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Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Son’s video recalls exploits of US commander
By Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Sun.Star Staff Reporter
After days of eating only fruits and whatever they could find in the forests, Cebuano guerillas enjoyed abundant supply of chocolates and canned goods sometime in 1942, a war veteran recalls.
The supplies, including firearms, ammunition, radio transmitters and receivers, were among the goods secretly brought to different islands in the country, including Cebu, by United States submarines upon orders of Commander Charles “Chick” Parsons.
A documentary called the “Secret War in the Pacific” was presented yesterday at the Cebu Normal University. It was prepared by one of Parsons’ son, Peter, a historian.
Peter said his father joined Gen. Douglas MacArthur and became a liaison with the guerillas and a “re-supply man” in the Philippines.
Cebu Area Command Veterans Association commander Manuel Segura believes that the USS Nautilus, which was the only submarine that came to the province through the shores of Boljoon, was among them.
“Our commander, James Cussing, personally went to Boljoon to get the supplies. So I was issuing orders in his name,” Segura recalled yesterday during the presentation.
“Lami kaayo kan-on (ang chocolates) kay dugay nami wa kakaon,” he said, laughing.
Aside from food, Segura admitted that they were already running out of firearms. “Among bayonet hinimo na ni Simeon Cortes sa Mandaue,” he said, referring to a famous gunsmith at that time.
But since the submarine hit some reefs in the shores of Boljoon, the crew decided to unload more supplies, including the ones intended for other provinces, Segura added.
Accounts of rescued American and Filipino guerillas, missionaries, teachers and nurses, who hid in the jungles of the Philippines, caused goose bumps and brought tears to some of the participants in yesterday’s presentation at the Cebu Normal University, which incidentally served as a garrison during the Japanese Occupation.
One of the accounts was from Louise Linip, 94, an American volunteer from a Baptist Mission for an orphanage in Malaybalay, Bukidnon.
In a letter that was read after the video presentation, Linip, who continued her work in Bukidnon after the war, expressed gratefulness to Parsons for her rescue.
Parsons risked his life in coming back to the Philippines, and was referred to by MacArthur as the “bravest man I know.”
Peter, 69, said his father did not talk about his role during the war so he spent 10 years documenting what really happened.
However, he traced some of the events from the letters, which his father sent his mother.
Peter focused on how his father engineered a “daring” escape for the whole family from Manila.
According to the documentary, Parsons disguised himself as a Panamanian diplomat and was granted approval to leave the country.
However, he smuggled intelligence reports through a diaper bag, which was carried by Peter, who was only five years old then.
Peter recalls that his father entrusted him with the bag because he follows orders.
When they were at the dock, a Japanese soldier had approached Peter and gave him candies. The soldier had wanted to take the diaper bag so he could give Peter more candies.
“My parents (who were watching) were dying,” he related.
The family was eventually able to leave Manila and Parsons, who later met with MacArthur, agreed to come back to the Philippines to bring supplies.
However, Peter said his work is dedicated to “all the men and women of the resistance movement in the Philippines” and was made in honor of his father. (CYR)
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (April 19, 2006 issue)
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