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The family "God Bless America" story.
Mom lived a short distance from the Sto Tomas internment camp. On Feb 3 1945 a 20 something Japanese Army Catholic chaplain, who'd befriended the family came to the house and left a bolt of striped silk cloth.
Mom lived a short distance from the Sto Tomas internment camp. On Feb 3 1945 a 20 something Japanese Army Catholic chaplain, who'd befriended the family came to the house and left a bolt of striped silk cloth.
He told grandma. "I won't be seeing her again, please take it." He joined the troops withdrawing across the Pasig River. They never saw him again. Grandpa told me they were withdrawing the whole day and rumor was rife that the First Cavalry was only a few hours away.
Dusk fell. Nothing moved in the silent streets but the occasional steel shod Japanese boot of stay behind snipers looking for a position. Then a tremendous series of explosions lit up the sky. They were the bridges on the Pasig being blown.
For what seemed like a long time there was an eerie silence.
Then there was the peculiar high pitched whine of a Willys jeep, which no one who knows it will ever forget, closely followed by the rumble of what we now know were the lead Shermans of the First Cav.
Then there was the peculiar high pitched whine of a Willys jeep, which no one who knows it will ever forget, closely followed by the rumble of what we now know were the lead Shermans of the First Cav.
Then mom said they heard the sound of the steel gates being rammed down followed by the sound of the inmates singing "God Bless America". Doubtless it has been sung better and more meliflously but rarely as dramatically and unforgettably as on that night.
