Saw some of the Jap troops that arrived recently. They looked haggard, unkempt, underfed. Their shoes were made of black cloth and some were dragging their feet. Their uniforms were very dirty and smelly. Many of them were asking the people downtown if they were in Australia. No doubt Japanese people are being duped by…
Tag: Simeon de Jesus
November 5, 1944
Just came out of the shelter so I’m quite dirty right now. The bombing was quite stiff and the mud on the sides started to scatter all over the place. I can’t stand the shelter so I went out to take a look at the dogfights. Saw a plane shot atop Camp Murphy. First it…
April 10, 1942
Morning came, and we were ordered to stack our guns and disarm. The white flag was raised on top of the highest hill. All Filipino troops in Bataan were going to surrender together. It was already nine o’clock… but still there were no Japs. We knew we were completely surrounded, but they were taking their…
April 8, 1942 (April 8-9)
Morning After the general heard my report, I took the field telephone and asked for Bat 108 –Manny’s code name in Corregidor. “What’s up, Primo?” he asked. I said: “the line in the east sector won’t hold. By tonight, the Japs will be here. Tell Leonie to stay there.” Manny didn’t believe me, but I…
April 8, 1942
Bataan Saw a big rat eating what looked like the arm of a soldier strewn near a stream in H.P.D. Saw more troops –hollow-eyed, wasted, exhausted, lips parched with thirst, eyes wild with starvation. Saw corpses of brave men, courageous men being buried by friends, comrades-in-arms. All troops are moving to Mariveles, the southernmost tip…
April 5, 1942
Bataan Dead men everywhere. Uniforms red with blood. Guns red with blood. Bataan is a sea of blood. Some troops still fighting but contact with the main line has been lost. Most of the boys are retreating, firing, retreating, firing –dying. Saw hundreds and hundreds of unkempt, disheveled, bewildered troops dragging their swollen…
April 3, 1942
HQ, Bataan Japs pounding the front heavily, continuously, mercilessly. The boys are standing firm, fighting with the littler strength left in their sick, hungry, weary, bloody bodies. What is happening in Bataan today is phenomenal. Here are inexperienced youngsters –schoolboys, trainees, academy undergraduates– fighting veterans of many campaigns who are numerically and materially superior….
March 14, 1942
Bataan, HQ, MIS The general looks very depressed. He talked to nobody today. He stayed in his tent smoking his pipe silently. He must be brooding about something sad. I told Fred when I said “Good morning” to the General, the old Fogie did not even answer, damn the impolite bum. (Sometimes I like…
March 13, 1942
Bataan, MIS, HQ Went to an artillery battery. Watched them shell Japs. Beautiful sight. Terrific noise. Ground shook like a banca. Felt concussion in my chest. Saw smoke on enemy lines. Like powder puffs at first. Then tall columns of dust rising like thin, high, fountains. Shelling stopped when Jap planes hovered above, so as…