About the author: Francisco S. Hamoy, soldier, guerilla, from Dapitan. According to a Philippine News Agency feature,
Lt. Hamoy was 2nd Lieutenant commanding the Philippine Constabulary Company in Tagbilaran, Bohol, when war in the Pacific broke out with the bombing of the United States 7th Fleet at Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 8 (7 in the United States), 1941. A few hours later, Japanese planes attacked Clark Airfield in the Philippines.
In the face of the mighty Japanese Imperial Forces, the defense of the Philippines slowly collapsed and on May 30, 1942, Bohol surrendered. But Lt. Hamoy did not.
He escaped alone towards Baliangao in Misamis Occidental on a small sailboat known as “binigiw.” He then walked his way through the jungle in Baliangao to his hometown in Dapitan.
On September 19, 1942, Lt. Hamoy organized and commanded the Bravo Company, a guerrilla unit composed mostly of Dapitanons like Antonio A. Balladares, Vicente Recamara, and Dodo Carreon.
About the diary: The entry in The Philippine Diary Project consists of excerpts in a Philippine News Agency feature, The day we saw them flying: A Dapitanon soldier’s diary, by Gualberto Laput, published on August 28, 2018.