The days have been quiet since the 23rd of December and what a relief from the bombing and fighting! The enemy is now staying in the town of Barotac. It is estimated that there are around 300 Japanese soldiers there.
Melecia (Coné’s sister) and her husband, Agustin, remained at the farmhouse until the very last, but they finally had to flee. We have been told by one of the tenants that the Japanese came to the house after they left and took a truckload of our things. I am very much afraid we shall not have anything left.
We do not hear any outside news and it is awful not to know what is taking place in the world. There isn’t even any news from Iloilo and I do not know what is happening there.
The Philippine Army is always telling the people that the aid from the U.S. will be here any time. Sometimes I am very depressed, but when I read Ruth Drummond’s letters (from England) in the Ladies Home Journal, I feel we are so much better off than those folks over in Europe. I have read and re-read these two issues of July and August, 1941, until I can almost memorize them. I must say that they carry me away and I sort of forget that we are in these war-torn islands.