Typhoon Yolanda

The typhoon Yolanda recently struck the central Philippines. Damage was greatest to the town of Tacloban on the island of Leyte, and to the nearby island of Cebu.

I spent nine months (1946 and 1947) at U.S. Army Base "K", in Tacloban. (Then, G.I.s called it 'tack-low-buhn', but since the Filipinos called me 'psalm', the name probably should be prounced with soft "A"s, as in Psalms: 'tahk-low-bahn'

See http://www.gov.ph/crisis-response/updates-typhoon-yolanda/ for news of the typhoon.

For a little background, Tacloban has been through a lot. When the Japanese Army occupied the islands, the people of Tacloban were treated brutally. One friend of mine said she spent four years in hiding because the Japanese soldiers raped every young girl they could find. I heard many personal horror stories.
 

Because the east side of Leyte faces the open Pacific Ocean, General MacArthur chose that spot for his initial landing to liberate the islands. My youngest sister, Carolyn Baker's late husband, Hugh, was a soldier in those initial invading forces, and his outfit suffered heavy losses. Happily, I was not among those first American troops.

Tacloban was devastated by the force of the invasion. But the Filipinos loved the Americans and treated us like royalty.
 

When the atomic bombs were dropped and Japan surrendered, the Pacific was 'full' of ships carrying material for the invasion of Japan. The U.S. Government made the decision to unload the ships - on Leyte - to provide empty vessels for hauling cargo (such as G.I.'s) back to the U.S.

There were hundreds and hundreds of trucks, tanks, Jeeps, and all sorts of ordnance to be disposed of. Not to mention mountains of boots and other non-lethal items. That was the job at hand when I arrived on Leyte. In additiion, we had 10,000 Japanese prisoners to repatriate, as soon as the economy in Japan could support their return home.


Ironically, we loaded the last Japanese soldiers on transports bound for Japan, on December 7, 1946 - five years to the day after they first invaded the islands. However, isolated groups of Japanese soldiers still occupied remote Philippine islands for decades.
 

I was appointed Chief of the A.G. Radio and Cable Section at Base "K". I had three G.I.s and four Filipoino civilians assigned to my office. During those nine months, we became close friends with the Filipino employees in the Adjutant General's Department. They were really smart, competent people. 

One girl, whose job was to complete each day's morning report, memorized the name, rank and serial number of every officer and enlisted man in the Department. An amazing feat.

My top employee was a man named Alfonso R. Amante, nicknamed 'Poonsing'. Poonsing had fought the Japanese in the resistance. Once his group was crawling through some underbrush when a Japanese soldier spotted him and fired.

The bullet entered the front, fleshy part of his left cheek, exited a few inches back, then entered the flesh on the back of his shoulder and exited again, leaving four bullet holes, but not striking any bone. 

Poonsing was out of action until he healed, and one day a Japanese officer spotted him at an open air market and asked if he was a member of the resistance. Poonsing replied that he was not. He said there was a full stalk of bananas hanging on the front of one of the market stalls. 

The officer drew his sword and with one swipe cut the stalk of bananas in half. He told Poonsing that was to show how easily he could cut his head off if he lied. Poonsing said he replied that "even if you cut me this way (indicating vertically through his body), I do not lie to you". Poonsing said when the officer walked away, his heart started beating again.

One day Poonsing asked me about the U.S. "If water can freeze on the ground, why doesn't your blood freeze in your veins?" He grinned, as if to say 'explain that one if you can'. I assured him that your blood will freeze in your veins if you are exposed long enough... and that it happens to people in northern parts of America every winter.

Next in line on the staff was Salvacion Caminong, "Salving". Salving and I also were great friends and, since I was so young (seventeen) Salving often played the role of 'mother' to me.

One day Salving wanted to tell me that a girl we both knew was pregnant. But she could not bring herself to use the word pregnant in conversation with me. So she told me the girl was "in the family way." I had no idea what she was talking about, until Poonsing explained it to me.

Another girl I knew was named Adoracion. Names like Salvacion (salvation) and Adoracion (adoration) are indicative of the Filipno's strong Christian faith, and family values.

At that time, there was a country song in the U.S. titled "My Filipino Baby". It was about a sailor with a Filipino sweetheart. But, the Filipino girls in our office thought it referred to an infant Filipino, the love child of a sailor and a Filipino girl. They hated that song, I tried to explain that in the U.S. it is common to call your girl friend your 'baby'. I'm not sure they ever believed me.
 

I left the islands 66 years ago, so most of my Filipino friends have grown old, if still alive. Please be aware that these people are not ignorant savages. They are smart, friendly people who have faced many hardships.

Fresh water streams are infested with some sort of bacteria which makes the water unusable, so their drinking water has to come from wells. Without electricity, I can't imagine what they are doing for water. Relief from the U.S. and other nations is now arriving on Leyte and Cebu.

The arrival of a U.S. Aircraft Carrier in Leyte Gulf is most significant. The Carrier has capacity for desalinizing large amounts of sea water. It has on-board hospitals and medical staff. And, it has a fleet of helicopters enabling relief to reach isolated mountain villages.

If you are looking for some worthy cause for a Thanksgiving donation, call the American Red Cross and ask that your gift be earmarked for Philippine typhoon relief.