The 1st Cavalry Division under Mauch had raced four days to reach Manila, coming quite a distance bypassing towns and major roads in the latter part of their journey. They were first to Leyte, Carigara, Manila, and first to brag about it too. They landed last at Lingayen and took eight days to get here, the only opposition being a Japanese convoy that got plastered. They were told to hurry: "We don't take prisoners ... unless we have orders," said one.

A Jap may raise his hands in token of surrender and be merely signaling to his comrades. We kill 'em all.... In all this time we've captured only two prisoners, and they both died.

Everywhere you went, 1st or 37th Division, the boys were tired, perspiring and bleary eyed with fatigue. There was no shouting, confusion, or nasty tempered spiels. Disdain for the Japanese was kept hidden; the people here are 100 times angrier with the Japanese than these boys are. The girls dreaming of Love Parade uniforms, braids and glory were disappointed. Instead of blue serge and gold stripes, they're seeing dirty-green fluffy pants with bulging pockets. The modern army is an army of mechanics, not romancers. But the girls can wait, I guess.

The vehicles all had names, of course. My favorite was a tank I saw in Legarda: TOKYO OR RUST. I took it to be an M-3. "Nope," said the blond giant on top, "this here's an M-4. A General Sher-man."

. . .

We've seen four Piper Cubs above the city in the last two days. The pilot of one was hit and killed while on patrol yesterday. At 1120 today, machine gun fire hit the engine of another Cub. The tall, gum-chewing pilot made a splendid landing right on Calle España in front of Santo Tomas, side-slipping between the wires and alighting on the street with the ease of a dove.

I biked home at 1230 and ran into Pepe de la Riva, Rafael Ygoa and George Bernard at the foot of the bridge. Bernard had a sketch showing the location of the Japanese batteries to the east made by — of all people — Monsieur Lerocque, the Vichy Consul of Manila for two years and the author of some very interesting anti-American remarks. But presto! He's now become pro-American, s'il vous plait. His wife has been staying at the Bachrach house since about a week ago. He had noticed Japanese trucks delivering shells to the field in question, and with Madame Bernard, saw the battery open fire at 1700 last Friday. They wanted to give the sketch to Maurice to pass on to the Americans. Fernando Perez had already taken a copy to Malacañan of all places.

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