The Japanese are so intent on showing the Filipino people their great victories, that they have plastered the town with huge maps, showing the Japanese spheres of occupation and influence. They didn’t count on the Filipino sense of humor. I passed one of these maps and saw a huge crowd gazing at it and laughing. I couldn’t see anything funny from the bicycle and was hesitant to dismount. It always meant bowing to some Japanese, which I heartily disliked doing. I repassed the same spot some hours later. The crowd was dispersed, so I asked a Filipino what the joke had been. He said the Japanese had stuck flags in all their conquests but some smarty Filipino had stuck an American flag on Tokyo! Everyone had enjoyed the joke so much that finally a passing Jap officer investigated and spotted the offending flag. The crowd was dispersed very hastily, and the sentries marched off for punishment, no doubt. They had two Filipinos strung up by the thumbs nearby. Probably had found them guilty of the insult.
We must have a plane left. San Fernando, Pampanga, was bombed a few nights ago and evidently the wounded
and dead were considerable. Someone out after curfew saw forty trucks loaded with bodies headed for Fort McKinley, where there is a huge crematorium. More ashes for the railway platforms of Yokohama. More ashes and still more. Let’s get rid of them all!