Merriam Press Military Monograph 64 . Third Edition (March 2012). "It's only a matter of days..." These words were spoken with conviction by Americans caught in the Philippines after the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. Within hours of the raid on Pearl Harbor, Japanese planes were attacking Clark Field and other targets in northern Luzon in preparation for a major landing. The Bailey's lives changed drastically that day, for within a month they were snatched from a comfortable home and lifestyle assisted by five servants and deposited on a stark University campus along with three thousand other Americans and other "enemy" nationals. They brought with them only what they could carry-food and clothing for three days. As the days grew into weeks, the weeks into months, and the months into years many were still hopeful that in only a matter of days something was going to happen to drive out the Japanese and free them from Santo Tomas Internment Camp. Those years were meticulously recorded in a "Line-A-Day Five Year Diary" that Caroline's father, Fay Cook Bailey, kept at great risk during their thirty-seven months of imprisonment under the Japanese. The recording of events was strictly forbidden by the Japanese Military Authority. After the war they were all eager to put the experience behind them, and the diary remained in a box of memorabilia from Santo Tomas which Caroline inherited upon her father's death in 1983. Believing that it might be of historical interest, at least for their family, she transferred it to a safety deposit box. In 1995, the 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Manila and of their Liberation from Santo Tomas Internment Camp, she returned to the Philippines with a group of fellow "POW Children" and three of their liberators. The trip revealed just how deeply this wartime experience in their childhood had affected them all, and it motivated her to learn more about how they managed to survive the ordeal. For a start, she turned to the diary. It became apparent to her that her father had an important role in the camp both as Treasurer of the Philippine Red Cross/American National Red Cross and as Chief of the Finance and Supplies Committee, a function of the Internee Executive Committee. Besides the personal entries, his diary contains a great deal of information about the operation of these two entities. A third aspect of interest is his recording of all the rumors that nourished the faith and hopes of the prisoners. Except for expanding the numerous abbreviations, the diary is presented in its original form, a historically interesting account of life in Santo Tomas Internment Camp as recorded by Caroline's father, Fay C. Bailey. Shortly after the war, her father wrote an article, primarily for the New York office staff of the National City Bank, which describes in greater detail the events leading up to their internment and also explains transactions he left out of the diary during their incarceration. Therefore, it has been included as a prologue to the diary. Contents: * Bits of Manila, December 1941-February 1945 * December 1941-December 1942 * January-December 1943 * January-December 1944 * January-March 1945 * Epilogue * List of Persons * Documents * 4 photos * 11 illustrations * 1 map * 144 documents.

Three siblings from the Philippines wrote down what they remembered about being imprisoned by the Japanese during World War II. Pamela J. Brink, Robert A. Brink, and John W. Brink all survived the ordeal, but only one of themPamelais still alive today. She shares their experiences in this memoir that recounts the horrors of war as seen through the eyes of children. At age thirteen, John W. was the oldest when they were captured, and his account is likely the most accurate of all three. Robert and Pamelas versions are different as they saw everything through younger, more fearful eyes. All three, however, remember being overjoyed when they were rescued from the Los Baos prison camp. When they were freed, everyone wanted to hear about atrocities, but their slow starvation could not compete with the horrors that Jews suffered in Nazi Germany. Most ignored their tales, and over time, they stopped telling them. Three adults look back at their childhood experiences as prisoners of war, how they survived, and how they continued on in Only by the Grace of God.

During World War II the Japanese imprisoned more American civilians at Manila's Santo Tomas prison camp than anywhere else, along with British and other nationalities. Placing the camp's story in the wider history of the Pacific war, this book tells how the camp went through a drastic change, from good conditions in the early days to impending mass starvation, before its dramatic rescue by U.S. Army "flying columns." Interned as a small boy with his mother and older sister, the author shows the many ways in which the camp's internees handled imprisonment--and their liberation afterwards. Using a wealth of Santo Tomas memoirs and diaries, plus interviews with other ex-internees and veteran army liberators, he reveals how children reinvented their own society, while adults coped with crowded dormitories, evaded sex restrictions, smuggled in food, and through a strong internee government, dealt with their Japanese overlords. The text explores the attitudes and behavior of Japanese officials, ranging from sadistic cruelty to humane cooperation, and asks philosophical questions about atrocity and moral responsibility.

"MacArthur's Spies reads like Casablanca set in the Pacific, filled with brave and daring characters caught up in the intrigue of war—and the best part is that it's all true!" —Tom Maier, author of Masters of Sex A thrilling story of espionage, daring and deception set in the exotic landscape of occupied Manila during World War II. On January 2, 1942, Japanese troops marched into Manila unopposed by U.S. forces. Manila was a strategic port, a romantic American outpost and a jewel of a city. Tokyo saw its conquest of the Philippines as the key in its plan to control all of Asia, including Australia. Thousands of soldiers surrendered and were sent on the notorious eighty-mile Bataan Death March. But thousands of other Filipinos and Americans refused to surrender and hid in the Luzon hills above Bataan and Manila. MacArthur's Spies is the story of three of them, and how they successfully foiled the Japanese for more than two years, sabotaging Japanese efforts and preparing the way for MacArthur’s return. From a jungle hideout, Colonel John Boone, an enlisted American soldier, led an insurgent force of Filipino fighters who infiltrated Manila as workers and servants to stage demolitions and attacks. “Chick” Parsons, an American businessman, polo player, and expatriate in Manila, was also a U.S. Navy intelligence officer. He escaped in the guise of a Panamanian diplomat, and returned as MacArthur’s spymaster, coordinating the guerrilla efforts with the planned Allied invasion. And, finally, there was Claire Phillips, an itinerant American torch singer with many names and almost as many husbands. Her nightclub in Manila served as a cover for supplying food to Americans in the hills and to thousands of prisoners of war. She and the men and women who worked with her gathered information from the collaborating Filipino businessmen; the homesick, English-speaking Japanese officers; and the spies who mingled in the crowd. Readers of Alan Furst and Ben Macintyre—and anyone who loves Casablanca—will relish this true tale of heroism when it counted the most.

My dream of freedom and better opportunity for my family came true. America is still the land of opportunity and freedom. I remember when the Philippines was still a commonwealth of the United States, and I was in grade school, we sang "The Star Spangled Banner" and "My Country 'Tis of Thee." We did not come here on the Mayflower, but America has become our adopted country. Let freedom ring! "My country tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my father died! Land of the Pilgrim's pride, From every mountain side, Let freedom ring!"

The World War II Prison Camp Diary of Fay Cook Bailey. Detailed diary by finance officer at Santo Tomas Internment Camp in Manila. Covers day-by-day camp activities, from December 1941 through March 1945 when the Bailey family along with other internees returned to the United States. Edited by the daughter of the diarist. Contents: Introduction; Bits of Manila, December 1941-February 1945; December 1941-December 1942; January-December 1943; January-December 1944; January-March 1945; Epilogue. Appendices: List of Persons; Documents. 11 illustrations, 4 photos, 1 map, 144 documents.

More than five thousand American civilian men, women, and children living in the Philippines during World War II were confined to internment camps following Japan's late December 1941 victories in Manila. Captured tells the story of daily life in five different camps--the crowded housing, mounting familial and international tensions, heavy labor, and increasingly severe malnourishment that made the internees' rescue a race with starvation. Frances B. Cogan explores the events behind this nearly four-year captivity, explaining how and why this little-known internment occurred. A thorough historical account, the book addresses several controversial issues about the internment, including Japanese intentions toward their prisoners and the U.S. State Department's role in allowing the presence of American civilians in the Philippines during wartime. Supported by diaries, memoirs, war crimes transcripts, Japanese soldiers' accounts, medical data, and many other sources, Captured presents a detailed and moving chronicle of the internees' efforts to survive. Cogan compares living conditions within the internment camps with life in POW camps and with the living conditions of Japanese soldiers late in the war. An afterword discusses the experiences of internment survivors after the war, combining medical and legal statistics with personal anecdotes to create a testament to the thousands of Americans whose captivity haunted them long after the war ended.