Went in and out of Santo Tomas today through the front gate courtesy of a tall MP who was captivated by Frances. I read part of the Nun's Spanish Diary. She writes about the Cathedral burning around February 7. Civilians were taken to San Agustin on the 5th, and the following day the males were taken away. The Japanese forced the evacuation of San Juan de Dios Hospital, destroying the walls "to prevent fires." The patients were taken to the ruins of the Santo Domingo Church (partly burned on December 26, 1941) then evacuated again to Santa Rosa — "a safer place." She mentioned that many were killed and wounded by shrapnel. This sensitive and highly intelligent nun was telling Eileen about their rescue: "Ooh! We were rescued by such GALLANT MEN! Such strong men.... Oh God, forgive me."

Another lady at Santo Tomas shivered as she told me this story:

The day the Americans entered, my daughter and I were ill — too weak to move one moment, alive and cheering madly the next. As I look back on it now, I'm amazed at it all. But we paid for it later that night when exhaustion did finally come. There were only 700 of those brave boys and how we pressed and pestered them....

Frances told me how the internees ate their pets on the last months — several hundred cats. One place specialized in killing and butchering the cats. She laughed as she recalled that in 1940 she filled a little bag with beans for the girls to play with. Four years later it furnished its owner with a nice lunch.

Mrs. Connor introduced me to Father Hurley, the superior of the Jesuits, who had just recovered from illness. He had worn himself out nursing the sick and burying the dead. Dysentery was prevalent, and the afflicted were too weak to go to the toilets — need more be said? One day when Fathers Hurley and Keene were struggling with the mystery of how to put on a diaper, Father Keene wisecracked: "And to think we spent four years learning Theology!" When the Americans entered, the whole Camp including the Fathers went berserk. Their two helpers left to whoop it up with their rescuers, so the Fathers had to work twice as hard. That's when Father Hurley cracked.

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continues...