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"There were many patriotic boys who devoted their lives to this country at that time, instead of going on to college. So you will see in this story where we got introduced to the world away from home, away from our family, and away from our loved ones. This is why I feel that the men and women of our armed services deserve our utmost respect."
The Army and Marines were landing on the beach and having a hard time getting some ground so they could establish a beachhead. Everyone was really busy. Then that night, after they had made quite a bit of progress and moved inland, things seem to get a little better. We had been on the guns most of the day. It was a few days later that some of us got a chance to go on shore again for a little while. It seemed very funny to have all of the native Philippinos speaking English and being very friendly. They were so happy to see us that they offered anything they could. The most important items they wanted were Singer sewing-machine needles. That was very surprising to us because we had soap, Quinine medicine for malaria, cigarettes, and candy. And also chocolate. We felt so sorry for them, for they had nothing left after what the Japanese done to them. The Japanese were very cruel to the native people. They told us the Japanese raped the women, even the younger girls, and beat some of the men, also killing many of them. The children looked so pitiful. You could tell they had no clothes, they were all dressed in rags. They said that the Japanese came around taking all their clothes and anything of value, to send back to Japan, to be used for the war effort. Little kids were following us around trying to sell their mothers and sisters, for a couple of dollars or anything they could use. I had one man who was the father of a beautiful daughter tell me I could have her for a few quinine tablets. He took me to his hut were his family lived. He was all excited and was telling his wife that he had some quinine tablets. He took me into a room to introduce me to his daughter, and when I looked I felt so bad at what I saw. I saw a pretty little Filipino girl who is very sick with malaria. That was who he needed the quinine tablets for. I felt so sorry for them. I gave them the whole bag of goodies I had. I had been saving them for quite a while, thinking I would have a good time when I got ashore. I found the people were already so deprived of the necessities of life, that when I went back to the ship, I brought back a lot of vegetables and things to eat. Plus I brought some of our old clothes we had gathered among the crew. The funny thing about it--if you can call it funny--they tried to pay us in Japanese yen. (If I would have known then what I know now, I could have made a fortune with the Japanese yen.) Most of their money though was Japanese invasion money, which was worthless.
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