Skip to content

December 11, 1941

It was true! The enemy had landed at Lingayen!

Nichols Field and Fort Stotsenberg had been bombed again!

Those who had the time stayed near their radios for news from Washington, and while we braced ourselves for the next blow, we kept asking each other, “Will reinforcements come in time?”

We nursed and eased the pain of the wounded and dying, and when, word was passed that Fifth Columnists had poisoned our city water supply, I was too tired to care. It proved to be another rumor.

When Catesy met me at the hospital to drive me home, his attempt to appear cheerful and normal was a complete fizzle. We talked nervously about the weather and inconsequentials, but we never mentioned the rapidly approaching enemy.

At the door of my apartment I met Jinnie, another civilian nurse and resident of the building. Tearfully but proudly, she told me that her husband had joined the army that morning.