Flash: Landings in Italy! Phone lines in Manila ran hot with code words like boot and spaghetti.

Placido Mapa

Spoke to Placido "Lollipops" Mapa this morning — the nickname comes from a racehorse he used to own. Vargas is trying to stop him from resigning because the government needed more trustworthy members. But it's hard to support a large family on a meager government salary. When the banks were closed, Placido was caught short of cash and had to sell some of his 33 racehorses at rock-bottom prices. He got nothing, of course, when the Japanese confiscated the rest.