Tribune: "30,000 joining [fall of Bataan] parade.... District and Neighborhood Association members alone are placed at 28,000, all of whom are expected to attend" — or else....

People with radios are unshakably optimistic; the rest get enough reports and rumors to keep their spirits up. Only a few hundred cooperators fall for Japanese propaganda and believe the Americans won't return; though they fear a reckoning just the same. Their sourpuss faces distinguish them — a consequence of knowing that the majority of the people will not be swayed. This sentiment is so tangible that you could cut it with a knife. It reveals itself in so many trivial ways that you'd have to be deaf and blind not to feel it. If the Japanese really knew how we felt, they'd die of shame or go on a rampage.

Andy Klingler said 10,000 Japanese soldiers arrived in Manila, and someone added that three Japanese hospital ships are in the Bay. Then Ramon Amusategui dashed in, saying 1,000 Americans were coming down from Cabanatuan on the 1630 or 2100 train — to embark for Manchukuo.

I sped out on my bike and spent an hour on the Quezon Bridge, where I had a commanding view of the four bridges crossing the Pasig over which the prisoners would need to cross to get to the pier. At 2030, I biked to the Tutuban Railroad Station and saw the train come in at 2115 without any POWs, though soldiers stood around as if expecting them. The hospital ships and large transport at Pier 7 are ominous. The thought of going on the high seas these days is enough to make me shudder.