Frances and I rode to Tondo with Father Keene in his dilapidated Plymouth. We had to get out and push for a while. On the way back we saw Manila's North Harbor full of working bulldozers. The Tondo Church was a burnt ruin with Japanese pillboxes all around the plaza. We had lunch with the Connors at Santo Tomas — a simple fare that makes for a feast these days: bread, butter and jam, fruit salad, milk and a Hershey bar. I was introduced to the Colonel investigating Japanese atrocities — Krause, Inspector General of the Fourteenth Army Corps. He had already taken Father Cosgrave's testimony on the La Salle massacre — one of the most despicable atrocities of South Manila. MacArthur himself saw Crosgrave the day before. The Reverend Father has already made a deposition in writing and at least ten statements to various correspondents.

I joined Machado, Enrique Santamaria and the Macleods at the Fairchild shack — the first time the three bosses and I have been together since 1941. Enrique looked well and did okay by himself during the occupation. We got to talking about the La Salle and the Campos atrocities. At some point, Machado looked at me and said:

You know, Henry, the Campos case was partly due to this twenty-year-old Tony Campos. The fool was known to go around with two pistols and ammunition. The Japs heard of it and one day during the battle they went to the Campos house, sent everyone downstairs, searched the place and found the pistols, ammunition and a rifle of some sort. They marched Tony and one of his friends across to the Nippon Club ... where they were decapitated.

The Japanese went back the next day to recheck the Campos house and they found more things. They came back a third time and the house was so full of people that the Japs probably lost their heads and started firing.

The story comes from Freixas, BPI Vice-President (the President, Pedro Campos, died eight months ago). Tony had withdrawn two pistols from his dad's BPI safety deposit box, and was probably fingered by a disgruntled houseboy. When I asked Machado how many were in the house, he said, "Santiago Freixas said not more than 60 or 70."

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