Chapter 5

July 1, 1945

Ten of the young guerillas came back from the US Army base on the coast. They brought an Army Sergeant and 2 Privates with them. We were very happy to have them with us! We had several barangay meetings and private talks with them.

Sarge said "We are here to check on your welfare and health. I see that you have been well provided for. Our Base Commander Major General Louis Bacon asks that the two of you come back with us. He will have an Honor Parade for all of the POWs we have found and rescued. He wants this on Independence Day, July 4th.

Sarge said to Dodong "Captain Eduardo Emeldalina he also asks that you cut short your leave and also return with us. He said for you to bring your family and he will have a place for them to stay until they return back here to your village. We will leave tomorrow morning if everyone is up to the trip back.

By the way, on our way here we stopped at the cave you had found. I left the rest of my Platoon there to ready the POW bodies for their return to our Base. You did a remarkable job getting all 40 of them identified. Now I wonder why the Japanese wanted that enlarged cave?"

I said "We think they were preparing for their final hideout base in case they were outnumbered by the Americans arriving here. A place to hide out until their Armies came back to retake Davao and the rest of the Philippines."

Sarge said "That may have been their reasoning, but as usual, their ways make no sense to me!"

Our meeting came to a close and we went to eat and say our goodbyes to the villagers. We reassured all of them that we would be back at some time in the future.

Our trip down the hill to the Army Base went quickly. We were greeted by the sentries and quickly ushered into the Base to meet with Maj. Gen. Bacon. He had snacks and coffee ready for all of us. He was quickly put under the spell of Ade, Honey and the beauty of the 13 year old twins Babes and Sweets.

He said to Dodong "Captain I will be presenting Philippine Liberation Ribbons to all the POWs. We want you to present them to the Philippine fighters that were rescued from the POW Camps. The soldiers that are not well enough to march in the parade will be given their Medals later."

He said to me "There are only 25 of the Americans that are well enough to parade. When they reach the Dias you will halt them and I will give each of them their Maeda individually. We will later also give the others their Medals. We will start this tomorrow morning on this glorious 4th of July!"

Dodong and his family was shown the way to their private area where they would stay the night. They asked Tiger and me to join them for their evening meal. We said we would try but we had a lot of paperwork to catch up on.

Tiger went with the Air Force Group to be with them. I went with Sarge to check in. The Clerk told me that I would have a lot of back pay coming to me! He would make sure that my family was notified that I had been found and rescued. He said that later on he would try to arrange a phone call for me to my family.

Sarge showed me where I would be staying and I checked in there. I was issued some Army regulation and other uniforms that fit me for the parade and celebration tomorrow. I headed back to where Honey was staying for the night to join them with their family evening meal.

Tiger sent word that he had to stay with his old friends but would join us at the parade tomorrow. I went back to the barracks and when I entered someone shouted ATTENTION! and they all stood up and saluted me! Boy, was that an embarrassing moment! The familiar sounds and smells of the barracks quickly lulled me to sleep.

The Reveille bugler call on the morning of July 4th 1945 brought me up wide awake and I was ready for the day! The breakfast smelled and sounded so familiar and I enjoyed some foods that I had not had in a long time. They even had rice for those wanting to go "native"! But I passed and filled up on fried eggs, potatoes with lots of biscuits and gravy!

I fell in with the other 24 POWs but I saw no one familiar to me. We talked a little bit then came to attention and started marching. The Camp Band sounded great and brought tears to our eyes. And the roar of the crowds was breathtaking!

We stopped in front of the Reviewing Stand where the Major General addressed us. I could see Dodong's family sitting close to the front in chairs. Of course Honey and the twins were wildly waving! When we were all in the front the Major General came down to us and saluted, then said AT EASE. He started reading to us:

"In honor of your sacrifices we all salute you! Please come forward as your name is called and I will present you with Philippine Liberation Ribbons and an Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal with one Bronze Star for the Philippines campaign.

This medal was designed and struck by the Manila firm of El Oro for the Philippine Government. The medal is gold with a Philippine sword, point up, superimposed over a white native shield having three gold stars at the top and the word LIBERTY below. Below are vertical stripes of blue, white and red enamel with the sword being in the center of the white stripe. At the sides of the medal and below the shield are gold arched wings. The reverse of the medal has the raised inscription FOR THE LIBERATION OF THE PHILIPPINES set in four lines with all inscriptions in English. The ribbon is red with a narrow blue stripe and a narrow white stripe in the center."

When he had finished Dodong took over and presented the Scout POW with their medals. We fell out to watch some of the wounded POWs that had joined our march. Some were helping their brothers walk along. They didn't want to be left out of this great celebration!

I noticed a thin Filipino walking with a stick to help him with his damaged leg and he looked vaguely familiar to me. I wondered who he reminded me of or where I had seen him before. Suddenly Eda stood up and started screaming:

ZENEN!!! ZENEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The thin Filipino stopped and started shaking and crying and wildly looking around! They all ran out there and surrounded Zenen, the lost son and brother! The band started playing our National Anthem and the crowd went wild! Everyone had tears in their eyes. I will never forget this very touching scene!