Loading ...I knew a filipino gent here, patriarch of a large family with six children. After Papa retired, some family would ask him if he wanted to travel to the Philippines to visit his boyhood home. Papa always answered ‘No. Too many bad memories back there’. One day I pressed him and asked ‘Why?’.
1945 Papa was 14 years old. The war was on, and the Japanese invaded the Philippines. Papa and his father were captured by the Japanese soldiers who were rounding up the men & boys who might give them trouble. They were taken to prison camp where the Japanese were executing them… hanging from a flagpole so as to not waste bullets. Papa found himself in a lineup of prisoners, watching as his neighbors and friends in front of him in line were hung. Can you imagine this at 14 years old??
Papa was about number five in line to be hung when a miracle happened. American planes began bombing the camp. Guards ran and filipino prisoners scattered. Papa and his father ran into the jungle and hid for five days, not coming out until they spotted someone they knew. They were reunited with family and shortly after that the entire family was taken to America… to Hawaii to work the sugar plantations here. Papa lived to 91. He became a citizen and served in the Korean war. We buried him with full military honors and a 21 gun salute. A survivor prisoner of war.
The cartoon reminded me of that. It’s only a cartoon until it isn’t.