My old softball buddy, George Snow, had some interesting experiences during the Occupation. He was let out of Santo Tomas to become the procurement agent for the Remedios Hospital. During that fourteen-month stint, he naturally engaged in some extracurricular activities. He was part of an underground intelligence unit that included the late Duggleby and Grinnel. George mentioned that Father John Lalor was particularly helpful to the internees. He too was executed by the Japanese along with Father Patrick Kelly at the start of the Battle of Manila.

George had a few lucky escapes. He was visiting the Elizaldes and Pirovanos in the Elena Apartments the night they were picked up and not heard of again. A neighbor alerted them that the Japanese were gathering below for a raid. It was well after curfew and the building was practically surrounded. How he escaped through the Japanese cordon is a tale by itself. He was so desperate that if a Japanese had fired at him, he half-expected to be able to outrun the bullet!

Chick Parsons was among the most important of MacArthur's spies; a daring-do wealthy American who came back by submarine to build up an intelligence group and coordinate espionage and guerrilla work for the Allies. What made Chick's work all the more hazardous was that no amount of camouflage could hide his blue-eyed American features. He usually got by posing as a Filipino priest. If the Japanese had given his shirt a god yank they would have found a large collection of the finest unpriestly tattoos.

Max Kummer hasn't been interned. He had been a heavy contributor to the guerrillas. Incidentally, one benefactor of the Remedios Hospital was none other than Vicente Madrigal. He contributed lots of items for the benefit of the internees there while living with the Japanese. In fact, he had a Japanese bodyguard.

At the Sotelos later, a fellow named Jaraiz was bellyaching because all told he received only some rice, five tins of fish, two tins of evaporated milk and two tins of powdered milk (probably only 5-lb. tins to boot) not to mention three undershirts of the wrong size. How quickly some people forget! Two months ago a one-lb. tin of four-year-old powdered milk felt like a million dollars.

...ooOoo...

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