Hunters bring relief goods
“THE WAR being over, the American soldiers before going home must have some sorts of souvenirs from the enemy.
“Lucky for the allied soldiers who were in Kiangan during the enemy surrender had a pocketful of jewelry, watches, pistols, Chinese gold, etc. Those who were not able to pick a souvenir or two had to come back to buy anything Japanese from civilians.
“Captain Marvel and his men had a truck filled with confiscated Japanese swords and other light items, but hundred or thousand items are still left in the forests. Civilians, knowing that Americans are back buying anything Japanese, sprung to life in search of items in the mountains and exchanged them with clothing, foodstuff including flour, sugar, powdered milk and cheese.
“An American captain approached me for conversation, and jokingly remarked: ‘The French fought for France, the English fought for England, but Americans fought for souvenirs.’
We laughed but then I said: ‘not so, for Americans fought for the salvation of humanity as well as saving once more democracy.’
Conclusion
“Now that the war is over, and everyone coming back to our mental and physical balance, we turn our attention to the reconstruction and rehabilitation of our devastated country.
“To many of us, the effect of the war has been too great to bear and to forget, not mentioning the forever absence of loved ones who died. Our consolations are that some of us had been finally rescued and saved by America!
“What is written in the foregoing chronological daily events of the war in this part of the Philippines are true happenings, for us here that experienced it, will never forget till death. Our children who are old enough to have and still fear the Japanese will always remember their sufferings in the jungles. This memory will grow more and clearer as they grow and mature eventually.
“Someday they will be reading the history of this war, and many of them who also keep some sort of souvenirs will remember it as if the incidents or happenings are but yesterday.
“Up to this day of writing this record of war accounts in this corner of the Philippines, peace and order are completely restored. The survivors in the towns of Kiangan and Hungduan, all of us, Ifugaos as a whole, are indeed grateful to America and to our countrymen who helped fought the enemy until the final victory.
“We are proud to say that we hid safely for three long years few Americans in places less than eight kilometers from the enemy garrison. They are now back to their loved ones in America. Their suspicions of treason and disloyalty on our parts had been unfounded. Though many of us had been ‘blacklisted’; unlawfully arrested and/or shot to death without fair trials, we still have full trust and confidence in the American high sense of justice.
“The death of Dr. Hilary Pitapit Clapp, the only Igorot product of American public school and of charity, is too great a loss to most of us in the Mountain Province
“It is the most regretful fact that the only big fruit of American education work in the Mountain Province since they established their government in 1900 is taken away from the now bereaved Igorots. Dr. Clapp, who until his death was designated Provincial Governor, was looked upon as the living example of American charity
“Like Booker T. Washington of the Negros, Dr. Clapp had been honestly leading his people not only along his line, a doctor of medicine, but also had been instrumental in the rapid progress of educational work among his people.
“Col. Donald D. Blackburn of the 11th Infantry Guerilla Organization, Northern Luzon must know what happened to him (Dr. Clapp) and if not, it is his duty to uphold American justice, even in time of war. After all, America fought this terrible war, to preserve her sense of justice to all, even unto a real criminal.
“The United States Army before it withdraws its forces in the Philippines should leave no stone unturned to find the soldiers who one night on April 6 or 7, came to arrest Provincial Governor Dr. Clapp at his house. He was reportedly led through the jungles and without mercy shot to death, as the rumor circulates now.
“Then and only then, can we, his friends with his now orphaned family be consoled that American justice is still supreme all over the land of the free.”
The series will eventually be printed in a coffee table reading material and made available to the public for knowledge enrichment of WW2 history in the Pacific theatre.
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Note: The narrator is the youngest son of the late Luis I. Pawid of Kiangan, Ifugao and Angeline Laoyan of La Trinidad, Benguet. He is a journalist by profession, former town Mayor of La Trinidad, Benguet, and former Executive Director of the defunct Cordillera Executive Board, Cordillera Administrative Region. He now resides in New Jersey, USA.