We celebrated my 29th birthday with such a lunch that we all felt guilty afterwards. Canned sugar-peas, homegrown lettuce, spinach and fried chicken for the only dish, then a chocolate cake as only Ma can make 'em — two layers with apricot jam in between topped with pure chocolate icing! And for the finale, a homemade vanilla ice cream that was magnificent. Only in the midst of it, Ma had to start thinking of Joe as she often does. We can't even imagine what the boys are eating in Bataan.

Corregidor A-A

From the crack of dawn there was plenty of air activity again, the sound of motors reaching a crescendo at 1325 as the Japanese bombed Bataan and Corregidor. Even now I can hear the drone of a pair of twin-engine bombers and their escorts. Throughout the constant bombing and shelling, the USAFFE waits impatiently for the next Japanese offensive — and it's clearly overdue. I biked to the Boulevard in the afternoon and saw two fires on this side of Bataan plus one in Cavite too. The VoF broadcast was cheerful. "This is the first [sic] and last line," said one soldier, "the Japs will pass this only over our dead bodies." Morale is high. The spirit is willing....

A Tribune article says traffic in Manila is much improved. Fact is, there's no traffic at all! Another article is on a complaint by one Mamoru Shinozaki, of the Japanese Consulate, on conditions during his internment: the room was small; the food bad. Well, compared to those who spent time at Villamor Hall, he had three times more space and a million times more food.