A highly exciting week? What with His Nibs (did I mean Hitler?) reported dead, the high mortality among Jap generals, rumors flying about with the greatest of ease, and the bay so full of ships I can’t count them, we are all of a tiz. Took a little ride on the boulevard on the bike with Spec riding behind, just to see what’s what. Was quickly shooed off by soldiers waving guns. We argue all the time about the question of whether the Americans will retake the islands by force or bypass us. Radio not very clear about that. But the Japs think they are going to try to retake it. There are many thousands of Jap troops around Manila, the fortifications are growing apace, airfields blossom overnight, the Japs are working night and day on shelters, trench systems, gun emplacements everything points to attack and/or invasion. We can only wait.
Ever since the Normandy landings, we all feel that the European war is in its last stages. The news of Hitler’s attempted assassination, phony as it sounds, must mean internal disorganization in Germany. Here we go, here’s hoping!
They are still urging the people to leave Manila. The paper and the radio harp on it. I’ve got two women, myself, two small children, half a dozen servants, a wire-haired terrier and an Australian cat, the belongings of dozens of internees, and I can’t run until they force me. I have no place to go. I’ll stay put as long as I can.