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| By File created by Tony Ahn. Original photographer unknown - Photograph on display in Manila Hotel archives., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=10314124 |
The war was still going on and when we got to Manila the Japanese were being pushed back to the Summer capital. And although it was coming to an ending , they were still fighting back.
When I was off duty I would go into other parts of the city. The old walled city had come down. It was the last stand the Japanese made in Manila.
On July 5, 1945 our troops liberated the Philippine Island. And shortly after that there was a big celebration. MacArthur besides landing at Leyte Island also jumped off to the island of Luzon and went on the radio and announced to the Philippinos that he had returned and for them to come to him. The islands are tropical and a number of their army had taken off to the jungles when the Japanese took charge. And kept them busy with small attacks and also waiting for MacArthur to come back.
I was able to to watch the General come and go. He kept business hours. He would leave in the morning, come back for lunch, and when he was due to arrived his wife would wait in the front door for him. The staff inside would tell us that she would see the Caddy and she would say The Gineral is coming. We would call him the Northern way as spelled in the dictionary. She used the Southern pronunciation. And she was a gracious, Southern lady. As the General was about she would fling the house door open and fly down the stair and midway he would catch her and they would hug and kiss. She was a lot younger than he was and their feeling for each other was no act. They loved each other. When ever I saw her flying down to meet him she would be in his arms and I was amazed that she didn't knock him down the steps or both fall down.
After lunch he would leave for headquarters and the same thing would happen.
The child was spoiled and some one must have put him up to it because his answer to what do you want to be he said, "My grandfather was a General and my father is a bigger General, and I got to do better and be a President. I never heard anything about the boy after WWII.
The General's wife gave a dance for us and she had some wonderful looking Phillipino girls attend. All from the well to do level of the community. The Islands were and are from a recent talk with a woman who goes there three times a year. She is a social worker. She said that the country loves MacArthur but it's the rich people that have everything. The poor are kept poor.
I could see this during my post in the Philippines at the dance. The young ladies were escorted by a member of the family or in most cases by and aunt. They kept their eyes on their young lady. Some of the men who tried to dance the girls outdoors were foiled. The aunt would be at the door with a nice smile and prevent the dancers from going outdoors.These people were relations whose husband died or they were poor relations.
They also had servants and the pay was as minimal as possible. I happened to open a conversation with a woman and in our conversation she mentioned that she would be leaving to go to the Philippines. She was a medical worker. Goes three times a year. I said that I was there in WWII. She said that the people are still in poor condition. Nothing has improved. I asked her if the steel chruch was still there. She said she never heard of it. She will look it up.
