The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1943-04-16


the nurses pitched in and took care
Of the minor surgery cleaning
wounds, digging for shrapnel, band
aging. There was no time for anes-
thetics except quarter of grain
of morphine, but the wounded GER
tainly had CUTS. They'd grab the side
of their litter with clenched fists,
and tell the nurses to go to lit
really wasn't hurting much.
''The raid had been going an hour
when all of sudden the lights went
out, but in half a minute the girls
had produced flashlights. l remem-
Der Peggy standing there holding
fashlight on guys naked back on
the operating table while doctor
probed for some shrapnel in his kid
ney. You could see her face and
those steady blue-green eyes OF hers
by the light reflected back up from
this guys back, and just then there
was a terrific crunching bang-a
bomb had landed right outside the
tunnel entrance-and with it a sud-
den blast of air through the tunnel.
1t wasn't nice, and yet don't think
Peggy's hand even wobbled.
Presently the lights came on,
and we found one hospital-corps man
had crawled under bed. He wasn't
even sheepish. You're damn right
was scared he said. Thought
the whole place was coming down on
u.s. Peggy's fiashlight beam on that
naked back had not moved. Hell OF
a fine, nervy girl to have in war.
Or any other time.
"But it was getting on toward New
Years, and bad news began to come
from Manila. The Japs were clos
ing i'm
"But very few Of them realized it
in Manila" said Akers. II was
there with my boat on courier duty
from December Is until Manila fell.
Staying with Admiral Hart until the
seaplane took him out to join the
Dutch East Indies fleet.
"You certainly couldn't criticize
morale. The average Filipino had
childish belief in us. He was alb
solutely certain that the Americans
would be there next week with plen-
ty of equipment. Dead-sure that our
American soldiers would throw back
the Japanese. Believed all the opti-
mistic broadcasts and rumors.
"When raid would come, OF
course, they were pretty excitable.
We slept aboard the boat, and when
the bombs started down, we were
supposed to get away from the
wharf and out into the bay. Some
times people used to stow away. to
get away from the bombs.
''They never lost faith, though.
Right up to the end there were big
dances at the Manila Hotel, and
you could watch the Filipino boys
in uniform, telling their girls about
their heroic exploits. And there
were plenty of them to tell, too.
"But over at the American Army
and Navy Club, they knew what the
score was. They didn't feel like
dancing there. Their faces were
plenty long.
''Of course the higher-up Filipinos
knew the truth. If you'd see one
with a long face, you could be sure
he was Senator, or better.
81 had a girl there-Dolores was
her first name, and by American
standards she was good-looking as
hell. Her father was Spaniard
from Catalonia and her mother was
a mestiza. She'd been elected Miss
Philippines a year or so before.
Fairly tall and 1.-THE, with big black
eyes and enough of the Oriental SO
you'd never forget her face among
the other brunettes you know.
"Her father I think was Senator.
and the family had hell OF a lot OF
money. His brother owned lot of
mines. They had a big colonial
house in the suburbs. Usually when
l was invited out she'd send a car
down for me, but the first time l
was coming out alone she said never
mind about directions-and so it
turned out. Every traffic cop / met
knew Just who they were and could
point me on my way. So they were
really big shots on the island.
s'Her father knew what the score
was, although Dolores didn't dream
it was coming so soon. The last time
saw her, just before the Japs came
in, she knew Manila had been de-
clared an open city, but she thought
that only meant there wouldn't be
any more bombs. All that night the
southern army had been moving
through Manila, trying to get to
Bataan before they were cut off,
but she didn't know what the march
ing meant. That night her uncle, a
tough old Spaniard who had mines
all ove- the world, got pretty drunk
and almost had row with her IA
Their, the Senator.
"The uncle said the whole mess
was the fault of this opposition fac
ton of Filipino politicians hollering
their silly heads off for independ-
ence-no wonder the Americans, if
they were getting out in four more
wears, hadn't socked lot of money
into Notifications. Then he cussed
the Filipino politicians out for not