A big parade is on with the usual planned "line up" and speech by Laurel. Tribune: "Staggering losses dealt on foe in two years of war." A new Box Score is printed: Merchantmen sunk or damaged, 677; captured, 503; own losses, 96. Aircraft shot down, 5,158; damaged, 1,716; own losses, 1,253, "that failed to return or dived into enemy objectives."

. . . .

Elizalde and Zobel threw a party where the Bataan-Corregidor film was shown without the offensive ending. The audience booed quietly when Recto's scene appeared, and Recto took it as the joke it was meant to be. Manuel Roxas appeared too — gesturing to the cameraman to stop filming him! As the guests departed, Alunan told Recto, "Hasta Tokyo," instead of hasta la vista, and the guests got a good laugh. As to how long the war would last, Recto said five more years, while Alunan thought it would end late 1945 or early 1946, though the U.S. could land here earlier.

According to a nurse, PIAM stands for "Philippine Islands Awaiting MacArthur." The Tagalog version is unprintable but would be obvious to most Filipinos.

At 2330 last night Manila-time, we heard news that the U.S. had begun landing operations on the Marshalls — the first prewar Japanese territory to be invaded.

...ooOoo...