The Arbadjis slept in my cousin Gabby's house on the 9th and 10th, in one of the strongest shelters I've seen outside of the Tabunting here in Manga Avenue. Built to hold 5 to 10 people, Odette estimated there were 58 inside. It was unbearably hot and crowded so the Arbadjis left. A spectacular fire broke out in the Japanese paper factory behind the open lot between the Kahn and Arbadji houses. Gabby's house caught fire and burned to the ground. Many took refuge in the open lot as the battle roared to its 11th and 12th day with constant shelling. (I counted about six craters in that 50 x 20 yard lot.)

By the 13th, the shelter was so crowded that if anyone wanted to go outside, a number of them had to exit to clear a passage. On one such foray someone said he thought he saw Americans. Nobody believed him so the group remained quietly in the shelter. Suddenly someone came running up jumping like a madman and yelling: "I saw the Americans! I saw the Americans! I kissed them!"

"Who was she?" I asked.

"She?" exclaimed Odette, "It was a he, and he was 45 years old."

So that's the story of how Pennsylvania was redeemed ... only it's not quite finished. The Japanese were still around so all remained in the shelter. At noon Odette's father decided to go out for a look despite protests from the group. It cost him an arm. The family then spent 17 consecutive nights in a safe spot in the ruins of the Kahn house.

Abarrasteri's account confirmed Charruca's story that the Americans shelled the Concordia before the Japanese did. The fires, however, began everywhere and all at once, as if deliberately started by the Japanese or Makapilis who infiltrated amongst the refugees. Adding fuel to the fire, some of the refugees brought their own furniture with them, and the arriving Americans were treated to rum and brandy. The place was certainly a tinderbox. Incredibly, as the people rushed out screaming, looters were going in to clean up (I almost said rescue).

I heard a story about the Santa Escolastica College that I pooh-poohed, incurring a girl's quiet wrath. The Americans were shelling the place though no Japanese were around. The girls spotted a Piper Cub over the college and lined up to form an SOS, and the shelling stopped soon after. It's the first story I've heard where the girls weren't hiding from the Japanese. If that's not enough, Paco Gutierrez told me at Pennsylvania yesterday that he moved to Señor Vidal's house after his own house was hit and burned. "The Japs were even helpful. In fact, both that morning and afternoon they helped me push a cartful of my stuff to Vidal's house"!

...ooOoo...