Teodoro the Great showed up today at long last. He stayed for lunch while recounting his tale in his usual inimitable way. "I'm a killer now," he said, continuing to eat as I blanched. "I'm thinking of joining the Philippine Army. After all, I've got a mission to perform.... I've only killed two Japs; I gotta get one more."

He left on a ship taking textiles to Cebu in May last year. It picked up cement for Zamboanga then passed through Jolo taking empty oil drums to Tarakan, Borneo. Several Japanese were aboard along with six other Filipinos from the Seamen's Training Institute. After leaving Cebu the Filipinos started to slowly sabotage the machinery by letting in seawater, rendering the engine useless by its arrival in Tarakan. The Japanese suspected foul play but were afraid of getting court-martialled for negligence. They were testy enough to whack him a few times with a stick, at one point damaging his kneecap and sending him into hospital for twenty days sporting a cast by a Malayan doctor. There were also issues with local guerrillas, which were eventually solved when one of the wives of the guerrillas befriended them.

After a month at Tarakan, the Japanese towed the now oil-laden ship to Tawi-Tawi in August, leaving it in Bongau with a small garrison of 500 to guard the ship and the Filipinos while the rest evacuated to Borneo. In October, American planes strafed the ship and sent its cargo up in smoke. The small garrison remained, preparing for the worst.

In March, the Americans started bombarding the nearby islands of the chain. The Filipinos took that as their cue to steal a small craft and sail off and meet the Americans, who promptly enlisted them for the landing at Bongau. This was carried out in the usual American way: with great force. Teodoro played his part:

I moved forward in the lead with my patrol of five Americans, climbing towards some nests of machine-guns.... All of a sudden, the Japs started firing at me and I was in hot water.... The American sergeant shouting for me to get the hell out of sight and come back. But no sir, not I. I went forward, picked a spot where I thought the Japs were and opened up with my Thompson .45 submachine-gun. Golly what a noise it made! All of a sudden the Japs stood up and started running back ... and that's where I got the two Japs ... one of whom had eight bullets in him.

The Americans treated him to food and clothes, gave him a letter of recommendation and a ride to Manila on a C-46, "priority number 4," for the trip. He arrived smelling like a planeload of California Oranges. His mother cried over him for two solid hours. Everyone treats him as one returned from the dead, which is all right with Teodoro.

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