I spoke to Staff Sergeant Larry "but that don't mean a thing" Wiltzius of MacArthur's House Staff — a friendly guy and a great MacArthur booster:

Why, I seen him at Tacloban — and I tell ya the Japs were really raiding us them days — right during an air raid, pacing up and down the front porch. Once when a Japanese bomb killed eight of our men and wounded fifteen, the General was darn near the first man to reach 'em ... put his own personal surgeon, a Colonel, on that job immediately.

At Tarlac, when the Battle for Manila first began, I saw the General receive the first reports — and they were all bad. I know the General felt terrible then. I saw him pace up and down his porch and he was awful mad at them Japs.

Larry invited me for a swim in the pool tonight. "Have a lot of fun," he grinned, waving me a so long.

. . . .

Father Keene got me into Santo Tomas easily today. I visited Father Hurley who was still very weak. The Japanese had these two on the carpet on serious charges at Fort Santiago at one time. Father Keene laughed as he told his tale:

Father Hurley and I were as guilty as we could be. They could have gotten us on any of four charges and cooked us — espionage, aiding guerrillas, dumping ROTC rifles and ammunition into the river instead of handing them over — but they charged us for the most trivial item. Boy were we relieved!

They pleaded guilty and eventually talked their way out. Incidentally, only these Fathers could bury the Santo Tomas dead; the internees quit cold on the task and were no help. The Fathers also cared for the sick — some 120 or so towards the end — aided by only a couple of internees.

. . . .

MFP: "Osmeña Civil Government Installed by MacArthur." At the ceremony Osmeña shook hands with his old friend Justice Luis P. Torres of the Court of Appeals — his head bandaged due to a Japanese bayonet wound.

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