I Saw You Fell - "Angels Of Bataan"

CHAPTER 10

I'd like to be say that a long and passionate affair followed. But that would be ultra-unrealistic and stupid given our situation. The Angels fought on valiantly, never budging an inch. But the only cure for malnutrition is food and we didn't have any of that stuff.

We'd been growing vegetables in any airable space. But then in early '45, the Japanese confiscated all of it for their own troops. When the Japs did that, all remaining hope went out of us.

Now, there were almost as many Angels lying in hospital beds as there were Angels attending to patients. I worked side-by-side with Ronnie, as awkward as that might have been given what had transpired between us. Not another word was ever said about my unfortunate admission.

Missy never left my side. She was the last flickering light in the all-consuming darkness, bringing a child's promise of hope to the patients.

We didn't have rehabilitation facilities. So, my brave little kitten just lived with the pain. I used up the last of my cash to buy aspirin for her. At night I would hold her, rock her, and tell her it would be okay. But I knew that I was lying. We were all going to die.

Then an ironic thing happened. The first hint that my life was going to change was when that flight of Japanese planes passed over the Manila Hotel. Well, it happened again like a harbinger of hope.

We were going about our business late in January when we heard the sound of powerful aircraft engines and flight after flight of gleaming fighters swept low over the camp. But instead of a meatball, those planes had a white star on a blue field. The Americans were coming!!

Then, two days later, we heard explosions and the rattle of machine-gun fire next to the compound gate. There was a loud crash, and a green tank with a white star and "Battlin Basic" painted on its side burst through the heavy doors and into the compound.

The cavalry had arrived!! Specifically, a Sherman tank from the 44th Battalion of the U.S. First Cavalry. I was standing on the steps of the clinic holding Missy's hand as the internees erupted into spontaneous cheers. Four more Shermans followed, and the accompanying infantry quickly spread out into the compound.

The internees were shouting and trying to hug every dogface as they arrived but there was still work to be done. The Japanese guards had fled into the Education building where they used the two hundred people trapped with them as human shields. I saw Carroll and the interpreter Stanley go into the building and come out with a couple of Japanese officers.

There was more negotiation outside the building which featured one of the Japanese being shot by an American guard. The story was that he reached for a grenade. Anyhow, after backing-and-forthing for an hour or so the Japanese all appeared single file and walked out of the camp. We were officially in the hands of the U.S. military.

It was pathetically anticlimactic. We had spent thirty-seven months in painful confinement longing for this moment. And when it finally arrived, we just stood there, no celebration, no fireworks, just 3,200 starving, exhausted people milling around on a hot Manila night.

There was a war going on. So, Missy and I couldn't just hail a cab up to Makati. In fact, we stayed at Santo Tomas for an additional month-and-a-half while they sorted out the Japanese.

Once MacArthur had finished congratulating himself in front of the cameras - oh, and the Angels as well. They were all assembled and trucked away. That was the second week after the liberation. They were going back to the States for a hero's welcome, whether they wanted it or not.

They certainly got a hero's departure. Ronnie gave me a forlorn wave, as their trucks swung out of the compound and onto the Calle Dapitan. She was riding with Jean and Sallie. But previously, she'd tracked me down in the chaos of that first night of freedom and we'd had a heart-to-heart conversation.