villages, rhe Filipinos loaded them with bananas, chickens, rice, gave them a place to sleep, oil for their boat, and advice about how to avoid the Jap patrols. "It is mighty good of you to take stranded people into your home like rhis," rhe author once told a Filipino host who with his wife and daughters had turned over their home to the Americans. His host's remarks, which would have appeared most narural to another Filipino, set off a train of thought in the American. "The old gentleman said with implicit faith, 'If we were shipwrecked on the California coast, your people would look out for us and take care of us.'" At rimes, the party did not know how far to trust their lives to the village folks, because although they had seen Filipino soldiers die side by side with American soldiers, they also knew "that the Jap heel when placed on a conquered neck is a grinding affair with hobnails and spikes in it. We also knew that if any native or group of natives dared help us they would be signing their own death warrants right then and there if the Japs ever found out about it." But their doubts about how deeply and strongly a Filipino sticks to his friends were dispelled by such incidents as that which took place in an unnamed province, which MAY 6, 1943 before che w"r had a scrong revolutionist group. "After che Sakdaliscas h,1d seen the Japs kick and bc,1r il1l'ir own people and abuse their women, all except a \'Cl)' few had done a political Hip-llop and become anci-Japanesc." "How abouc che few who are still pro-J.1panese?" Lt. Comdr. Morrill :asked his informant, who answered simply, 'They are all dead. We kill them."·· Here is a glimpse of what h;1ppencd in M.mib when chc Japanese movcJ in: "Outside Manib there is fonJ, inside l\I.mila no. llm the worst is not the food. I ha,·c been in my friends' house and Japanese officers will come co the door .md you must bow. fa·erybody must bow. Men, women, nld l.1dic:s. children. If you do not rhey put you in j.1il. \'Vhat the\' do to Y"" in j.111 1 do nor know ... For your AmerK.111 people. If " wors« The)' tie rour women .111d children toi:l'rhcr .1nJ dri,·e thl'm through che streets . . J<tprncse brin1-: m.nn· ~cish.1 1-:irl' from Jap.in. The American ladies musr bl' ""'"111" co ,>:<·"h.1 girls." -r\. B. M. SERVED ON BATAAN. BJ LI. ]lf.11111.1 g,.,;,""u.I . . ·"lrm1 N11rn Corps. Pln/,1ddph"' ,md .1\·,-u ) ·,,,J: /. Tl. l.1ppi11colf Co111p.111r. 19-:i3. 167 Pf'· Sl.-5. Juanita Redmond. a First Lieurenant in the r\nn)· Nurse Corps, cells a gripping stor)' of the wounded. ;ind 1hc Jc~d. and the living, cooped up in makeshift hospiuls. oiren targets of indiscriminate J:ipanese bl)mbin.i.:. durin1-: the Lise days of Baraan, through che surrender uf ( .nrregidor. It is a simple story of brave men who would not die. co!J br an army nurse who had seen enou~h of .1gony and dearh, misery and loneliness, but rnld br.1vely and with hope. The pictures cue deep imo the hearc; of Filipino and American soldiers dying side by side. praying cogecher. hoping, and holding out to the end, forever strong in foirh, often ruthlessly unafraid. There was the youngscer from Texas whose arm had been amputated, worrying about his girl back home-they were going to be married. would she marr)' him now? ... little St:gundo, with bullet wounds in the leg and arm, jubilamly happy for having killed fourteen Japs ... Eighteen-year-old Freeman, with both legs amputated above rhe knee, alwa}'S cheerful and courageous ... Blind Eugenio-"both his eyes had had to be removed because of a severe head wound""picking his way slowly through the wards, a gentle questing look on his face, not wanting anything, but just seeing his way about"; or after a bombing, picking himself out of the debris, saying, 'Tm all right, mum ... Please, mum, where am I now?" And back home in America, all the tragedy of Bataan and Corregidor rerurns to chese nurses in the questions of mothers and fathers, sweethearts and sisters of the boys who were in Bataan, questions like: Did you know my son? Here is a picture of him, remember? Oh, yes, they remembered ... and all they could say was, "He died like a good soldier." This could be said of all of them who died; and those who lived, surely, we have not forgotten them. This book tells their story. -BN.S. Opinions expressed in this departmene are those of the reviewers and. 1101 necessarily of the Philippine government. 9

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