The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1944-12-21
Description of
Philippines Given
By Sgt. R. E. Stemple

| oS ~ 1NISIdIu L. otSllP4S, WIN tiS
sixth army in the Philippine islands
giving some detailed description OF
the town and people in that area.
Sgt Stemple is with the army
finance division. Excerpts from the
letter are printed below.
The business section of the town
probably occupies about blocks along
the main highway running through
the town and the buildings in that
area are 2--story frame affairs. There
are no stores which would be con-
sidered large as most of them (what
few there were) were nothing more
than a couple show cases located in
the front rooms. Several Of the build
ings looked like they might have had
@torerooms about 40'X50' as the floors
were laid in stone with a design work
ed in but | understand they had been
cleared out and were being used by
the Japs for various offices. The
main street was hard-surfaced and
was probably about 20 feet from curb
to curb and then the cement sidewalk
which varied from 2 to s. in width.
The largest building was what the
Philippines refer to as the Market
Place and it was open on all sides with
just roof and cement floor and
guess it must have been about 100'X
200 and it has now been taken over
by the Army as a storage building.
This building is right beside the
little river which runs through the
town and the bank of the river and
then a cement platform built a few
inches under the water and it is along
this spot that the women take the
clothes down to wash them. Their
method of washing is to wet the
clothes and soap them up good and
then they have little wooden paddles
which they use to beat the clothes to
get the dirt out. They really give them
a beating and rinse them numerous
times in the river water and one girl
that they then take the clothes home
and rinse them out again in we'll water
before hanging them up to dry.
From the business section we walk
ed on out around some of the streets
to see some of the homes. The streets
in what is supposed to be the residcn-
tial section are just dirt and have
no sidewalks. 1t is difficult to de-
scribe the homes because they really
don't amount to work. There are Just
q few homes which are Of frame con-
struction and they are considered diff
ferent from the frame houses we have
back in the states. Their houses are
much smaller and none of them have
,trinIC,.-c onJ ,,rootiooll,, 81
have floors made of bamboo poles with
mating laid on the floor. The great
majority of the homes are constructs
ed by using bamboo poles as a frame
work and then they take the fronds
from the cOcOanut trees and cut the
individual leaves and fold them over
short pieces Of bamboo and then sew
them together by using large needle
and vines for thread These sections
are then put on the bamboo frame
work in about the same manner as
we would use shingles back in the
states. This type of house is rarely
divided into rooms but they live, cat
and sleep in the same room. They
have practically no furniture and do
their cooking in earthen pots over a
small fire built outside the house.
Their diet consists entirely of rice and
a few sweet potatoes and some kind
of rice bread which they make and
whatever food the "GT s." give them
so it is not surprising to see them
eating rice, dog biscuits and bully
beef or sc" or "K" rations,
My impressions Of the people are
that they are unusually clean and are
making a desperate effort to raise
their standard of living, but they
have a long way to 90. Their living
conditions are such that they can't
help but get dirty, but believe every
person has complete change of
whatever clothing they might wear
every day. 1t seems as if they are al
ways washing clothes or sweeping out
their homes with brooms made of
palm fronds. They seem to have an
acute shortage of clothing as some of
the little boys are running around
with just shirt which may come
down about two-thirds of the way
from the shoulder to the hips. Lots
of the men and some of the women
are wearing clothing which has been
llldNS OuC VI JUL zap anu liIoSI VI tiIell
"everyday" clothing is we'll patched
I All Of their clothing seems to be
rather "fimsy" and it won't take
many more washings for it to fall
apart. | understand that most of
them have a Sunday" suit or dress
which they wear to church and on
special occasions. The only shoes ]
| have seen have been nothing more
! than little piece of wood with a strap
over the front of it and they seem to
slide along on them. | have noticed
that the men seem to be clean shaver
and all of the people keep theil
straight black hair combed and the
women have their hair rolled up at
the back and tied in a knot. One
thing | noticed about them was the
fact that they seem to have fallen
prey to some of the various skin
diseases which are prevalent in the
tropics and | think this is probably
due to a vitamin deficiency as the
Japs Communicated all of their mea-
them also have some body lice as
observed several people sitting arounc
with somebody else picking through
their hair.
In spite of their affections anc
hardships they seem to have a won.
dcrful sense of humor as their faces
are always smiling and | don't think
that is a habit they picked up from
the Japs. The little children seem tC
be just about normal. Some of then
are fairly fat and others little skin
ny, but | don't think ! saw more thar