I haven’t written for several days and so many things are taking place. Col. Peralta and the soldiers that did not surrender are becoming very active. He has called them all into active service and those that care to volunteer – so now all the roads are guarded by the USAFFE (U.S. Army in the Far East) and they ambush the Japanese.
All the towns are being evacuated and civilians have left and gone into the hills once again. Only the USAFFE soldiers are in the town. They are now shooting Filipinos believed to be pro-Japanese and many have been killed. In the nearby town of Dumangas nine have been killed and one person from Barotac. They were about to shoot his wife, but she was able to escape. Last night I was talking to one of the officers, and he told me that they had agreed not to shoot her.
Yesterday we had a terrible fright as the USAFFE soldiers ambushed about 120 Japanese soldiers only 7 km from here and it sounded like a cannon was shot off, but we learned later it was a mortar. Many Japanese were killed, but none of the USAFFE. For the last two weeks there have been truckloads of dead Japanese taken to Iloilo from different parts of the Islands. After the fighting yesterday, the USAFFE soldiers captured a Japanese truck and they drove by the farm. They had an American flag waving from the truck and the people along the roadside nearly went into hysterics when they saw it, including ourselves. Dolly and the other girls were shouting in the excitement. The flag was tattered, as the Japanese had partly torn it, but the USAFFE soldiers were able to rescue it. I will never forget that sight – Old Glory waving in the breeze! Hector (Estrella’s 18-year old son) wept when he saw it – he was very much impressed by the sight, and I too, could no longer refrain from weeping when I saw the courage of these boys. They are fighting against such terrible odds – not enough arms – in fact, they are commandeering all the arms and ammunition from the civilian population. America can well be proud of these Filipino boys as they are 100 percent for America. They are so full of hope, and I hope to God we will not have to wait long for aid.