Some banks will probably be permitted to re-open soon; accounts will be honored on their status as of December 7, 1941, never mind how much you put in later. Brings to mind the fellow last December who tried to settle old debts by depositing two million he raised by borrowing at 50:1. Many are preparing to file War Damage Claims against the U.S. for property losses. I put in a claim for unpaid rents for Dad and saw the Enemy Custodian Bureau to get Dad's property released. The Japanese may have left some goods there that we might claim.

Manuel Roxas was unanimously elected Honorary Chairman of the Filipino War Veterans Association.

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MFP: "Requiem Mass Planned for Martyr Priest [Father Theo Buttenbruch] executed by the Japs because of his efforts to help Americans held as prisoners.... At the risk of his own life, he brought truckloads to the prisoners each month [in] Capas and Cabanatuan." (That was the least of the risks he took.) He was sent to Fort Santiago on March 15, 1944 and released 72 days later. On November 13, he was "kidnapped on the street" and sent to Fort Santiago again, where he was tortured before being executed.

"Burma route cost Japs 250,000," of which 40 percent were slain. Remember the huge preparations and victory billboards under wraps at the Heacock?

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I made two big decisions yesterday: First, I told Enrique Santamaria that I would enter the import business partnering with my brother Paul in New York. Second, I proposed to Maria Paz Sotelo at the new Ciro's nightclub, telling her she'd be marrying a jobless man if she said yes. She made me wait a few moments before we sealed it with a kiss — our first one!

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