Philippine history

 

the history of these atrocities is often minimized (a lot of articles insist the deaths were from shelling, while minimizing the deliberate killing of civilians out of anger by the Japanese soldiers).

Similarly, the fact that most of those dying in the Bataan Death march were Philippine scouts, not Americans, is often overlooked in the US version of history.

During the Japanese occupation, some politicians and businessmen tried to cooperate, hoping for independence, but found they were just being used.

Many young men including my husband's brother and cousin, joined local guerilla units and hid in the nearby mountains. 

Those caught, or suspected of hiding or withholding information, were often tortured and killed. Our cousin was captured and tortured to death in the notorious Red House. which I was shown when I moved here. The family of that cousin had a shrine to him that included a thank you letter from President Truman.

Luckily, Lolo's brother who fought with the Guerillas throughout the war, got away and survived the war.

At the end of the war, when Mac Arthur encouraged Philippinos to join in the fight, my husband, a teenager, joined his brother but he claims that by then the only think he did was patrol the streets.

The killing did not end after the Manila atrocities: The film mentions the Japanese who fled into the mountains north of here. What is not mentioned was that the soldiers continued to fight and many became isolated from their units and starved. Many of these soldiers would kill villagers to get food, and so often when they attempted to surrender, the locals did not believe them and killed them.

One trivia fact: The Mexican airforce who had expertise in mountain flying were used in this battle. This article gives some idea about this little known part of the war.