Finally some news: U.S. Marines landed on three Solomon Islands and are "consolidating their beachheads." Today's Tribune is firing full blast but few pay it any attention. The Japanese have sunk the U.S. Navy (not to mention the Naval Department) several times already. In fact, a few find it amusing to check the veracity of Japanese stories. Those who can't do so simply ignore the news. For instance, many Filipinos didn't bother to read Aquino's speech of last Sunday. They remember he once had a falling out with Quezon and are not surprised that he has gone the way he has.

Spoke to an ex-basketball player just released from prison camp where he had gone from 140 to 80 pounds! His brother didn't even recognize him from 15 feet away. He talked about the retreat from Southern Luzon but skipped Bataan. When they surrendered they were given rations to last the trip to prison, "but the Japs took it from us." They marched six days to San Fernando, where they were herded into boxcars like cattle for the trip to Capas. "The Corregidor fellows arrived looking like men," he said, "but within a week we all looked alike." Unlike the Americans, the chiefs of the Filipino camps neglected sanitation so the Filipinos suffered more from diseases.