Trigger Warning: War, Xenophobia
From poisonous gas bombs, navigating through jungles and witnessing the end of Japanese occupation in the Philippines, here is lola's (grandmother's) story.
The following document is Zech's lola's (grandmother's) experiences of World War Two in the Philippines, written for an English Assessment from her time in school in the UK in the 80s.
The following story may be very distressing to some. However, we believe that keeping the story to its truth illuminates the shocking realities that our predecessors experienced. As part of this, grammatical mistakes can be found in order to keep this extract as original to her writing and her experience of the war as possible.
Will I Ever Recover The Cruelties Of War?
ASSIGNMENT A, PART2 – ABOUT MYSELF - EXPERIENCE OF WORLD WAR 2
1939 – World War 2 began on Sept 1 1939 when Germany without a declaration of war
invaded Poland. Britain and France declared war on Germany, Sept 3 and all the members
of the commonwealth, except Ireland, followed suit. All these were just news of war, just a
‘RUMOUR’ to most people in the Philipines, but to Grandma, signs of distress were already
showing. I was only 4 - and news didn’t mean anything to me until 2-years later.
Japan, ambitious of increasing their power copied Germany and invaded all the
countries in the Far East. And in Dec 1941 like Germany, without a declaration of war
Japan bombed pearl harbour, then the Philippines! The Philippines was under
America at the time and because the USA was not prepared for war, they had to
surrender and leave the Philippines, (but not for long!). I was just a child but I knew
how good we live under US care and so, I immediately sensed how cruel and wicked
the new comers (JAPANESE) were! It was an unforgettable experience!
Before the war, I was with my Grandmother and 5-cousins, the children of my Grandmother’s
son, my mum’s only brother. All of us children (I was the youngest) were cared for by my
grandmother while our parents went to work in the city. Mum worked in Manila. I hardly saw
my mum because it was an 8 hour journey to manila from Naga City, where we were. My
cousins’ parents worked locally so they were lucky, as they had their mum and dad after
work. Apart from looking after us, Grandma also run a small grocery shop (corner shop, we
call it here in England). So we, the children had everything we wanted to eat; we never went
hungry!
When Japan attacked the Philipines, they chosed to drop their poison gas bombs, (or
whatever ut was that made us all very sick) In cities, like Naga City, Manila, Cibu City and
in fact where they knew there was lots of people to inflict pain, discomforts & other
types of sufferings if not death. I remember how sick we were. We were all vomiting and
we were all very ill. People were collapsing on the road with excruciating abdominal pain. My
Grandma noticed She was not affected by the sudden attack of sickness, because she kept
her nose covered with the wet towel.She had just finished bathing when she smelt
something odd that gave her a headache and made her giddy. She immediately covered her
nose with the damp towel that she was drying herself with. She knew then what to do with
us, after discovering by accident that the wet cloth or towel was a life saver.
Straightaway she soaked a blanket and made us sit close together and told us to keep our
nose covered with the wet blanket. Just then my cousins’ parents came home, tightly
grasping at their ‘tommy’ and also looking very ill themselves. “Quick” said Grandma “Sit
beside the children and cover your nose with the wet blanket!” We kept our faces covered all through the day and even when we went to sleep at night. We went to sleep close together on the floor sharing one wet blanket to cover our face. This was how we survived the first attack of the JAPANESE, THE HITLERS OF THE FAR EAST IN THE LAST WAR.
The following day, Grandma had it all planned to leave the city. She hired a hearse, the only
motor car she could managed to get at the time. We put all food supplies that fitted in the
hearse: sacks of rice, sugar, tins of food, powdered milk, oat meal, sackful of other
necessities that would sustain us for months. We abandoned Grandmas little grocery shop.
For the last time we all sadly looked at the shop and thought about all the things we were
about to leave behind. Grandma told us not to think about the shop and that, what’s more
important were to save our lives! We dared look back when we left. After 5 to 6 hours of
driving non-stop, the driver of the hearse said, it was as far as he could go. It was the best
stop, he said if we intend to go further in the forest, a farmer living nearby can help us carry
our belongings. As we viewed the entrance of the jungle, which looked deserted, we saw tall
trees, no houses and in the distance, nothing can be seen but green fields, hills, mountains,
bushes and bellow the hill where we were standing, the sound of river rushing by. We felt the
wind blowing on our face and the sound of insects and birds and the deafening silence
emphasised by the circumstances as none of us could think of what to say!
The farmer had a strong cart, that carried all of our belongings and off we went again to
carry on with our journey. We walked as there was no space for us, our food supplies
occupied the space of the cart. It took us an hour walking then we saw a big warehouse in
the distance, The farmer said it was the roof over our head and the best he can offer. When
we opened the door, we were surprised to find so many people already inside. Just like us
they were running away from the city, away from futile war. When Grandma prepared food
for us, she couldn’t help but offered food to the other children, too who were hungry. In fact,
Grandma end up feeding all the people as they apparently had nothing to eat all day and the day before and the following day and the next day and the next…! Our food supplies that would have lasted us 6-months or more, lasted only about a week!
Before the end of the week Grandma managed to buy a small boat. We had another journey, further away from the city. This time we travelled by the river to another location in Bicol Region, called Patong. When we reached the place, Grandma had a long talk with her son. She told him to build a house for his family. She already bought the materials to build their home. She told him, he can provide for his family by using the boat to catch fish and he can sell the extra fish if there were any. He can even use the boat to provide transport for people travelling to and fro, she said, “people are always traveling”. She also said, he can even clear an area in the forest to grow corn, papaya, bananas and vegetables ect., to help feed his family. Regards to the children's education, there was a school, not a walking distance, but he can use the boat as their means of transportation. There was a Church, too not far away. Grandma’s last words to her son were “I am going to look for your sister, should
anything happen to me, remember you have one sister and one niece, they are your responsibilities, too apart from your own family.” “Should they ever need help in the future
and i’m no longer around, be there to help them.” Grandma planned all the above for her children and grandchildren. Grandma was the best mother and Grandmother in the
world!
The following day we travelled again, this time by train from Bicol Region to Manila. This
time it was only Grandma and I travelling. Grandma didn’t waste a single minute. It was
already dark when we arrived Manila. We hired a taxi to mums’ address, but she was not at
home. A middle aged lady welcomed us. Based on my observations of the pleasant
conversations between the lady and grandma, they knew each other well. Grandma was
anxious to go to mum’s work-place but the lady said that mum did not work there anymore.
The factory was closed down months ago, long before Japan’s bombing of Manila. She
added that mum now works at the cinema. She was one of the chorus girls, who sing and
dance on the stage! My Grandma was devastated. She always talked to me, but this time
she just looked at me, close to tears and she was distressed. After a while she said, “Pray to
God and take good care of yourself and promise me, when you grow up, you’ll live a decent
life”. At this point Grandma was in tears and held me for a long time. When mum came,
Grandma didn’t say much. “I’m not staying, take good care of your child and show her an
example of a respectable life.” Then she kissed me and left the same night. She did not
wait for another day even though it was already late! Mum followed her. I wanted to do the
same but I was exhausted and dropped off to sleep. Speaking from experience, Grandma
will come back for me! She always come back for me! But, I never saw my Grandmother
again!
The following day mum took me to concordia college, a school run by nuns and there I
stayed for almost 2-and a half years. Until one day the school management asked the
parents to take their children home. Only children without parents remained in the
establishment. By this time USA was on their way to liberate the Philippines from the
wicked Japanese.
1944 - The bombing was continuous. ‘Dog-fights’ up the skies, machine guns on the
ground, the sound of hand grenade exploding everywhere and gun shots all about
were non-stopped! The air-raid siren was going all the time! The wicked Japs were
shooting civilians on sight.. They were burning all homes and when people fled
outside their homes to save themselves, they shot them dead! The last 11-days of
Japanese retreat was fatal. We didn’t have anymore homes and we, the civilians were
exposed to all dangers. We were used by the Japanese as human shields, as the
Americans were advancing towards them! In one occasion I felt bullets passing
through my thick hair and the sound of bullets were just like cats’ ‘meowing’ in my
ears! One minute I was surrounded by alive people next minute they were all dead. I
could hear my mum screaming “Get down baby, get down!” but I didnt know where
she was. The aftermath of the war: Manila was completely distroyed and other parts of the
Philippines, too and millions died!
The war happened years ago, but the noise of the ‘air-raid siren’ remains ringing inside my
head! It never leave me from dawn till dusk, from the time I open my eyes in the morning till I close my eyes at night to sleep, the noise of war continuous to ring inside my head, my ears
and all around me! At times, I don’t hear people talking to me. I am not deaf, as once I pulled myself together and concentrate I am with them and I can hear them. There are times
though, because people don’t know what I am going through, I am often misjudged.
“TINITUS” this is the medical term from the doctors, a condition without cure, as this is what
part of my brain learnt and retained for me to live with! Will I ever recover the cruelties of
War?!
WW2 Claimed: My 4 cousins, my uncle, aunt and my Grandmother. Mum and one of my
cousins survived the war. I survived, too but nearly lost my left leg. Looking back, Grandma
tried so hard to find a safe place to save us all, but it was a war without mercy and there
was no safe place to go or hide.
About Lola Trinidad
From her grandson, Zech, our Director of Research
Lola used to talk openly about her experiences in the war to me, even though I was very young. However tragically, as time went on, she rapidly developed dementia and we accepted the sad fact that unfortunately her experiences would largely be forgotten.
Miraculously, when my family and I were doing some cleaning, we came across this...
My lola, Trinidad, was born in 1935 and migrated to the UK sometime around 1964. It was in the UK where she got her education, and became a nurse. She would later marry my lolo, Capildeo Ramsoondar, and have a family, working hard to provide for her children.
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