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September 4, 1942

Yesterday PM, Lt. Gomez & I were given special instructions on Japanese drill commands preparatory to our close order drill sked this PM.  By this time we have been exposed to the Japanese anthem “Kimigayo” every morning and many Japanese common terms like  “Ohayo”, “Ikaga desu ka” and “katakana”.  Aside from Cabangbang and Tirona mentioned earlier, my other PMA classmates in this present class are Escobar, Javier, Piccio & Rodriguez and together with our underclassmen of ’41, ’42 & ’43 in this class, are elated in my being Sec. Marcher.  However, there are skeptics that have negative comments and I told Gomez not to comment, to let the gossips run its course.

At 1430 today, our class was transported to Luneta Park for Close Order Drill.  After the Section are assembled to start drill, I walked to where our Tac. O., Lt. Fukushima is and addressed the class:  “Comrades, I would like to let everyone know my admiration on Lt. Fukushima.  He was responsible for the capture of my OSP crew in Manila Bay after the Fall of Bataan.  He treated us well and made us Malolos POWs”.

His ego titilated, Fukushima asked the class to form a circle around him, then started drawing diagrams on the ground describing how his two patrol boats tracked Q-112’s escape towards Hagonoy coast till it disappeared after scuttling and later finding our group of 20 to be captured by him.  It took him about half an hour to tell his story that shortened our drill which was just to familiarize everyone of the Japanese commands like Kiotsky (Attention); Wakare-Atsumare (Fall Out and Reform; etc.  And for the first time, our classmates realized how Lt. Gomez and I were made Section Marchers and the malicious gossips about us disappeared.

Today being a Friday, we are all looking forward for this weekend to be with our families.