A Child in the Midst of Battle

Forward to the First Edition

 

   Manila, the Philippines—once known as the “Pearl of the Orient”—was one of the most heavily damaged cities in World War Two, second only to Warsaw, Poland. During the culminating Battle of Manila, the Imperial Army retreated through the city, pushed toward Manila Bay by advancing American military forces. In their wake the Japanese left a charred swath of almost complete destruction, fulfilling their mission to leave the city “stone upon stone.”

    An estimated three million Filipinos were killed in the war—180,000 alone in the Battle of Manila, more than died in the nuclear holocaust of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Philippine civilians and Allied military personnel alike suffered unspeakable atrocities at the hands of Japanese soldiers. Their stories are legion, but largely unknown to the outside world.

   At this dawn of the Third Millennium, the Japanese government has yet to apologize for, nor even acknowledge, their actions in the Philippines during the second Great War. It is my hope that the testament which follows will in a small way open the eyes of an uninformed world.

    Evelyn Berg Empie

    April, 2001

 

 

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