A soldier went over to the Siy house across the road, and with a bow, handed Pete a large flag of the Rising Sun. Pete bowed back, accepted it with thanks, and turned to close the gate when the soldier said, "One peso please." If you're asked to buy one of the smaller two-centavo flags and you're flat broke, you risk getting slapped. The shortage of copper coins (to keep them away from the Japanese) is such that if you have five pesos worth of coins, the Japanese will sell you a can of lard.

The Japanese whispering campaign will guarantee that Manila will be full of flags tomorrow. It goes this way: There'll be soldiers celebrating and they might drink and become ornery.... To avoid trouble, it would be wise to have a Japanese flag showing. I don't know anyone who isn't staying home tomorrow.

After three months of hounding by the delicate, 65-year old Mrs. Kyburz to get the Japanese to release her grandson, Bobby, they finally relented. The much thinner 15-year old of Swiss and American parents had trouble finding his newly freed vocal chords. He did manage to say, "It was much worse in Baguio than in Santo Tomas."